Late 2022 I was planning a photo trip to the Dolomites when I stumbled upon photos from this mountain. Not knowing its location or name I searched using 'Google Image' and figured out how to get there. It is quite an undertaking and involves a fair bit of hiking, climbing, and scrambling. As I am far from a trained mountaineer, climbing up there was quite a challenge. But the place is so iconic I had to go there, therefore I booked a bunk in the hut. The hike up there took me hours. It was so tough, as I was carrying camera equipment. I almost gave up along the way. But I'm glad I persevered because It was the most memorable challenge.
From the afternoon severe weather was forecast, and the first thunderstorm soon approached. This is one of the last photos I shot that evening because thunderstorms were coming in rapidly. I wanted to show the scale of the hut's humble position at the foot of the mountain peaks, so I climbed the opposite hill as high as I could, to get a good overview of the place. Adding more scale to this photo, there are two people there. This photo is a 180° panorama from thirteen portrait images, using a standard 24mm to minimize distortion. Even though the area is relatively small up there, I couldn’t wander around because there were continuous thunderstorms; not to mention that the climb up took too much energy.
It was minutes before sunset when I shot this and the sun set behind the mountain ridge, behind my back. It could potentially light the mountain peaks orange from the left side, but as you can see, this side is dark from the approaching storm shadow. In front, however, behind the ridge, there was still a little bit of light reflecting from the sunset. In post-processing I worked that light so that it hit the peaks, adding more drama. By flipping the light source around, there was more light on the ravine behind the hut. This was the side where I climbed up to get here. By adding more shadows I helped guide the viewer’s eye and add even more drama. The image is cropped to 16:9 as I wanted a standard printable size.
