Brecon Beacons is one of Britain’s National Parks and is situated in mid-Wales, spanning some 519 square miles from Llandeilo on the West to Abergavenny on the East, and from Merthyr Tydfil on the south region to Hay-on-Wye and Brecon in the North. It ranges from large areas of wilderness, to waterfalls, mountains, farmland and towns, supporting a range of wildlife from red kites and skylarks to fauna such as the marsh orchid and flowering heather. The land was designated as a National Park in 1957 to help conserve the scenery, culture and landscape.
I started visiting the Brecon Beacons in 2003 as basis for some of my landscape paintings – at this point I didn’t even know which mountain was which and where Pen y Fan (the highest mountain in Southern Britain) was. And the more time I spent in the Brecon Beacons, the more I realised that – at least for me - panoramic photography was the best way for me to record the many different moods and many different types of landscape that I experienced. As far as painting was concerned, there didn’t seem to be enough time in the day to record a fraction of what I saw!
The three galleries linked this menu represent what I would consider my favourite photographs of the Brecon Beacons. The three galleries cover four general regions: 1) The wilderness of the Black Mountain (Mynydd Ddu) in the West and the Forest Fawr region which includes a range of forest, caves and waterfalls such as Sgwyd yr Eira: 2) The Brecon Beacons (or central region) which includes the twin peaks of Pen y Fan and Corn Du and 3) the Black Mountains, a wide range of smaller mountain ranges including, for example, Sugar-Loaf and Waun Fach, plus wooded valleys and beautiful towns such as Abergavenny and Crickhowell.
For someone who was essentially unfamiliar with where to go to find the best places in the Brecon Beacons National Park – I found two books by Tom Hutton to be absolutely essential. Tom’s photographic book ‘Moods of the Brecon Beacons’ (published by Halsgrove) became an early inspiration, and proved a guide to the best places to go and as a standard of photography with which to judge my own work. His book for Jarrold on the Brecon Beacons (Jarrold short walks number 31) was very useful for working out early paths to take.
Even now, just when I find a good location in the Brecon Beacons to photograph – I know it leaves me with the feeling I need to come back again several times to the location. It may be for a different season, or even for a different time of the day, just to get the best image. It can soon turn into a very long list! My preference for panoramic photographs may be due to the fact that I always want to see how a single image of a single tree (or a specific mountain peak or single landmark) fits into the wider landscape. I feel this relates closely to the experience of being in a given place.
I’m not sure if photography (or landscape photography) is always art: in my opinion it doesn’t need or have to be. Any photograph can be an aide memoire of a walk or experience – the craft behind getting the best shot, technically, is quite enough for me. The landscape is always changing around us - and even with a master photographer such as Ansel Adams – I feel it is sometimes enough that his photographs preserve and promote the world that we need to look after.
For those of you starting to walk in the Brecon Beacons – I would recommend buying a copy of the Landranger/Explorer maps OL12 and OL13. Also the mountain centre at Mynydd Illtud has an excellent three-dimensional small scale model of the complete Brecon Beacons mountain range – so if you want to get an initial idea in your head of where the prominent mountains fit in, this is a great starting point. The Mountain Centre also has a good stock of Kendall Mint cake bars! Another book I have found useful throughout 2008 is ‘Walk the Brecon Beacons’ by Bob Greaves (Discovery Walking Guides).
I do find that sometimes landscape photography in the Brecon Beacons can be as frustrating as it can be rewarding: it is easy to miss the best weather of a given season by not having the right day free for photography – or indeed having extreme bad weather for weeks-on-end when a season is changing and would normally be at it’s best. The summer of 2008 was a classic example – essentially three months of mostly wet and miserable weather, which can encourage anyone to go abroad to look for some sun! Alternatively, a sudden period of extreme weather can be great for photography - sudden periods of snow, for example – and even the best photographer can run out of days in which to photograph their favourite haunts. On the plus side, you can sometimes be up a mountain for a day and see several seasons in half an hour. At least using a digital camera for photography, taking as many photographs as possible in a short period isn’t a luxury (unlike using film rolls or medium and large-format cameras).
One of my favourite photographers, David Noton – encourages photographers to plan trips to allow them to shoot the light of early dawn and early dusk as much as possible. I find this is a great idea but not always possible: for instance, I have been an insulin-dependent diabetic since the age of thirteen, and I have constant problems trying to gauge great photographic and walking opportunities against keeping my blood sugar at predictable levels and making sure my meals are at reasonable times. Sometimes no matter how much time in a day I want to spend walking the landscape - my body soon tells me it’s time to get back to the house and get some rest time! Always remember that most accidents happen coming down mountains after all energy has been put into climbing to the peak! Luckily I always walk the landscape with my wife and she always has plenty of carbohydrate snacks and drinks in her backpack!
Regarding the ‘how-to-do’ of photography – I use digital SLR camera instead of a dedicated panoramic camera - via the use of a panoramic head attachment to my tripod. This essentially means I would normally take around seven (portrait format) photographs in quick succession and then use specialized software to stitch the images when I get back home to my PC. I currently use a Canon EOS 1D mark III camera and ptgui stitching software. Arnaud Frich’s book on ‘Panoramic photography’ (Focal Press) was especially helpful in making choices regarding digital hardware/software to support panoramic photography. Arnaud Frich’s images – particularly of evening cityscapes and interiors – are incredibly inspirational. As a footnote to using digital - if I had an endless budget then a panoramic film camera such as the Fuji617 would be wonderful, but I find my digital process works fine in 95% of cases (regardless of the weight of a panoramic head and necessary tripod). The biggest problematic areas using digital stitching software are when you are shooting moving objects such as people and animals, or fast moving clouds and fast-changing light conditions.
In future I intend to add to my gallery with more dawn and dusk shots, and possibly some Ariel photographs. As soon as I am happy with new images I will continue to load them to my galleries – and I hope visitors to my site will continue to enjoy my photographs even if they can’t visit the Brecon Beacons National Park for themselves!
Michael Field - April 2009