Ogwen Valley Waterfalls January 14 th 2019

Today I am heading to the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia to shoot a couple of the waterfalls,  It has been quite a while since I have been here.
Parking on the corner lay by I have crossed over the road and taken the path that follows the base of Pen-y-ole- wen around towards the weir.  The weather is very overcast and drizzling a bit, but I will get a few images.

Having reached the weir I have set up the tripod to do some long exposure images with the canon 5dsr and 17-40L lens. using a combination of 0.6 soft nd grad filter to prevent the sky blowing out and either a Lee 10 stop Big or 6 stop Little stopper to give the long exposure.  I will experiment with both, but think the little stopper will give best results with a slightly shorter exposure compared to the 10 stop and therefor I will get a bit of movement detail in the water instead of just a white blur with a very long exposure.


                                                                   10 seconds  f14

                                                                        13 seconds f14

                                                    Full wide view   15 seconds f14

Its raining a bit now so I will head back over the road and go up to the Ogwen falls next to the wooden footbridge which is at the start of the Cym Idwal path.   I stop to take a phone shot of the old bridge under the main road with Y-Garn in the background.

                              Looking down the Nant Ffrancon Valley towards Anglesey.

                                                      Tryfan and the gateway to Idwal.

I have set up the tripod just right of the bridge, clambering around the side of the waterfall for a slightly different perspective than is normally shot here. low cloud is moving quite quickly across the top of Tryfan over to the left.

                                                        13 seconds with  little stopper

                                                    15 seconds with little stopper

Now its time to go back to the car and drive to the opposite end of the Lake below Tryfan to go up the water fall path opposite.  This is a very boggy wet area and the paths are not very clear after the first section.  its a case of picking a dryish route following the Afon y fron river upwards to get enough height to view the valley.

I have climbed up to the first main waterfall section which gives a lovely view across to Tryfan and the Glyders over Llyn Ogwen.  The cloud is changing fast with the stiff breeze, I have managed to get this image with the light raking across the Glyders ridge , The Devils Kitchen and across to Y-Garn.

                          A short 1/4 second exposure was enough with the very fast flowing water.

After moving a bit higher up to the next set of falls ,  I have been waiting ages for a bit of light when the sun breaks through the thick cloud and illuminates the foreground just long enough for me to get this image.   I was going to wait around for sunset but after half an hour the cloud is just getting thicker so I will head back down now.

                                                                  1/4 second  f14

                            On the way down I got photobombed by a sheep in front of Tryfan .

                                                 The end of a good day in North Wales .

Y-Garn and Snowdon Temperature Inversions pt 2

Continuing the Superb day up in the welsh mountains, with the Inversion having almost dispersed on the Ogwen valley side of Y-Garn , my attentions have turned around towards Snowdon , The mountains all the way to Cadair Idris in mid wales are surrounded by the Inversions . Using long lens has the effect of compressing the view making them all look much closer together than they actually are.   what an amazing sight to see :)

                                                             A Panorama of Snowdon    

                                                   A closer view of the Snowdon Massif .

                                                             And Tryfan and Glyder Fach.

It is now looking like the cloud Inversion is filling Ogwen valley again , it is sweeping in up Nant Ffrancon valley from Anglesey and filling the valley floor as i sit watching.   Amazing!

                                   A long panorama of Snowdon with a lone figure watching :)   
                                                                     View large HERE

                                               A shorter panorama of the clouds swirling.
                                                                   view large HERE

                                                       A long lens image of the clouds :D

                A nice wide panorama with Snowdon on the left across to Elidir Fawr on the right.
                           Llanberis and Llyn Padarn are somewhere down there in the middle .

                                                          Looking out towards Anglesey

                                    Ogwen has now filled up again, fascinating to watch :)

                            Now turning attention to the Menai straits  , time for a long lens shot ..

    With my 400mm on now and i manage to get a group of walkers in the shot for scale, bottom left   and the  Dropped Inversion over the Menai straits :)     Its like a disaster movie Lol.

             Time to head down now , and a Brocken Spectre (cloud rainbow)  below me .

                                             Great view of Tryfan with good foreground rocks .

                                                       Yet another Brocken Spectre  Yay

The low sun is illuminating the Glyderau and the Inversion , which is looking darker than it did this morning. presumably due to lower sun angle. i will sit here a while just watching the cloud moving around in the sun while its still quite warm .

                                                       Descending into the cloud!!!!!!

Cant believe how much movement there is in this cloud, one minute it is thick and cant see anything, then its clear again!!!!!!!    weird.

