Powerful Serenity

This panoramic photograph taken by helicopter offers a breathtaking view of the imperial crown of Zinal. It features the most beautiful summits in the Valais Alps, Switzerland. Obergabelhorn is shown here between the imposing Matterhorn and the The Dent d'Hérens. This is followed by the sumptuous Dent Blanche and the Grand Cornier. This grandiose panorama leads us to the famous Mont-Blanc massif, which rises in the background, preceded by the Grand Combin.

I painted this picture in autumn, after the first snowfalls. It's very different from the rest of my art, both in composition and tone. When I set off with my camera, I had a completely different picture in mind. Clouds were forecast, but in the end they chose to leave the high mountains for the valley. So I had to adapt, change course. I took a deep breath and let the mountain guide me. I immersed myself in its grandeur and beauty, and then succeeded in conveying them through images.

The high mountains appear both powerful and serene. The tones are soft and gray, in contrast to the contrasting lights that usually shape my photographs. The challenge I set myself was all the more complex: I had to highlight the incredible power of the high summits by playing with these tones, so rarely used in my art. Thanks to the delicate interplay of light and shadow and the quality of the snow on the walls, the result is spectacular and enriches the whole of my work.

This work is close to my heart because it brings together in a single panorama the most famous summits mountains in the Alps, which in reality are far apart. Legendary mountains that can be contemplated with intense emotion at a glance. This photograph, which stands out from my other creations, shines through the particularity of its contrasts, highlighting in a different way the purity of the high mountains.