The full process behind my latest image "The Shot Above"

Grateful.

A week ago, I released with Nikon my very first short film documenting “The Shot Above”, an image I have given myself the mission to go back to the Peruvian Andes to bring it to life.

This is the image:

I am thankful by the overwhelming support, the kindness and the inspiration that came from all your feedback.

So to start with, thank you.

In today’s letter, I’d like to give back by sharing the process behind this image, its making, the EXIFs, and more.

I know many of you who read me here enjoy understanding the process behind the final images and so this letter is one of them.

And right before we dive in, I’d like to highlight that this artwork can be a part of your home as I released a limited edition print for it. All information can be found at the end of this letter or here directly. Sales end on December 31st.

The Vision

In June 2023, I was off to Peru for the first time, not knowing what was waiting for me there.

Alongside a lovely group of photographers (thanks to Dan & Ascen for the organization) and my dad, I went on to trek for 8 days around a mountain range called Huayhuash.

This area of the Peruvian Andes is filled with magical views; glacial lakes, snowy towering peaks above 6000m high, glaciers, and the darkest skies I’ve ever witnessed.

On day 3 and 4 of that trek, I am faced with a scenery that made me go ballistic; mind starts rushing, imagining, building, assessing all the possibilities and what it would take to make them happen.

Long story short: it didn’t work out that time. Too dangerous, too difficult logistically, not the proper equipment, couldn’t divide the group for the sake of safety.

I won’t deny that this rejection made me deeply sad and downhearted at the time. But I understood why it wasn’t possible. And the best way I found to cope with it was to convince myself I’d go back to get it.

Back home in Switzerland, I started drafting a project around this journey back, reaching out to Nikon to get their support and help for me to tell that story best, and drafting the image I had in mind.

It started with something like this:

You can tell I’m a photographer and not a drawer or painter…

Now, I know my drawing skills are very limited but this was made quickly on a PowerPoint to get an initial idea, using Google Earth as a proxy for the background.

I wanted the MW arching over the mountains, not only because it looked aesthetically pleasing but also because this was the way it naturally aligned. See below:

I also wanted to put myself in the frame because this location truly deserves to get a better understanding of the scale of it. And it just felt right to me to tell the story in the image itself of “I was there, I made it back”. I had initially planned to stand on a rock pile on the left of the image however, once up there the composition did not work like I had imagined it so I decided to stand where I could and that happened to be on the opposite side. I believe this also balances the image better with the MW core being on the left.

I had also in mind shooting under a giant boulder I had found the year before, that I wanted to use as a foreground to give a cave effect. However, the idea seemed less and less relevant to me over time and would have probably overloaded the final image. So I abandoned that part.

The Shooting

The year goes by and my idea is as clear as it could be for both the shot and the film. It was finally time to travel there and execute it.

The image was divided in three main shooting points:

1. The landscape panorama

2. Me standing in the landscape

3. The Milky Way panorama

While my dear friend Ottilie, who was pivotal in the making of the film, was filming me getting the landscape panorama for the shot that you can see at the end of the film, the weather and cloud coverage was in reality so bad we couldn’t see the peaks.

I knew we had a very limited window to get the shot, with a maximum of two attempts. I was really hoping to get it on the first, as it was very demanding to do it twice in a row.

Indeed, we had to get up at 1am to start hiking in the dark for hours before reaching the viewpoint. Running on 2-3 hours of sleep on the first attempt is already challenging, but when you have several people involved that have to do it with you, that increases also the risks.

Unfortunately, as the sun was rising, massive clouds rolled in and covered the sky completely. That brought a ton of stress for me as the following day was not showing much greater chances either. Had I traveled so far to miss it once more?

A second and last attempt was a no-brainer, even if the weather was unpredictable at this point. But this time it would only be me and Marco, the only person and guide who accepted to do it again (thank you so much to him for guiding me up there that day).

That second morning was tricky, some clouds still covering some of the peaks but way better than the previous day. The shot was going to happen, although slightly different than imagined. This is why you can see clouds in the final image on some of the peaks.

I had already captured myself standing in the landscape on the first attempt, focused on the landscape only on the second, and the two nights that followed were dedicated to the sky panorama. Beyond the freezing cold and standing there for hours instead of sleeping, no complications happened when capturing this part of the image.

For those wondering about the gear used, here it is:

• For the landscape: Nikon Z8, NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f/2.8

• For the stars: Nikon Z6a (an astro modified Z6), NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8

The Editing

The final image assembles 26 photographs in total, distributed like this with the following EXIFs:

• Landscape panorama: 8 vertical shots (1 row x 8 columns)

  • 14mm

  • f/9

  • ISO 400

  • 4 sec

• Me in the frame: 2 shots stacked to light up the rock in front of me and my jacket

  • 14mm

  • f/2.8

  • ISO 250

  • ¼ sec

• MW panorama: 16 vertical shots (2 rows x 8 columns), tracked

  • 20mm

  • f/4

  • ISO 2000

  • 127 sec

The editing process for this image was rather long, maybe around 10-12 hours. What took me the most time was working on the night sky, as I completely changed my editing process for astro images (thank you Mikel for helping me here). I won’t go into details here as it could be a letter or video of its own, but let me give you the general idea:

• Stitch the MW panorama, remove the stars to work separately on the nebulae and the stars, put both back again together.

• Stitch the landscape panorama, tweak the perspective where it is off, edit it to my taste

• Insert myself standing into the original panorama and bled the layers properly

• Add the edited sky in the frame and blend it seamlessly with the clouds and mountains

• Work on overall balance of colours, lights…

Limited Edition Print

Alongside the release of the project, I am offering you the chance to own this image as a printed artwork.

It comes in different sizes and limited editions for each size, at an accessible price (starting under 100$). Here are the details:

• Available in the following options: 

  • 40x30cm, fine art, print only, open edition

  • 60x45cm, fine art, print only edition of 50

  • 80x60cm, fine art, print only edition of 25

  • Masterprint 160x120cm, fine art, ultraHD photo print under acrylic glass, edition of 5 (with special Certificate of Autenticity). This option can only be enquired by contacting us directly.

• Prints are presented on Fuji Crystal Professional Archive Maxima 220 g/m² paper

• Each limited edition print is signed, numbered and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (the Masterprint has a special COA printed on metal with a custom premium box)

• Global delivery and shipping costs included for all print only editions

The sale ends on December 31st, 2024 and won’t be available again.

You can get your own here:

Conclusion

This image is by far my most difficult and challenging endeavour and project. From getting Nikon on board, capturing the image, editing it, and present it in a short film, I can say today I poured so much of myself into this that I feel I’m still recovering from it.

But I would do it all over again.

A big thank you to everyone who helped bringing this vision to life, who helped me film and record the story, who supported with the logistics, who helped me upskill my editing techniques for the film and image, and who simply followed my journey whether physically or remotely.

And of course, thank you for all the love you all showed towards this project.

This adventure finally comes to an end, opening up to future ones to come. 

Thank you for your time and see you in the next adventure,

Angel