Waylandscape. Fine Art Landscape Photography of England, Scotland, Wales and Norway by Photographer Gary Waidson aka. Wayland. Award Winning Images of British and Scandinavian Mountains and coastlines. Landscapes of Lake District, Snowdonia, Highlands and Northumbria. Castles, Ruins, Rocks and Lighthouses. Atmospheric Landscape photographs of the UK.
Penmon Lights. Fine Art Landscape Photography by Gary Waidson

Penmon

14th -15th January 2012

I visited Penmon some time ago and I though a return trip was in order.

Castlerigg-Circles

Being pleased with the results of planetary rotation image I made at Castlerigg I wanted to try something similar here.

Using the last light of the setting sun to illuminate the lighthouse I then settled down to a series of exposures to render the stars in a whirl.

Unfortunately the battery I selected was a cheap copy that soon gave up the ghost.

I’ve always said you get what you pay for and this was a timely reminder just before my Arctic trip.

The way the camera was mounted on the tripod made it impossible to change the cell without moving it so that unfortunately was the end of that shot and the trails are not as long as I would have liked.

For all that, Penmon is a wonderful place to watch the universe go by so no great loss.

Morning came bright and clear so I mooched around the beach for some other shots while waiting for the light to reach the foreshore.

A touch of frost on the seaweed gave mute testimony to the chill of the night and I had been glad of a blanket that I always carry in the van while taking the shot above.

Frosted Seaweed. Fine Art Landscape Photography by Gary Waidson
Penmon Dawn. Fine Art Landscape Photography by Gary Waidson

It would seem that since I first started taking long exposures of water many years ago, the use of strong neutral density filters has become the latest trend amongst photographers.

I guess this will pass in time as they move on to the next  new fad to come along but I still like the effect, when used carefully, and can’t see it vanishing from my work very soon.

The trick for me is to retain enough substance in the water to give a sense of movement rather than the flat plane of  white milk that seems so popular at the moment.

Having said that I can see where the “ten stop” effect has it’s place, particularly in monochrome, but I have a slightly different approach in mind for my return trip.

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Award winning landscape photography by Wayland
Award winning landscape photography by Wayland