Llyn Padarn in North Wales is to any photographer a must visit place to grab a shot of the famous lone tree.
It is one of those shots which is a so called honeypot location, iconic, and to some, not worth doing because everyone else has done it. There are no shortages of shots of this location and scene if you Google it.
I think I’ve written before about my opinion, which is that I’m very happy to shoot such honeypot locations, because my shot will be mine, one that I’ve taken.
This was our second ever visit to this location having first visited back in 2020. Yes, the year of Covid-19. We were supposed to holidaying in North Wales in the April/May period of that year, but thanks to the pandemic, it was postponed to September.
We were able to enjoy our holiday post the first lockdown and got our two weeks holiday in save for one less day.
As it turned out, Wales went into a second lockdown earlier than England did, and we had to leave a day early before it came into force.
We felt lucky that we’d got our holiday in, and there wasn’t too much to suffer in terms of any differences. Mask wearing was in place in shops, and we were visiting open air locations outside of peak times, and there were no UK travel restrictions at that time.
Below is the shot I took in September 2020 where we arrived in early evening around 18:30 having struggled to find the exact location.
The 2020 shot was a long exposure of 76 seconds with the penalty being blurriness in the leaves of the tree. Not to everyone’s taste but the scene is pleasant for the smoothed out water and movement in the clouds.
Once you find the car park at this location, which is a camping and water sports site, the tree is only a short walk away.
You will be very lucky to walk up and have this spot to yourself. On both occasions, there’s been other photographers present.
Roll forward to September 2022, and we decided to get up for sunrise. The forecast was OK, not great in terms of visibility with cloud but we wanted to do it.
Sunrise was around 07:20 so we needed to be up and en route by 06:20.
We made it there on time pre sunrise, parked up, and walked over the the spot. In front of us and set up already were two other photographers. I squeezed in as near as I could to the classic composition position.
I started taking shots and we chatted to the couple, both with cameras/tripods and filters all in action.
It turned out the guy was a photographer and competition judge, and has judged for the EAF competition which I know from the club events programme is the East Anglian Federation event involving all photography clubs across East Anglia.
We had a really enjoyable and relaxing time chatting about photography while taking shots. As usual, I didn’t introduce myself or ask for names, and felt embarrassed afterwards.
But unlike previous trips, later googling told me this was Gary Langley and his wife Louise Walton (Langley), and if you take a look at their work, they are incredibly talented photographers. I suppose you have to be, in order to judge other peoples’ work.
There were some pockets of warm glow in the clouds, but the early birds had the best spot so I just went with what I had. Once Gary and Louise had packed up, I adopted their spot and did some more shots.
I set up my gear and once again started trying some long exposures. I wasn’t happy with the blurry leaves on the tree, so changed tactics. I increased my ISO and shutter speed in order to get a shot with the tree and leaves still.
The sunrise wasn’t anything special and my expectations were low given what the apps had told me of the forecast and likelihood of any sun.
We packed up, went back to the car for a coffee from the flask, then headed back to our cottage for some shuteye.
I was pleased we’d visited this location again but I do now feel I’ve done it to the point where I wouldn’t trouble myself to race here again in future.
Below is a side-by-side comparison of the 2020 and 2022 images. I think I prefer to 2020 shot.
I went back to my many shots after writing this blog to pull out another shot with a longer exposure. To develop something with at least a different look, I used a vintage filter in the Snapseed app to create the image below.
One of the other reasons for the 2020 shot being better, other than the water and cloud effects, is that the lone tree is surrounded by water. That certainly helps isolate it a little when compared to the 2022 shot.
I think you can see that in the 2020 shot, I was a little further to the left of the 2022 spot and therefore there’s a little more detail in the right-hand side of the scene. One’s perfectionist eye can always find something at fault!
What I have learnt is that for the ideal shot here, you need absolutely zero wind and a most favourable golden hour light. My two visits here were both bereft of perfect conditions weather-wise.
Also, I think you do need some separation of the tree, best when water is completely surrounding it. I think the water does need to be smoothed out with a filter therefore a still day to ensure the leaves are not blurred by the long exposure.
Despite the slight disappointment, I had fun going out early with my wife Kathryn, enjoying the peacefulness of early morning and getting to meet and chat with two talented photographers.
You never stop learning in my book.
Onwards and upwards…