Leica | alan frost photography

Snowdonia – A new gallery page

It’s hard to believe that three months have passed since I visited Snowdonia. I had a great time and after a lot of processing, curating and ten blog entries later, I have now put together a gallery page of what I consider to be my favourite images. The ones that take me straight back to a particular location. I can remember the time of day, the weather conditions and what I was trying to achieve when I took the shot. The gallery is here.

Pressing the shutter doesn’t work every time, far from it in fact, and my ‘keeper rate’ is probably no better than 1 in 50, but I am very happy with that. Sometimes the light wouldn’t be right, or the image would be badly composed or out of focus. Inevitably there would be many occasions when I didn’t select the correct camera settings, or quite simply I was trying to take a photograph when a good image never existed in the first place. But that’s the joy of photography.

I believe that each time you press the shutter you should learn something from the experience. That way I learn more from the ones I didn’t get right, as opposed to the ones that eventually find their way to the printer or onto this blog.

I have included some new images in this entry but the gallery itself is made up of 39 photographs, so do click here to visit the Snowdonia Gallery page.

I do hope to have the opportunity to return to Snowdonia later this year. It’s an inspiring and beautiful place for any visitor, let alone a photographer. The changing light and dramatic scenery are very special indeed.

Last but not least I would like to extend a big thank you to fellow WordPress blogger Andy Beal FRPS for organising and hosting an excellent and instructive workshop. To David Mills ARPS for his extensive knowledge of the area, and finally to the other participants for their company and good humour. Together we had a lot of fun and a week of photograph to remember.

If you want to visit any of the previous blog entries I have added all the links below, together with a thumbnail image to whet your appetite.

Snowdonia – It’s all about the light

Tryfan – a majestic mountain in Snowdonia

Creative use of depth of field in Snowdonia

The appeal of ‘light on dark’ in Snowdonia

Early morning in Snowdonia – with or without a tripod?

The old A5 – Nant Ffrancon valley in Snowdonia

Mist and missing Capel Curig – Happy New Year!

Dinorwic slate quarry – a harsh and inhospitable place.

Cwmorthin slate quarry in Snowdonia – the lower section

Cwmorthin slate quarry in Snowdonia – the upper section

Light, shadows and illusions – inside The Turbine Hall of Tate Modern

A couple of days ago I posted an entry depicting the people, light and their shadows inside this same venue. You can read my words and see the images here.

When I first arrived at Tate Modern I was fascinated by the way the afternoon sun came through the vast roof light above me and the tall vertical windows in the west wall. Together they created many interesting shadows and patterns of light on the building’s structure, the textured concrete floor and in some cases the reflective surfaces enclosing the Turbine Hall. For your information this hall is 152m long and 35m high; it’s huge.

I liked the view at the head of this post, but I did wonder what it would be like if taken at ground level. The next shot is looking into the same corner of the hall, but has a more abstract feel to it.

It was then that I noticed the light and shadows falling on the floor being mirrored in the the ‘polished’ wall surface. Would a slightly different view point and a more abstract composition give me an image which truly bought all these elements together and what would be the result?

Here is the final image in this short series of three. You may wish to click on the picture to see a larger version.

It has a rather surreal look about it. There appears to be a layer of ‘floating light’, hanging above the floor. It’s an optical illusion of course but the way the light and shadows are being mirrored produces this effect and for me this is the most visually interesting of the three.

Here are two other photographs taken inside the Turbine Hall.

Here again I like the way the people behind the glass are distorted whilst the light makes interesting patterns, adding further interest to the overall composition.

Finally here is a shot looking towards the tall vertical windows. Taken through glass the reflection of the hand rail is distorted and a small figure stands alone in the bottom left hand corner. A point of interest but also necessary to give scale to the image.

I only spent an hour or so wandering around, but I am inspired to go back. Arrive early and leave late – Watching, observing and waiting for the light to change direction and intensity during the course of the day. Waiting for a suitable person or a group of people to be in the optimum place, moving in the right direction to enhance the composition. When all these ingredients come together I will press the shutter, and who knows what the results may be. I can’t wait to return!

All the images in this post were taken with the Leica M Monochrom using a Leica 90mm f2.4 Summarit lens, processed in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro. Do click on any of the photos to view a larger version.