The Snowdon Horseshoe

This was an image that I had anticipated capturing for more than twenty five years. I recall seeing this view of The Snowdon Horseshoe from just outside Capel Curig during several of my earliest exploits into the mountains of Snowdonia in the 1970's and I had captured a view from alongside the Llynnau Mymbyr with one of the very first cameras that I owned. However, sadly, the camera did not perform very well and I recall using a very fast and coarse grained film that did not produce very pleasing results. And so when I purchased the Fuji GX617 panoramic camera in 1998, this was one of the images that I was minded to capture.

However, two obstacles still stood in my way. Firstly I was now living in the Scottish Borders, some 250 miles from my objective and, I was soon to find that the standard 90mm lens that I purchased with the GX617 had far too wide an angle of view for the composition that I was planning. It took another twelve months for me to save up for, and then purchase the 300mm lens for the GX617 that I knew would give me the result that I wanted. And so, it was not until the Spring of 2001 that I finally arrived at Capel Curig with the right camera and lens at my disposal and some decent weather to work with. On the day, the air was not as clear as anticipated, but on reflection the somewhat 'softer' light captured in the final image provided pleasing results.