Thursday, July 15, 2010

Mountain-top photography (part 1 of 5)




One of my favourite photographic 'pursuits' is wild-camping on or near a mountain-top, so that I can (hopefully) catch a sunset and sunrise. I don't get to do it that often, but I really enjoy it, even if I don't get the pictures I planned! The image above was taken at sunrise from the top of Bowfell, in the Lake District, after a particularly uncomfortable night!

I'm planning a few trips over coming months, including a third attempt near Tryfan in North Wales. The first attempt, with my friend and fellow photographer Vlad, was thwarted by miserable weather (in fact our tent blew away). The second attempt was frustrated by a miserable Welsh hill-farmer.

In preparation for the upcoming trips I've been trimming down my pack weight. There's nothing worse than struggling up a mountain weighed down by gear and feeling too tired to make the most of the vantage point.

In the next few posts I'll be describing how I've slimmed down my kit to a bare (but comfortable) minimum. The focus here is keeping safe, warm and dry - but without luxuries or distractions. My starting point was a pack weight of around 15kilos (33lbs), not including water!

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