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Land of Ice by Pierre Besnard

The snow has been falling for the past 3 days, covering the summits. The end is looming with a lull in the middle of this Sunday afternoon 16^th January. As this year begins, the conditions seem to be in place to hope to see the summits around Chamonix plastered by this snowstorm. I have been trying to be there at the right time for several years to immortalize those rare moments where the tops go white. This reveals new lines, of great purity, that we can observe only briefly.
 
Once in position, when the storm is still swirling around the summits, there is a long period of observation that begins. The eye gazes the elements on the lookout for a sign, an opening through those turbulent clouds. Then comes the time when the sky breaks up and allows us to see the peaks.
That is when everything speeds up and I start shooting anything that catches my eye.
The Mont Blanc mountain offers a multitude of compositions according to the angle. Initially, I had the Drus in mind, once that done…
On that picture named « Land of Ice », there are summits of the Chamonix needles, a little set back from the Blaitière needle that I wanted to highlight ( its lower part can be made out on the left side of the picture). Among others you can find the scissors, the mad, the Lepiney point needle.
For a question of definition, this picture is an assembly of 3 vertical photos of 300 mm to offer maximum detail.


On that type of picture where different textures mingle, the black and white choice was obvious to me. The contrast that comes out of that type of treatment brings out the details. It also accentuates the « hostile » side of the summits, where elite alpinists take their chance. I have added contrast and labelling to focus the gaze on the needles.
Finally I used a cooling filter to keep the freezing atmosphere that prevailed that day.