The Celestial Way

This magnificent photograph shows the impressive Biancograt ridge. It leads to summit of the Pizzo Bianco, one of the most famous mountains in the Bernina range. This Alpine massif culminates above Saint-Moritz, on the border between Switzerland and Italy.

I created this work in spring, after one of the last storms of the cold season. Here, nature offered me a last chance to capture that special winter light, revealing the imposing splendor of its summits through the interplay of light and shadow. The ephemeral beauty of colossi of rock and ice, weakened every year by the damaging effects of global warming.

High mountain photography in black and white must succeed in conveying the power and grandeur of summits without forcing the contrasts too much. It's about glorifying nature while respecting it. And that's the real challenge I set myself. This work invades us with emotions, while blending softness and a balance of tones. It shakes us up and soothes us at the same time.

I particularly like the graphic force that emanates from the painting. The blazing luminosity of the eastern slope of Pizzo Bianco, freshly covered in snow, and the protective shadow of its other side, which the storm has spared. An image close to abstraction, yet brimming with life. Two sides of the same reality. Yin and Yang of a nature that faces chaos only to be reborn in the morning.

Beyond the clouds that envelop the mountain, I managed to capture the perfect aesthetics of the Biancograt ridge, clean and chiselled. The celestial scope of the photograph touches me deeply. The sensation of following a path to the heavens. The transcendent radiance of a path guiding us beyond the realm of man. Certainly one of my most beautiful shots.