Ogwen in Winter

The mountains of The Ogwen Valley in winter

I probably spend more time researching images and viewpoints in the studio than I do taking pictures out in the field. That was certainly the case with ‘The Ogwen Valley in Winter’. I certainly believe that planning a shoot well in advance and thoroughly carrying out all the preliminary work leads to a successful outcome when the time comes to fire the shutter. One of the most influential photographs that I came across was by the famous mountain photographer W.A. Poucher in his book ‘The Welsh Peaks’; the image was titled ‘Tryfan in Winter Raiment’.

My intention here was to maintain that fine aspect of Tryfan’s east face whilst, at the same time, capturing more of the adjactent mountains of the Ogwen Valley. This is not possible in 35mm or 645 format, so the opportunity only presented itself to me when I began using the Fuji GX617. By virtue of the fact that the Glyder range lies in central Snowdonia, its peaks are often clear of cloud when the higher neighbouring summits of Snowdon or the Carneddau are not. This enabled me to carry out some preliminary field work on this composition during several abortive visits to Snowdon itself. When the conditions were right I knew exactly where I needed to be.