Brooding

Les Houches, Chamonix, France

There is nothing, absolutely nothing that thrills me more than awesome majestic peaks such as these near Chamonix in their darkest hour so to speak. This was taken near the Aguille Du Midi in mid summer during the late afternoon at the peak of a really dark and savage squall that hammered the mountain tops of the Mont Blanc Massif Although the summit disappeared completely at times I did manage to see it for a few seconds and this is when I took the shot. Maybe I should rename it Mount Gloom

Fuji XT-1, 55-200 zoom, f/8 at 1/200 second, ISO 200.

I like the light on the foreground peak Ian. It surely looks like a moody mountain.

Ian, I can relate to the thrills of viewing these types of majestic peaks, they are one of the main reasons I originally purchased my first camera. Maybe Mount Doom would also be a good title? This is a fine scene, and if I remember correctly from a previous post, was it also taken while sipping tea from your room? Regardless, I have no suggestions! Well done!

Hi Alan

It was, mountain photography from an armchair.

This is brooding indeed. I love the simplicity of the composition combined with the drama of the elements. High impact for sure. I can imagine a little more contrast, but that’s certainly a matter of taste. I love me some armchair photography. No need for heroics to achieve this image, just a good eye and expert technique.
ML

We now have a new genre of photography… :rofl: Wasn’t it one of the Weston’s that said there was nothing worth photographing more than 50 yards from your car (500 feet… something like that - to lazy to look up the quote.)

Magnificent photograph no matter where you sat to capture! I like the dappled light lower center and think you could even exploit the light/dark a bit more if you so chose.

I know this is picky (my best talent), but for some reason I’m wanting to have this rotated cw a couple degrees. No doubt this is vertically correct… but you know… :roll_eyes:

Lon

Hi Ian, I like how you have chosen to capture this dramatic scene. I love the sunlight on the foreground peak and the contrast between the hard rock and soft (though foreboding) clouds. I really like the balanced composition as well. My suggestion would be to consider increasing the overall contrast. You mentioned that the clouds were “really dark” and yet I find your image to lack strong shadows. If you were to increase the contrast (both overall and some select local adjustments), the clouds would look even more foreboding to me. I hope it’s OK that I did some quick adjustments on your photo as a visual aid to “show” what I’m trying to describe. This is simply my interpretation of your description to show another possibility and may or may not resonate with you. (FWIW, I enjoy the post-processing aspect of photography, so that is where I am coming from. If you don’t, then please disregard my remarks and do what makes you happiest.)

Yes I like it a lot Jeanie. I tend to be a bit time shy with post processing generally but I think it was worth popping the contrast as per your rendition it still maintains all its atmosphere of heavy gloom but it is more attention grabbing. Many thanks for your efforts it is a picture that has grown on me with time and I keep coming back to look at the full size tiff.