Beyond Exploring

Hey friends!

Today marks the end of three full weeks in the mountains of Zermatt, Switzerland.

I couldn’t have asked for a better stay, which was made possible with the help of the Cervo Mountain Resort that hosted me for the whole three weeks, allowing me to work on a commissioned artwork for the hotel.

In this letter, I am sharing with you that artwork, which has been created specifically for the Cervo, as part of their motto “Beyond Exploring”, with its context and story:

For this project, I had full creative freedom to come up with what I felt was in line with the spirit of the hotel, the region of Zermatt, and my own experience here.

And after careful consideration, I decided to create something that would hold the spirit of what “exploring” means to me, whether it is physically, technically, or philosophically.

Although I already had a good idea of the image in mind beforehand, the location was decided a few days prior to the shoot based on the stars visibility, the Milky Way arch location, and a panoramic view that included the famous Matterhorn but not only.

The tricky thing was to come up with an image that would include the Matterhorn, as it is the icon of Zermatt, but that would still be different from what’s been done in the past, as this region is well over documented and captured (and rightfully so).

After some research, I found what seemed to be the perfect location for the panorama I had in mind, where I could capture more peaks that would be equally important for the frame of the image.

And for those who know the region a little bit, this is a view somewhere on the way the Gornergrat, but closer to the cliffs that would give visibility to the valley where majestic glaciers used to stand.

The landscape panorama comprises of 6 vertical images that were cropped later on, and the foreground with me standing on a rock is a single frame from the sunset blue hour a few meters to the right.

Now, about the sky. This part is also a panorama of 6 vertical photographs, using a star-tracker. But for the first time, the panorama was taken twice in order to capture:

1. A normal clean panorama with the astro modified camera, like I am used to do.

2. A special panorama using what we call an H-alpha 12nm filter that basically allows you to capture the “reds” in the stars that you wouldn’t be able to shoot otherwise.

For those who have never seen how these special h-alpha filter images look like, here is an example:

This was the first time I added this component to my workflow and I must say that it does complexify the process of creating outstanding night images.

However, I found it definitely worth it for two reasons:

1. It gives you so much more details and colours in the red parts of the night sky that even an astro-modded camera can barely give you.

2. It opens up a new door to improve my astrophotography, and overall my craft.

And so as I was expecting, the editing process took way longer than my average composite work.

The Milky Way arch was not exactly where I positioned it in the final image you saw above. It was slightly more to the left, rising throughout the night closer to the Matterhorn. (You can see on the red image over which peak the MW core was really located if you compare the two images above)

But since the arch was rising too high in the sky as the night passed, I decided to bring it to the left slightly to fit the vision I had in mind; making the arch start at the foot of the Matterhorn.

While still primarily blue, I wanted this image to have some bursts of bright warm colours. Just enough to attract the eye to the things you can recognise and identify with in the image.

Exploring can mean different things for each one of us, but I believe the process is similar for all; seeking within and beyond.

This is what this artwork represents.

In a world that is already so well documented, you can still find new ways to explore it. And this is what it is all about.

A big thank you to the Cervo for supporting this project, that will now lie with them as a gift for the honour they did me.

Keep exploring, and go beyond.

Angel