Llanddeiniolen

Somehow I've managed to miss uploading all my images from 3 trips to this fantastic abandoned slate Quarry in North Wales, I'm not sure how but here's one from my first visit up here.

More of an afternoon exploration and scouting trip really than a planned shoot but some really dramatic weather and light breaks made it ideal for this scene with the focal point top Quarry building lit up, and lower levels lit for great detail standing out from the dark and foreboding Mount Snowdon to the rear.

I'd tried to get across to the buildings on the other side but failed as the written guide I had was back at my B&B and the route I tried to take was far too dangerous, being on my own I saw sense and called it a day for that trip.

I did eventually get over to the other side via a really long and very enjoyable walk where I got to explore pretty much all of the quarry, when I looked back from the other side at the route I had first tried to take I thought I must have been mad , the need to explore almost taking over any sensible thoughts of a safe route to take.

I'll upload more images from here, and hoping to go for another few visits soon, it's been too long, can't believe this is nearly 2 years ago.

Portfolio of images on my own website here

Seeing as I've not put much black and white stuff up for a while I'll follow the last one up with this, another one from Wales at the immense and extremely expansive Dinorwic Quarry.

I'd set this day out to visit the few parts of this huge quarry that I hadn't been to before, there's no maps of this place as such but I had a written guide from Mike Innes which I'd been saving for this walk when I got the time.

I reckoned it would take me about 3 hours or so for what I wanted to do, needless to say that wasn't 'quite' accurate as it ended up taking me 6 and a half hours... so only slightly out !! worryingly I was running out of water by the time I reached the highest point of the walk but upon turning a corner there were 3 big banks of snow at the base of a cliff that hadn't seen sunlight for months and hadn't melted, once the top layer got scraped away I was able to refill my bottles with slushy snow which made for a refreshing blast of re hydration.

The weather wasn't ideal for photography this day, this place really suits wet moody and overcast days, today was warm and there was a large amount of haze hanging around, until I'd got to this point I hadn't been able to see the Snowdon mountain range and had planned to isolate this building against the backdrop of the mountain tightly, however the light changed up a gear and the haze cleared enough to fully see the tops of the mountains which made for a great contrast against the shadowy foreground and lone quarry building giving a much better sense of scale.

More images from Dinorwic can be found on my website - updated with new images and blog section

Forecast said minimal cloud.........Still myself and the loon that got me into this lark had made the journey so I was taking a shot of something, taken from the bridge in Brynrefail with the night lights of Llanberis in the background and a touch of snow on Snowdon. By the way H, I’ve nicked your torch.....

A small tree perched on a ledge catches a beam of light from the rising sun, below some derelict buildings high on a cliff in the enormous disused quarry at Dinorwic, in Snowdonia.

First time I’ve wandered up by the slate mine, must go back!

Another from a fantastic day out with Mark, Geoff, Brad and Barb in Dinorwic and Anglesey. These are the Anglesey Barracks at Dinorwic quarry, looking up toward Llanberis Pass. Dinorwic Quarry employed over 3000 men at its peak and many of these workers lived locally or caught the quarry train on the Padarn Railway to work each day. However men from Anglesey, in particular, required to lodge or barrack at the quarry each week. They left home early on a monday morning and returned on saturday afternoon. Provisions for the week were carried on their journey. One of their homes for the week was the Anglesey Barracks high up in the quarry. Anglesey Barracks consists of two identical blocks of 11 units facing each other across an unmade street. Each unit has a living room with a fireplace and a bedroom with space for four men. Amenities were few - no electricity, soft mattresses, toilets or running water, just basic furniture and little else. Windows were provided only onto the street. This way of life survived until 1948 when an unannounced visit by the local Public Health Inspector saw the barracks condemned as unfit for human habitation. After that the quarrymen from Anglesey travelled daily by bus. (Info courtesy of Penmorfa.com).

One from back in April when it didn't stop raining from sunrise to sunset. My first experience of the magical abandoned slate mines at Dinorwig....