Emergence

This panoramic photograph shows the famous Mont-Blanc massif rising royally from a sea of clouds after a winter storm. On the left, the Peuterey ridge takes us to Italy, while on the right, the three summits and the normal route of the Goûter ridge are in France. In the foreground, the Aiguilles de Chamonix, including the famous Aiguille du Midi, emerge mysteriously from the mist. In the background, the highest summits of the Écrins massif, some one hundred kilometers away, finally sublimate the beauty of this already vertiginous panorama.

I took this aerial photograph from a helicopter in the Verbier region of Switzerland. For several years, I studied the weather forecasts in an attempt to pinpoint the moment when the conditions would be right to bring this picture to life. A helicopter cannot fly through clouds. If it gets caught in the fog, it has virtually no chance of escaping. Like the mountain, it reminds us just how little man is in the face of the power of the elements. So I had to wait for a day when the storm would clear away to the west, leaving enough clouds behind to give my work the mystical atmosphere I'd been dreaming of. I also had to wait for the mist to break sufficiently to leave a passage for the helicopter to sneak above the thick cottony veil. Finally, the weather forecast had to announce the return of the sun, so that the pilots could be sure of descending after the photo shoot.

After years of waiting, that perfect moment finally arrived. I was able to take this incredible picture of unparalleled beauty. The image reminds me of a rocky island emerging in the middle of an endless ocean. There's a real connection between the marine world and the high mountains. Nature expresses itself fully, with strength and authenticity, far from human domination. Man cannot control them, he cannot live there. He is a stranger here, reduced to his primal state. On the heights of the world, between earth and sky, the mountain is king. And that's undoubtedly what attracts me to them.