Three solid days of rain and heavy mists during a stay with my friends in Lauterbrunnen let to the making of this image. A good old case of going with the elements and getting your gear wet. It’s weather sealed, isn’t it? Jokes aside, I can’t think of a better type of weather to be in this valley that most probably inspired Tolkien to come up with Rivendell (Imladris in Elvish).
Tech and disclosure: The extreme dynamic range had me taking 5 exposures – especially because a crack in the clouds lit up a patch of snow in the background. The brightest of those, I used to highlight what little sunlight hit the valley this afternoon. Needless to say, I took lots of liberty in processing on this one. For starters, this is a mirror image of Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. I felt the composition looks stronger when you read this image from left to right, so I flipped it, despite of the risks. Two days of tweaking colour and seperating blues from oranges. Most importantly, I skewed the hue of the trees and grasses to achieve an autumn feel while this was shot in May. Last of the heavy-handed editing tweaks, is of course the blue grad filter going from top to bottom.
I really wanted to interpret what J.R.R. Tolkien would have seen when he visited this place back in 1911. Again, the look and feel I borrowed from some screen caps of the Lord of the Rings cinematography, specifically the Return of the King.
Thanks for looking.
Shot in Lauterbrunnen, Berner Oberland, Switzerland
via 500px http://ift.tt/1OQRPmg
Sig Nordal 