                                                                     Suns out again  lol

                   I have now climbed almost down to the  Cym Idwal level , its cold down here :(

                           Llyn Idwal is now in view through the cloud , which has lifted a bit again.

 

   Pen-yr-ole-wen just visible through the cloud , amazing!

The end of one of my best ever mountain days  ,  definitely the best cloud Inversions i have ever seen .
The difference in temperature between the warm mountain tops in the sun and the almost freezing cold down at ground level is hard to believe.

Snowdonia Ogwen & Idwal Snow storm Feb 2nd 2015

Looking at the Ogwen web cam at just after 10 am the valley has had a big dumping of snow  yay     i must get down there . the forecast is for a bright dry afternoon so i am soon on my way with Mollster , it takes about 1 hour 20 mins to get to the Ogwen cottages to walk up to Cym Idwal in the mountains .

As i drive through Bethesda the snow is quite deep , covering everything and the roads are a bit tricky!     after coming through the wooded section of Ogwen bank ,which looks superb i pull into the laybye and take a short walk .

                                                the view up Nant Ffrancon valley.

                                          This is taken from the bridge over the river :)

Leaving the magical woodland behind , i have made my way up to Llyn Ogwen and parked by the cottages, the snow is deep and flurries are still falling.  i decide to cross the over the river to shoot the falls with Tryfan in the background.

Having taken a few frames i turn around and shoot the Pont Pen-y-benlog bridge , i have never shot facing this direction.  

The cloud is building fast and i can see snow billowing in the distance now, another shot with Tryfan disappearing under the cloud!

                  I have walked a little further along towards the lake but now it has started snowing quite heavy, the mountains are now shrouded in snow clouds.

                                                Blizzard white out conditions!     arghhhhh

cant see Pen-yr-ole-wen  now ,   think i will go back to the car and wait for it to stop, cant shoot in these conditions.

The snow has stopped and time to get out again, i walk up the road and cross over to the Ogwen weir, shooting from low down to get this image.

                                                        Tryfan reflected in Llyn Ogwen :)

Now its time to get Mollster out of the car and start walking up higher,  stopping at the Bridge to shoot the waterfall :)

                                Looking down Nant Ffranocon valley towards Anglesey.

              Mol is rolling in the snow    so funny :D    Llyn Ogwen stretching out in the distance.

                                            Mid air leap !     caught on my phone cam    lol

We are heading towards Cym Idwal now, thick cloud shrouding the top of Y-Garn and the Glyderau.

                                                                           Posing time :)

   
         The Devils Kitchen is straight ahead in the snow cloud, looks like its still snowing up there!
                                           Mol is running in the snow, she loves it   lol

          I can see the top of Tryfan now , blue sky trying to break through but it will not succeed :(

       Cym Idwal , partly frozen and the edges are full of soft slush!  as Mol finds out as she goes in.

The brightening sky didn't last long, Tryfan is covered again,  its definitely not good conditions for photography, but great for a good walk .

                                                                           "Simplicity"

We are now walking around the lake ,  Glyder Faw is just visible in the distance and  snow is falling again now .

Mol stops as she must have heard something , and promptly stuck her head under snow covered heather!   lol   she has a startled look on her face now  , more like  "whats on my nose dad? "

                           The path climbs up before i take the lower route around the lake.
                       Mol must be thinking " come on Hurry up   my paws are cold!     haha

Having negotiated the stream without falling in , its an easy walk around the top end of the lake as the low setting sun is illuminating the side of Pen -yr-ole -wen in the distance, but no colour!

   
        More snow coming this way possibly , as i take this image Mol rushes foreward and................

       
      Pounces in to the heather and stops still , listening    before sticking her head under the snow :D

Anyhow, she didnt catch anything so back to walking , i use long lens to take this shot of the more interesting area of the view i am looking at   lol

A new gate has been fitted , cant remember if there was one before  lol   creates a nice foreground interest for the image.  Pen -yr is now covered in cloud.  the weather is changing rapidly all the time.

               Heading down to the main road, but looking back to dramatic clouds over Y-Garn

Back to the car i put Mollster in and walk back around to where i was this morning, taking this long exposure image before heading back over to the high point above the old boat house on Ogwen.

                             How lucky!  a bit of blue sky for this classic view down to Tryfan

A long drive  home now after a very enjoyable day , but as i go past the end of the lake  the setting sun is turning a few clouds red , so a quick dash along the track opposite Tryfan to take this single image , not much colour but i quite like it :)