White peaks
- 📍 Location: La Grave, facing La Meije, Écrins, France
- 📅 Date: 2021
A rough grass slope running up from the bottom of the frame, and beyond it the whole serrated line of the range with fresh snow on it and a bank of hard-edged cloud coming over the top.
Monochrome, because the subject is a pattern of white against dark and colour does nothing for it. Converted, the snowfields separate cleanly from the rock, the cloud gains real weight, and the grass in the foreground turns to a dark textured grey that holds the bottom of the picture.
I placed the skyline about two thirds up and gave the foreground more room than a mountain photograph usually gets. The slope is doing structural work: it is what the eye crosses, and crossing it is what makes the peaks feel far away rather than merely large.
This range has been photographed for a century and a half, and there is no original angle left on it. What is still available is the weather on the day you happen to be standing there, which is the only thing that was ever yours anyway.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
