Platinum printing, despite its great beauty, is now a rare, time consuming and expensive process. Once the favoured printing process by the worlds greatest photographers, It all but died out soon after the first world war when platinum metal became difficult to obtain and the cost prohibitive for photographic use. Prints are made on to paper coated with platinum instead of the conventional silver, and can only be made by the contact printing method using ultra violet light which means that the final images are the same size as the original negative.The tonal range of the material is much longer than conventional silver/gelatin paper, and requires the photographer to visualise the final image in a very different way from making a conventional black and white photograph. The process of making the prints is very precise and demanding and allows for little manipulation. The original negative has to be correct in every detail if it is to produce a successful print.

Pete Davis is only one of a handful of photographers in Europe to have produced a portfolio using this process. The platinum prints featured in the Cader Idris portfolio, are images of one particular part of the mountain, the 'relict' oak wood on the southern slopes. Formed after the last period of glaciation eight to ten thousand years ago, the wood has a haunting quality of light and atmosphere at all times of the year. This special place is, however, passed through quickly by the many visitors to the mountain 'on route' to the summit, and consequently much of these qualities are missed. By producing a boxed set of platinum prints, it has been possible to allow the viewer to unlock a part of that 'spirit of place', that makes this mountain so special. Each of the ten images in the portfolio is accompanied by a 'Haiku', written by the photographer while on the mountain itself. The 7 inch x 5 inch prints, contact printed from the original negatives, are mounted and matted to 12 inches x 16 inches using 100% rag museum board. The title pages and slip sheets with the haiku for each image are silk screen printed on to 300 gsm Fabriano paper. The presentation box is silk screen printed with the portfolio title.