thank you Les

Oh the landscape adventures we are going to have and the photos you are going to take......

With mist hanging low over the valleys and the promise of soft morning light, Brocton Coppice on Cannock Chase was the perfect place to kick off a new day

You can see the making of this image on youtube here

It was a challenge with my office fitness! more so however was the drive home into the sun, being a passenger in the car with little to keep the mind occupied and the dazzling sun making me squint meant i spent most of the 3 hours drive back, nodding like a dog and waking with a fright each time the car slowed suddenly... got home feeling like I had spent the weekend with military as an interrogation subject!

This weekend, I kicked off 2025 with a mountain photography adventure on Pen yr Ole Wen, towering above the beautiful Llyn Ogwen in Wales. The conditions were far from easy—ice made some sections treacherous, and the boggy ground on our ascent tested our resolve and footing.

The journey began at 3 a.m., and it was nothing short of magical. Localized mists and swirling fog transformed the landscape into an ethereal dreamscape. Under the strong moonlight, skeletal trees stood silhouetted along the A5 from Llangollen all the way to Capel Curig, creating hauntingly beautiful scenes that I wished i'd have captured. Unfortunately, stopping wasn’t an option due to time pressures and the need to secure parking at Llyn Ogwen. In hindsight, I regret not pausing to seize the moment, but we pressed on with the hope of finding similar conditions at our destination.

As the morning unfolded, our hopes for a stunning sunrise faded. Heavy cloud cover dulled the sky and hung over the mountain tops, and while a fleeting, intense pink hue painted the snow covered landscape, it wasn’t quite enough to translate into an image worth sharing.

Undeterred, we climbed higher onto Pen yr Ole Wen and decided to wait it out, watching the shifting skies for hours. Eventually, patience paid off. A break in the clouds allowed sunlight to spill over the flanks of the mountain. The golden light kissed the highest peaks, leaving the valley below shrouded in shadow—a fleeting but breathtaking moment that made all of the effort and lack of sleep so much more rewarding.
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Pentax K1 + 28-105mm
1/60th, f16, ISO100 @ 58mm

Thank you Paul. - hrrrm video, I really enjoy video creation and creating content for youtube on my photography.... but im struggling to push the record button, not sure why, just lacking motivation, inspiration, energy for it.... So no video on this occasion, I hope the funk breaks!

thank you and will try

I'd be happy with the wind and rain too! - I argue with folk that landscape photographers (i am one) are really weather photographers (im this too), but like an owners club people get precious about a title i have found. - regards the Llŷn Peninsula, its right on the edge of a night out morning back adventure for me, but I have previously looked at this area of Wales, trying to tie in a bank holiday for the a long weekend and this area of the world, i'm sure at some point it will come good.

Thank you, was worth the effort for sure, even feeling zonked for a few days after hasn't dampened my spirits for the next adventure

The Mirror is in the up position in order to use Live View in the first instance.