Two Minutes To Late ~ Part 1
A landscape photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
At 04:45 I was the only idiot in the village, or should I say Cwmorthin car park. The plan was to photograph Stwlan Dam at sunrise, which was 05:40. With just shy of 2 miles, and 500 metres of elevation to go I knew it was going to be tight.
Spoiler alert . . . just in case the title hasn’t given it away. I didn’t make it. For this one I blame Kia, or more specifically the Kia SatNav.
I’d left the house in plenty of time and from previous experience I was expecting to arrive around 04:15. Unfortunately I got lazy and let the SatNav do the route. After going via what appeared to be the shortest, but sadly not quickest route I was late.
Undeterred I loaded up, and set off from the car park. As much as I wanted to run up the road it just wasn’t going to happen. Whilst the mind might have been willing the legs sadly weren’t on the same page!
Nearly there on the road to Stwlan Dam.
No matter that the prize was in sight I just couldn’t make it. The light started to kick-off with yards to go, but there was no composition to be had. As I got to the viewing platform all that remained was a slight blush in the sky, and by the time I’d got the tripod up, and camera out it was gone.
The last blush of colour over Stwlan Dam.
Sometimes you do. Sometimes you brew . . .
Stwlan Dam viewpoint. There’s worse places to have a brew.
For those that follow along you may be thinking “Rob. This sounds like another tale of woe . . . “, but fear not. I’m happy to report it turned into a cracking day. After a coffee, and a few cold sausage and cheese sandwiches I waited for the sun to pop up over (I think) Arenig Fawr, and it wasn’t too long before I captured one of my favourite images to date.
The early morning sunlight combined with a light dusting of snow on the top of Cadair Idris was majestic. The image itself may benefit from being wider, and it certainly works well with a crop. Either way though I was very happy with this shot.
A majestic Cadair Idris with a light dusting of snow.
Whilst the light dusting of snow was an absolute bonus it did interfere with plan A. Given the snow, and icy conditions I decided it was probably for the better if I didn’t try and go over the Moelwyn mountains, so headed off back down the tarmac road to the Cwmorthin car park.
On the way down I couldn’t resist taking this panoramic image of Tanygrisiau reservoir. I have shot this composition before, but it’s hard to resist when it looks this good.
Panoramic image of Tanygrisiau reservoir.
Once back at the car I took the opportunity to restock the goody bag before heading up to the Cwmorthin terrace, and onto Rhosydd. You can find out what I got up to there by reading along on part two of todays adventure using the link below.
You can view more images from my gallery of other North Wales locations.
