The Chaudefour Valley is a French valley in the Massif Central. The landscape of this natural reserve consists of a mosaic of forests with diverse species. Beeches, rowans, willows, and maples provide mix colours in autumn. I have been going there regularly for several years to photograph the end of autumn, when the first snow arrives. I sometimes return in winter because it is a rare place where deciduous trees grow at more than 1400 meters altitude.
This image was taken in December 2017, when the young purple-toned shoots of the beeches enhanced the snowy landscapes. The snow fell during the night and the sky was veiled by clouds that evaporated. I decided to work with this soft light and a long focal length to make a large part of the relief invisible. The absence of shadows highlights the graphics, lines, and colored dots, and the long focal length flattens the planes. It reminds me of Chinese paintings from the end of the first millennium, such as those by Dong Yuan.
The RAW file is very close to that of a monochrome image. I slightly reworked each area to highlight the different parts of the image. Processing light and dark tones allowed me to reveal the image's colour contrasts. Warm and cold parts naturally juxtaposed thanks to the present light. The image was slightly cropped to highlight the few fir trees among the beeches.
