Where the snow has no trace

...where the snow has no trace.

 

Does this ski-touring picture convey the feeling of the open, of the

nature, of the adventure? Your comments and criticism on this and any

other of my mountain pictures is warmly welcome.

As usual another first rate shot. Here you have really captured the isolation and remoteness of the skier. Superb.

I agree with Jeri above, this is an absolutely outstanding shot of an optically difficult subject. Really great. I am not sure about the thick black frame, but I guess you tried other possibilities.

Jeri, Mike, thanks.

As for the thick frame, that's of the same proportions I use on my wall and I am sort of attacched to it.

Incidentally, if you check out the LARGER version you'll also get the skier in colours!

This is surely among the strongest in a very strong portfolio of mountaineering shots. Snow traceless and untouched, overwhelming in its stillness and vastness. The utter purity of the blank white contours here is just flat-out stunning, and though our view is limited by the frame, we know this whiteness goes on and on. The ridge is perfectly placed compositionally, and the punctuation provided by the single skier with his shadow and faint line of tracks completes the composition perfectly. And like the ridge, the skiier too is placed in precisely the right spot -- just look at the geometric relations between the skiier, the two ends of the visible rock, and the top of the ridge.

 

This belongs on a wall.

Agree with Chris, this is an excellent snowscape. You had not much time, the skier was moving and there is probably only one perfect position and crop - you have captured the `decisive moment` here. At the first glance I was tempted to tone down the blue shade a bit, but liked the original version better after comparison. Very successful variant of the unspoilt-nature theme.

Chris & Carsten, thanks a lot for your comments. It somewhat surprises me that you can see soo much harmony and balance in the composition, given the conditions in which this was shot. I mean I like it -of course- but indeed I had no time to think art, there. We were moving forward together, relatively fast since the weather did not promise anything pleasent from the side you cannot see in the shot. Then I "saw" that the background was improving very fast, and the receding fog had made way to a good side lighting. I just ran up the next ridge, got the camera out, shot one burst of three frames (I do bracket in these conditions since the dark sunglasses can make strange tricks), and ran down the next ridge to meet her at that smal col which you can see, before attacking the steeper slopes.

 

To make a long story short, the composition came out "instinctively" to me. It starts to be second nature, sometimes. So I am really touched by the congratulations of two people who put so much care into the composition of their shots!

Interesting story Salvatore, quite tricky... what first caught my attention here is the soft wavy curvatures of the slopes encircling the skiier. She looks completely isolated from the auter world ,snow and sky! what is connecting her in this composition is the diagonal direction toward the rocks of the summit peeping from the snow and with her figure are the only dark colors around.

 

Salvatore, with no snow culture where I live, I learn quit a lot from your images and stories,Thanks.

Pnina, thanks. You've seen something interesting in this picture: the connection between the trace and the direction she will be taking. It is part of the experience I did not think I was conveying with this shot, but it looks like I actually am: it is great to see it read! Actually, one of the fascinations of being in the snow is to "read" the landscape, and decide where to go. Where to leave a mark of your passage -aesthetically- and where to move to have the least risk of being washed out by an avalanche -pratically.

 

I agree in her colours being dark and this building a relation with the peak...go for the larger version for the trademark red!

Good photo!

I saw it large Salvatore. Even there is a point of her trade mark ( red), she is, in general, still a dark ellement in that scene.

I agree with Chris. The faint foreground trail makes the shot. The pristine slopes create a pristine composition, but those extra tracks add just the right touch of spice to lift the photograph to the next level. Fine work.

Very good, Salvatore. Chris has pretty much said it all. I love the curve of the ski's tracks, and the unmarked masses of snow beyond. There's a real sense of heading into the unknown.

 

The foreground tracks, I can't quite decide on. They take away a little from the isolated feeling of the single figure, but they also seem to add some much need structure and detail to the foreground.

Bellissima nella luce surreale, un uomo e la montagna.

Stunning image, like most of your work. I love the composition and the exposure is perfect. Exquisite blue in the sky. A poster for sure.