After a workshop on the Gower Peninsula, a friend and I decided to take an extra couple of days visiting sites that I had not been to previously, but my friend knew well.

Pont Melin Fach is a local beauty spot on the river Afon Nedd Fechan. There are at least four sets of waterfalls on the river and one of its tributaries; all are quite small but very picturesque.

We were there in late February, so the trees were quite denuded and, therefore, not really part of the composition. So, initially, we just walked along the riverside path, observing the flow of the water and dodging the other photographers who had been attracted by the falls.

After photographing several locations, I settled on this composition, which picks up several small falls and then the river expands into a wide pool; with the benefit of a long exposure time, the pool took on a darker hue with the water from the last small fall fanning out towards me. I determined quite quickly that I wanted to be able to make a black-and-white conversion of the image to intensify the contrasts between the water flow, the rocks and the bare trees.