An Ode to Bradford, The continuation of a winter project

An Ode to Bradford.

Bradford Washburn continues to be a huge influence over my winter work in the mountains, for those of you who don’t know him, was an an adventure photographer who photographed mountains and snow usually from the air and was a pioneer in ariel photography. This just scratches the surface of the great man, much more to come in the project description next year.

I must acknowledge Lizzie Shepherd who is a photographer based in Yorkshire, her brother Stephen Venables interviewed Bradford Washburn and has kindly provided me with the copy  to use in my project, details will be revealed as the project moves forward, a big thanks Lizzie.

“Ode to Bradford” The continuation of a winter project.

I commenced work on this little personal project last year, but struggled to make more than three images due to the nature of the warm winter. I am hopeful this year in the Beacons will be a little coder and make for the type of conditions that I’m after.

These are pretty much the conditions I’m looking for, perhaps without the wind, but certainly snow and clear blue skies, neither of which are conditions seen very often in the Brecon Beacons.

These are three images I made last winter and although I have plenty of other winter landscapes, I’d rather start afresh with my Bradford Washburn homage in mind. This project isn’t a case of fresh locations needed, much more about my  interpretation of Washburns style. He used severe scale indicators within his images, so I am certainly hoping to achieve a similar style, although photographing winter in the Brecon Beacons is no Alaska.

I don’t have a plane at my disposal, but if anybody knows any gliders that fly during winter,let me know.

Hopefully as autumns marches onwards through September, the conditions will begin to change and the frosty, snow conditions that I am looking for will arrive. I long for a cold, snowy, white winter.

The project will transfer to my personal project age, as soon as I have enough images to consider this as a viable longer term project.