Brecons « Blog: Photography by Dan Santillo

December 16, 2011

A quick trip to the Brecons

Tags: Brecon Beacons, brecon beacons national park, Brecons, Craig y Fan Ddu, Snow, Talybont Forest, Winter — Dan Santillo @ 6:32 am

This time of year is always my busiest, with exhibitions and craft fairs, etc. so I don’t often get to go out as much as I’d like. But with snow in the air, I took a morning to go out to the Brecons – mainly to try out my winter tyres in the snow! I will talk more about the winter tyres later in the season, but I was very impressed at the grip and it means normal driving is possible on snow and ice. I did get out of the car and walk for a little bit – this is the photo I took:

Talybont Forest and Craig y Dan Ddu

I have a lot of trips planned for early next year, so standby for a flood of new work :-)

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November 2, 2011

Usk Reservoir

Tags: Brecon Beacons, brecon beacons national park, Brecons, Usk Reservoir, Worms Eye Photo — Dan Santillo @ 2:12 pm

Day 2 of my car being serviced and repaired at the garage so I borrowed my wife’s car and drove out to the hills west of Usk Reservoir. On my way to the slight hill overlooking the reservoir, a rather old and gnarled fence post caught me eye.

Fence in the Brecons

As a slight aside, it may interest you to know that this is a “Worm’s Eye” image – the tripod legs were splayed out on the ground to emphasis the fence and get it to break the horizon. Here are some comparison shots:

Left: Tripod at full height; Right: Tripod at half height

I left the fence and crossed boggy ground to get to a slight rise that looked down onto Usk Reservoir. I set the camera up, held onto the tripod to stop it being blown over and waited for a brief patch of sun.

Usk Reservoir

And with that, my time was up and I had to get Paula’s car back to her so she could go to work.

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October 20, 2011

Stormy Brecons

Tags: Brecon Beacons, Brecons, cloudy, Corn Du, Cribyn, Fan y Big, Pen y Fan, storm, stormy — Dan Santillo @ 6:15 pm

Having been out of action for a week or so with a mild chest infection, I decided it was high time I went out to the Brecons. The forecast was for heavy rain showers in the morning and clearing from midday with snow on the peaks. Perfect as I wanted to get a stormy shot or two! I parked near Upper Neuadd Reservoir and walked up the Gap Road where I wanted to shoot a panorama. I set the camera up just as the clouds darkened behind Pen y Fan:

Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn

Then I attempted the panorama:

Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn

Before I started moving again, I also shot a self portrait:

Walking the Gap Road

I had spent about 30 minutes in that one spot so headed along the road again so climb Fan y Big where I wanted to get a shot of the Diving Board. It was a long slog up the Gap Road to the base of Fan y Big, but the climb itself to the top was fairly easy. I set the camera up and used the 10 second timer so I could run out onto the Diving Board.

The Fan y Big Diving Board

The weather had been perfect all morning so I sat down for lunch by the shelter on Fan y Big – then it started to rain and hail so I quickly put my waterproofs on and walked to the next location I wanted to shoot from. It had stopped precipitating by the time I got there, but it was still pretty moody!

Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn

It started to rain again so I started to pack the camera gear away when suddenly a rainbow appeared! I managed to grab this photo before it disappeared:

Fan y Big rainbow

The hail then got too much so I decided to call it a day and walked back to the car, feeling hopeful I had some shots I was happy with. When I loaded them on to the computer, I was very pleased with the day’s work!

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September 29, 2011

Sgwd Eira, Afon Hepste

Tags: Afon Hepste, Brecon Beacons, Brecons, falls, Sgwd Eira, water fall, waterfall, waterfalls — Dan Santillo @ 2:29 pm

Yesterday, I visited Sgwd Eira with Neil Mansfield to do a recce for autumnal shots. I’ve only been to Sgwd Eira twice and hadn’t taken any photos of it – surely I must be one of the last photographers who hasn’t? Straight away, I saw that the best angle would involve getting wet so I got into the river up to my knees! Here is my interpretation of the waterfall and river.

Sgwd Eira, Afon Hepste

Behind Sgwd Eira, Afon Hepste

Afon Hepste

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September 14, 2011

Nant y Llyn

Tags: Brecon Beacons, Brecons, Nant y Llyn, waterfall, waterfalls — Dan Santillo @ 1:17 pm

This morning I headed out to Nant y Llyn, one of the many tributaries of the Afon Tawe, to see if I could get a waterfall shot with heather. I really struggled to find a shot and don’t think I really achieved what I wanted and I don’t think they really do justice to the landscape. Anyway, here are two of the photos:

Nant y Llyn

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September 12, 2011

Sgwd Gwladus in Full Flow

Tags: angel falls, Brecon Beacons, Brecons, fast flowing, lady falls, pontneddfechan, river, sgwd gwladus, Sgwd Gwladys — Dan Santillo @ 4:04 pm

With the remnants of Hurricane Katia hitting the country right now, I headed down to Mumbles after dropping the children at nursery. But, unfortunately, the waves were disappointing. So I drove back home, made a flask of coffee and drove up the valley to Pontneddfechan. I walked to Sgwd Gwladus and got the camera ready on the tripod – I knew that the best place to shoot from meant getting into the river. Using the tripod to steady myself, I stepped into the river and felt the gentle flow of cold water into my boots as it breached my gaiters – quite pleasant really! The current was pretty fast so I took a few shots and then moved deeper into the river, all the time use the tripod to help brace me against the current. The water was up to my knees and the pressure of the water closed the tripod leg if it wasn’t on the ground. Spray from the waterfall and occasional drizzle meant I had to clean the front of the lens after every photo or so. The final shots taken were at 17mm with the camera about 10cm from the surface of the water. I then carefully got out of the river – it meant going back through a particularly fast flowing channel – and drank my coffee before sloshing my way back to the car.

Sgwd Gwladus, Brecon Beacons National Park

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August 5, 2011

Mynydd Llangorse from Mynydd Troed Sunset

Tags: Brecons, Brecons Beacons, Cwm Sorgwm, Llangorse Lake, Mynydd Llangorse, Mynydd Troed, Panorama, pen allt-mawr, Pen y Fan, sun set, sunset — Dan Santillo @ 5:58 am

I find that there’s always a lot of procrastination that goes with photography. Shall I go out this evening? Shall I stay in with the family? What if the light is really good? What if it’s just cloudy? What if the forecast is wrong? (It normally is!) What if it’s a wasted trip? What if tonight is the night I take my best photo ever? I went through most of those questions and more on Wednesday evening but I did eventually decide to go out, and I’m pleased I did. It was an 80 mile round trip to Mynydd Troed, but the drive is a nice one over the mountain pass at Crai and onto Brecon and beyond. I walked up Mynydd Troed, somewhere I hadn’t been before, and found a likely spot for a panorama.

Pen Allt-mawr, Cwm Sorgwm, Mynydd Llangorse, Llangorse Lake and Pen y Fan from Mynydd Troed

For once, the cloud forecast was roughly right and just before the cloud bank obscured the sun, 30 minutes before sunset, I took this ‘normal’ photo:

Mynydd Llangorse and Pen y Fan from Mynydd Troed

All in all, a successful evening even if I do say so myself :-)

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