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July 2007
It had been overcast for days in Snowdonia. Despite getting a bit fed up of the frequent and heavy showers, trying to sleep in my tent with thunder storms
passing overhead and not being able to dry out properly, the one positive thing was that I had been getting plenty of good waterfall photos. And there are
lots of nice waterfalls in Snowdonia.
On this particular day, I had decided to head up to near the north coast of Wales where research had shown me that a real gem existed. Half way between Bangor
and Conwy, there’s a waterfall which, for those who can speak the language without getting their tongue tied in knots, is called Rhaeadr Fawr, and for the
rest of us savages, it is also known by the much more manageable Aber Falls. With the falls themselves at over 35 metres (120 feet) high, the 2km walk to it
from the car park sounded like a worthwhile trip.
As I parked my car and got out my camera bag from the boot, I cursed myself as I realised that I had left my waterproof trousers back at base. In this weather
I would probably need them but it was going to have to be wet legs, as I wasn’t driving all the way back to fetch them now.
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Aber Falls, Snowdonia. |
The walk to the falls followed an easy path and the sun even briefly came out from behind the blanket of cloud, bathing the landscape in cherished sunshine
and turning the walk into a joy, passing through an ancient wood of ash trees which as the visitor information sign pointed out, contains several different
types of lichen!
I saw the falls before I heard them, peering out between the trees. It really was very tall! I picked up the pace as my excitement grew. Then as if Mother
Nature wanted to curb my enthusiasm, unsurprisingly it started to spit with rain.
I arrived at the foot of the waterfall about a minute later, just as the spitting turned to proper rain. I quickly looked around for somewhere to shelter,
not really being able to take my mesmerised eyes away from the waterfall. As I waited, my mind was in full swing. Searching out potential angles and viewpoints,
and thinking about shutter speeds. Flowing water, in my opinion, looks great when the shutter speed is long enough to blur the motion. But this waterfall was
flowing with such a force that it would be easy to keep the shutter open too long so that the water would record only as white with no detail in it at all. The
best way to avoid this would be to bracket at different shutter speeds.
As soon as the rain stopped, I got out my camera. The sun was coming and going behind the clouds, either illuminating the waterfall in bright sunlight or
casting it in shade. Waterfalls generally photograph better in the shade. Not only does it mean that shutter speeds can be longer, so the blurring motion of
the water will be more pronounced, it also means that you won’t get hot spots where the water turns bright white from the bright sunshine on it.
I took a few photographs before a group of teenagers turned up and started clambering on the rocks at the base of the waterfall. After managing to get a
few pictures in the lulls between the scramblers, I spied an area of grass on the opposite bank and started walking downstream to see if I could pick my way
across the river over the pebbles. Fortunately for me, someone had placed a convenient bridge just a few metres from my location, so I crossed over and made
my way up to the grassy edge. Alas, some of the teenagers must have spotted me, and before I even arrived at the edge of the rocks, a couple of them had run
past me.
However, it didn’t matter, as I hadn’t even got my camera out when it started to rain again. I hid my camera bag under a large rock and waited it out while
the teenagers decided that they had had enough and headed back. I was alone again.
Slowly, the rain began to peter out, and eventually stopped altogether. I took a quick meter reading then “click” went the shutter just as the sun burst
through the clouds and a rainbow appeared. Then as quickly as it came, it was gone. That was the last frame on the film. Should I stay to get some more as
backups? Probably. But I had been there for two hours already, had taken two rolls of film and I wanted to get to another location before sunset. Then as
if to confirm my decision, split, splat on my camera – it began to rain again. Without hesitation, I packed up and started making my way back along the path
to the car. Suddenly the heavens opened and I got drenched for the third time in two hours. That will teach me for forgetting my waterproof trousers.
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