Fenton positioned his camera at the precipice of a rugged mountain pass towering above farmland in the Nant Ffrancon Valley in northern Wales. He successfully conveyed the effect of great distance, leading from the falls and sharply defined rocks in the foreground to the serpentine walls of the valley and up the hazy incline beyond. Awe-inspiring topography like this appealed to Victorian viewers of Fenton's time, who would have considered the landscape sublime.