Llyn Cwmorthin

Of all the locations we visited during our trips to Cornwall and Snowdonia in October 2007, Llyn Cwmorthin has to be the most extraordinary. The lake is situated in a valley in the mountains high above Blaenau Ffestiniog. Around its edge stand the desolate and disintegrating remains of cottages built to house the 19th century slate-mining community that abandoned the site shortly after the turn of the 20th century. To walk amongst the overgrown vegetable plots, the slate-built garden walls and the delapidated, modestly proportioned cottages is a strangely moving experience. But perhaps the most poignant of all the features at Llyn Cwmorthin is the monkey puzzle tree. How a tree that is native to South America and which, as a species, was introduced into Britain in the mid-18th century, came to be growing here is a bit of a mystery; although it might have been planted to soften the slate-grey industrial surroundings. It continues to thrive long after the disappearance of the community that introduced it into this remarkable place.

As this was taken on an inappropriately bright and sunny day, the saturation has been reduced in an attempt to represent the location’s slate-grey atmosphere.

Canon EOS 5D and EF 16-35mm lens.

Exposure of 0.3 seconds at f/20.