‘Cader Idris Soul of a Lonely Place’ contains fantastic photographs of the Gwynedd mountain, taken by Pete Davis from Alltyblaca, Llanybydder.

This work was first exhibited and published in 1997. A limited-edition book published by the School of Art to accompany the original exhibition is out of print. This edition contains more images than the first publication, together with the original introduction by Professor Alistair Crawford and the essay on Richard Wilson and Cader Idris by Pete Davis.

In the book’s introduction, Pete writes: "Some bodies of work just have to be made; the work contained here is in this category.

“Cader Idris has featured, almost incidentally in most of my exhibitions of landscape work and I have passed it by on many occasions during my travels in Wales, with my memory retaining those tantalising glimpses.

“Over the years I have also been fascinated by other artists’ images of this special place; paintings, prints and old postcards. Maybe this began with my first climb of Cader nearly 50 years ago, when my main interest was not capturing images of the mountain, but hooking the small, dark succulent trout that inhabited the stream trickling down from Llyn Cau. This was before my photographic work had turned to the landscape, before I had passed that ‘rite of passage’ that is necessary to even begin to understand the mysteries of the land. Perhaps it began that very day, when, on returning to Machynlleth after the day’s climbing and fishing for a well–deserved drink, I noticed a faded reproduction of an eighteenth-century painting of that very lake and mountain I had just visited hanging in the bar of the hotel. Someone, I think, informed me that he was a ‘local artist’, and there my interest ended. Little did I realise that years later, both the mountain and that painting were to play such a major part in my life and photographic work.

“It was only after I had resolved to dedicate a major body of work to just this one spot and began my research around the artistic representation of the mountain, that the importance of ‘local artist’ Richard Wilson and that painting were to become evident. This was a new approach for me, most of my previous landscape work had been concerned with the exploration of large geographical areas of the British Isles. The whole of Wales, Ireland and large tracts of the north of England had featured in previous exhibitions and I was unsure at first whether one, relatively small geographic area would sustain my interest for a long period of time. I need not have been concerned of course as I have, in effect, produced two bodies of work around the mountain. The silver prints which formed the major element of the exhibition that resulted from this work and the portfolio of platinum prints with their accompanying ‘Haiku’. Those ten images with their ‘Haiku’ are also reproduced here, inspired by the magic of the oak woods on the southern slopes of the mountain.

“I still pass the mountain on many occasions and still remember those many hard days and climbs with the large format camera to make this work. I also have retained those images, both photographed and unphotographed in my memory. I also share the sentiments of Thomas Love Peacock who wrote in 1811 that… ‘on top of Cader Idris, I felt how happy a man may be with a little money and a sane intellect, and reflect with astonishment on the madness of the multitude’. "

Pete was born in Cardiff, in 1947. He is a photographer, educator and writer who began photographing at the age of 11.

He has exhibited and published widely in the UK, Europe and the USA and his work has been acquired by many important national and international art and photography collections. These include the Arts Council of Wales, National Library of Wales, Museo Genna Maria in Sardinia, Feick Arts Centre, Vermont, USA and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

He left Splott Secondary Modern School in Cardiff at 15 and worked as a technician at Cardiff University for five years, and 10 years as an advertising and fashion photographer while also making his own documentary work.

He moved to west Wales in 1977 from where he has embarked on many long-term photography projects and field trips around the British Isles, Europe and the USA.

He began teaching at several institutions in the mid 1980’s and also ran the ‘View Camera Workshops’ from his studio with photographer and camera maker John Nesbitt.

Pete was later appointed senior lecturer in Documentary Photography at the University of Wales Newport where he stayed for 20 years, nine of which as course leader.

Pete is currently a post-graduate tutor and Ph.D supervisor at Aberystwyth University School of Art and is also working on a number of photographic projects, research collaborations and publications. He has received numerous research grants, Arts Council and European funding and various awards to complete many of his projects. He was also the winner of the 2002 Wakelin Award for Welsh artists.

Pete has been a visiting lecturer at the Karel de Grote Hogeschool, Antwerp, Syracuse University, New York, USA, the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, Netherlands, the University of Toronto, the University of Ulster, and at the Foto Museum, Antwerp. He has also been a guest lecturer at Cardiff University.

International exhibitions include representing Wales twice at the Festival Interceltique, Lorient, Brittany, France, Gallery International, Baltimore, USA, Feick Arts Centre, Poultney, Vermont, USA, Museo Genna Maria, Sardinia, the Foto Museum, Antwerp, Belgium, Gallery ‘S’, Grimstad, Norway and the Zirtoly Gallery, Switzerland among others. Pete has also been an artist in residence at institutions in Ireland, the USA, Europe and in the UK. He completed his Ph.D. in Fine Art in 2009 and in 2017 was given a major retrospective exhibition at the National Library of Wales spanning six decades of his work.

To buy ‘Cader Idris Soul of a Lonely Place’, visit www.pete-davis-photography.com.