Atmospheric

Mountain landscapes are often seen at their best when the atmospherics – light, shadow,  cloud and mist – combine to tease the viewer. It’s nature’s version of a striptease. Tantalising. You wait for the full reveal but it never happens.

Somewhat counter to its normal behaviour the Matterhorn, on this morning, stood proudly and largely clear of cloud, but the vast range of peaks forming the north-west side of the Zermatt valley coquettishly danced to a different tune. And I’m so glad they did.In situations like this I find myself instinctively drawn to a B&W interpretation. In part because that was the medium that shaped my early work, and in part because it was how I viewed the Alps through the superb photography of many great alpine photographers. It also suits the scene so well. Colour frequently adds a ‘cast’ in conditions like these, which can be very difficult to remove entirely. And the use of the B&W medium allows a little additional licence to balance light and shade. Sometimes you just can’t beat B&W – it has that edge.