Picture Story

We had four days in bilingual South Tyrol for photography on the Alpe di Siusi (or Seiser Alm). Coming from Kastelruth by electric car, we had to gain 800 metres in altitude to reach our parking lot. We could never predict the weather on the alp lower down in the hotel, so we always had to be surprised.

The mountain peaks of the Sass Rigais were pleasantly bathed in a soft light from the morning sun on their western flanks due to the morning haze. The impression was immediately picturesque and beautiful. The changing clouds made the background more dynamic, and the light changed in the green areas.

Using a tripod, I took repeated shots of this scene with a changing light impression, only to decide on a lighting situation during post-processing. That was the plan.

The electric car surprised us with considerable energy recovery on the way back to the hotel. Of the 20% used for the drive to the car park, we got 75% back, so we had only used 5% of the total energy at the end of our day's drive.

In the evening, I combined the best mountain exposures from two pictures into one image. With Photoshop, layers that fit on top of each other because of the tripod and masks to softly bring in the light like in an analogue darkroom. This way, the light never looks artificial. This is also a way of recovering energy in photography.