When a knee injury forced me to stop mountain climbing back in 2008, I realised how much I missed the stunning views we used to get from the top of Mount Snowdon, reaching out to over the coast and Anglesey.
At the time I had a great little point and shoot Sony Cyber Shot camera which was okay for the family snaps, but I soon came to find on my hikes up and around Snowdon, that if I wanted to get some great shots (like my professional photographer sister frequently awed me with), I was going to have to invest in some good equipment. I got myself a good savings account, and started putting a chunk of my salary away each month and finally got to go out and buy my camera.
I’ve always been a fan of Sony products so found myself drawn to the Sony Alpha D-SLR range and their lenses, the camera came as the body and one 18-55mm lens. Since then I’ve bought an 18-250mm SAL18250 – F/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens and also a Macro SAL30M28 30mm – F/2.8 lens, both fabulously-made Sony products.
Photography has only really been a hobby to get me out and about in my favourite places but even so I’ve managed to sell quite a few of my prints on canvas and even made some money on a stock photography site. Now I can enjoy being up in the mountains, with my camera and earn a little extra from it! In a world where everyone with a smartphone and Instagram thinks they’re a photographer, the call for really good quality shots has never been greater. So I wanted to give my pick of the awe-inspiring landscape shots that inspired me when I was starting out.
Some of the shots are mine and some are by others, perfectly capturing the beauty of the vistas. I’ll start with my favourite place, Snowdonia. This was taken at Ogwen Lake which is located just at the tip of a glacial valley and the second is Llanberis Lake:
© Lucy Mather
©Lucy Mather
Another of my favourite spots of any country I’ve been to has to be Wastwater in the Lake District. The western lakes are not the easiest to get to, especially if you choose the HardKnott and Wrynose Pass route, but they are the most wild and remote to give you shots like this below. Very definitely worth the effort as you can see:
© XtravaganT – Fotolia.com
Somewhere I’m really looking forward to visiting is the Jurassic coast, this coastline of East Devon and Dorset is England’s first World Heritage Site and it covers 95 miles of stunning coastline.
The following shot is the famous Durdle Door in Dorset:
© julianelliott – Fotolia.com
Next on my list of course has to be the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. I struggled with finding a really good shot of here that best showed the landscape but eventually decided on the below, I guess that my next trip is decided……..
© Joe Gough – Fotolia.com
A definite on here is The Orkney Isles, I’m lucky enough to have family there so take the opportunity as much as possible to visit! The shot I chose was from the famous Ring Of Brodgar but the opportunities are endless.
© Lucy Mather
Eilean Donan has to be the most photographed castle in the whole of the UK; it’s just fabulous with the mysteriousness of the water surrounding it. It makes me wonder if the castle was the inspiration behind Harry Potters ‘Hogwarts’.
I’m also thinking of renting out chairs to all the budding photographers!
