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In the week between Christmas 2019 and New Year 2020 North Wales experienced some unusally good weather, so it was on with the boots as my wife Liz and I took to the mountains and valleys of Snowdonia for some much needed post-Christmas exercise.
Our chosen activity was a walk up the Nant Ffrancon valley towards the dramatic vistas of the Glyderau and Carneddau mountain ranges at the far end.
But there was plenty to enjoy, admire and photograph along the well maintained path as we wound our way through abandoned slate workings, following the course of the Afon Ogwen river as it meandered along the valley floor.
One of the many aspects of Snowdonia that I love to see and photograph are the old, bent, twisted, stunted, moss covered trees, surviving somehow in the harshest of environments.
This particular example caught my eye at the side of our path, seemingly growing out of a few discarded slate boulders with branches laid bare like skeletal fingers in the long cold winter.
But I know that, come the warmth of spring, these hardy trees will burst back into life again.
Now that must be a metaphor for something, musn't it?
Filename - snowdonia tree slate 02
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 50mm
Exposure - 1/4sec @ f11, ISO100
Filters - Polarising filter used to enhance colours.
Location - Nant Ffrancon, Snowdonia, North Wales
Image enhancements - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Tripod, remote release and mirror lockup used to prevent camera movement.
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