Why?

The southern slopes of the Black Mountains were visited, again.  Which raises the question - why?  The answer is complex.  This area of the Black Mountains has a suite of landforms which appear to relate to phenomena associated with a very cold climate.  Debris from rock slope failures - possibly paraglacial or seismic in origin - appears extensively modified by periglacial processes. More surprisingly, Table Mountain is also thought to be a landslide, resulting from the down wasting of a valley glacier. Both events are thought to have occurred towards end of the Devensian stadial, but there are also alternative theories, it's an interesting wander and the landform suites possibly relate to a number of climatic events.

There are also the insights along the route, from the impact of farming - Ffridd wall, hedge laying, woodland management and relating the the underlying geology with flora. There is also the intangible pleasure of observing the rich tapestry of nature, viz on this trip; a Red Kite shadowed by two Ravens; a Wren foraging in the block slopes; a Fox crossing a distant field; a field conspicuously littered with Mole hills; Fairy inkcaps in a decaying Oak, berry laden Hawthorns, hill ponies grazing, scat on a prominent boulder - the lichen community reflecting a nutrient rich environment and hinting strongly that this boulder has demarcated an animals territory for a while ...

There's also the benefit of stretching the legs and schlepping the photography kit helps puts some debit in the calorific bank, with the festive season calorific binge looming...

Fairy Inkcaps ~ Leica apo macro elmarit 100/2.8

Leica vario elmar R 21-35mm Asph

Then there's the creative itch to be scratched, making a photograph, especially with the quality of light around the winter solstice, when the sun is at its lowest zenith, with a backdrop of broken cloud, rain showers, sunset and with good fortune, there's real potential for atmosphere. The good fortune is light shining through a break in the cloud illuminating the scene. My fortune on this trip was mixed, well broken cloud on the ascent, the first image captures the last light before a hill spur shadow falls across the boulder lobe. The second image has warm but weak sunlight filtered through cloud, the main sunbeam was slightly higher up the hillside, the cloud was failing to breakup sufficiently over the Brecon Beacon massif to the WSW.

Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph

I thought that was the light gone for this trip, the cloud seemed unbroken to the south west, obscuring the sunset and so made my way back across the block slope, as I wanted to look at possibilities for a dawn scenario. On the way some 'Dog Lichens' (Peltigera membranacea) caught my eye.

Dog Lichens ~ Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph

Sunset was a non event, but the cloud was breaking up to the south and dusk provided a display of red/magenta lighting reflected from and diffused by the clouds, a welcome and unexpected bonus. The wind eased too, which was helpful as exposure times were in the order of 4 to 8 seconds duration in the gloaming light.

 Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph 

 Leica vario elmarit R 28-90 Asph 

The opportunity doesn't arise that often, but it is interesting to make images in the colours of dusk, the human eye doesn't pick up the colours as well as the camera sensor and for this trip it was definitely worth waiting around for.

Showing willing

Two successive trips, both to the same location and both with a forecast of broken cloud and sunshine.

1st trip
The clouds indeed were breaking up, there just wasn't enough cloud and the sky was probably 95% cloud free, which offers the prospect of distinctly uninspiring cool blue shadows and cyan sky.

The cloud breaking up

It's fair to say my inspiration level dimmed a bit and I abandoned the big view for what was on offer on the ground, amongst the boulder lobes.

Lichen community

2nd trip
Was a sky of unbroken cloud, but with blue skies to the West, there was a tantalising prospect of the cloud breaking up or clearing,  towards sunset.  The diffuse light was more suited to studies of the ecology of the upland environ and the Ffridd wall provided some inspiration.

Ophioparma ventosa

Parmelia saxatilis with lichenous fungi

Moss and lichen community

Moving on up onto the open hillside, above the bracken line and into grassland, heavily grazed by hill ponies and sheep, but crucially never improved with fertiliser or ploughed, the ancient nutrient poor soils are a haven for fungi. Surveys of Welsh uplands reveal its international importance for many species of grassland fungi and it's known by ecologists as 'Waxcap grassland'.

Scarlet Waxcaps

Orange Waxcaps

A wander around some impressive landslide debris and then it was time to commence the vigil for sunset and a view across the hillside, over landslide debris (paraglacial), soliflucted boulder lobes and till (periglacial) to the southern outliers of the Black Mountains. By the time the cloud cleared, the sun had already set ... IF the cloud had cleared 20 mins earlier, the foreground would have been awash with the last light of sunset, the retreating cloud sheet would have turned magenta ... on such small margins, sigh.

Blue Hour

The cloud at least presented an opportunity for a 'blue hour' image and then it was on with the head torch and a journey down to the car. A landscape photographer certainly needs a philosophical outlook on weather and observing/photographing the ecology helps to make a trip worthwhile when the weather doesn't play ball.

3 Fine Art Landscape Photography prints sold for $10 Million

Sadly, they weren't mine. The prints were by Fine Art landscape photographer Peter Lik and purchased by an unnamed private collector. One print sold for a world record $6.5M sticker price, the two other prints comparative bargains at $2.4M and $1.1M.  Peter Lik, normally garners a mixed reception from photographer comments online, some of the kinder ones are 'marketing genius' and the negative comments are fairly extensive in breadth and depth of critique. I can confidently predict, the print sale  will generate a fairly lively discussion in the worlds news media, art forums, photography forums, peanut galleries ...

The good news, aside from Peter Lik's healthy bank balance and the announcement a mere fortnight before Xmas never a bad time to raise your profile as a seller, is that it will raise the profile of landscape photography and perhaps somewhere there might be an intelligent discussion on the craft of landscape photography as Fine Art.

Landscape photography cognoscenti

The annual awards for an annual UK landscape photography competition were announced in early November and the social media peanut gallery/circus, seems to be settling down, aside from a few who are determined to endorse/discredit the winning image to underpin their personal agenda. The debate of the winning image, highlighted the whole gamut of positive and negative aspects of human nature - humour, spite, goodwill, envy, insight, honesty ... In fact, for the second year running there was no disqualification for questionable post processing/image veracity, no pets in the image and the image was actually of the landscape, which in the context of past competitions is something of a result for the consistency of the judging process. These are all good things and a step in the right direction.

An Orange Blorenge

A later than planned start and driving down the A40 it was noted that the weather/air clarity was less than inspiring. So, Plan A - calf muscle testing ascent up Mynydd Troed was switched to Plan B - a leisurely wander around the Blorenge instead, the Foxhunter carpark is handily placed for minimal exertion.

It had been 6+ years since the last visit and things had changed out on the moorland. At some point in the intervening years an extensive (managed?) hill fire had burnt away the leggy heather and young heather plants were rejuvenating the moor.  The heavily eroded main path from carpark to summit had been resurfaced and there seemed to be a complete absence of litter, hopefully a positive sign that people are respecting the environment.  Two pairs and a trio, equalled a total of 7 Red Grouse sighted, apparently the Blorenge is the furthest location south in the UK for Red Grouse and another positive, always good to see the native wildlife.

The periglacial block fields on the northern slopes also have the potential for a composition with the Black Mountains as a back drop and fortuitously the sheet cloud started to break up in time for sunset.

I can think of numerous times when far more onerous trips have met with scant reward, but autumnal low angled sunlight, under low cloud is not bad at all.