Waiting For The Right Moment

Mark Gamblin talks about his obsession with the mountains

I have always been interested in imagery as far back as I can remember. As a boy I wanted to be a camera man for tv, but I took a different path career wise and went into IT. I had been shooting with a point and shoot camera for some years when my parents bought me a DSLR (Nikon d3100) for Christmas about 5 years ago. Since then I have submersed my self in the world of photography. Teaching myself by reading and practising as much as possible, also networking with other photographers on social media and photography sites such as 500px.

I like being able to capture that one special moment in a single frame. To be able to tell a story in a picture. I might have been sat on a mountain somewhere for hours waiting for the right light, and when it comes and you manage to capture that elusive moment it makes you feel excited. Then even more excited when you get home and load it into your go to choice for post processing.

My favorite place to shoot is the mountains. I’m lucky to live in Liverpool only an hour and half to the Lake District or Snowdonia. I have to say I do hold a special place in my heart for the Lakes, I get so excited every time I drive up the M6 on my way there. My favourite thing about the Lakes is of course the mountains, did I mention I like mountains.

What I love about taking pictures is probably that it encourages me to get out into the great outdoors and visit beautiful places and landscapes of the UK. One of my favorite parts of Snowdonia is the Glyders and the Ogwen valley. I’ve spent loads of time walking and wild camping up on the Glyders, it never fails to amaze me everytime. You’ve got amazing views in every direction from the summits (obviously weather dependent) and challenging walks, scrambles and climbs for all skill levels.

One of my fondest memories of taking Snowdonia was last year when I was camping just below Tryfan, during the blood moon. I knew that the moon would rise above Tryfan and when it did it was an awesome sight.

I’ve had some good reactions from my photography so far. Especially my night sky and long exposure work. People generally ask me why the hell I climb a mountain with a big pack on and sleep on top of it. But then I show them the pictures of the night sky and they know why.