Landscape: Bi-polar weather

Exceptional light seems easy to come by in the "hills" of Jura on the border between Switzerland and France. I am particularly fond of the light that results from a "bi-polar" weather, where one part of the sky is clear with a brimming sun and the other side is full of an approaching storm of menacingly black clouds. These conditions are probably the only time I can bear photographing trees only. These photos are from a tour a month a go or so, when this bi-polar weather condition was very strong.

Landscape: Outing in the Alps

Following the lack of skiable snow the last couple of weeks in Switzerland, we have resorted to snowshoes and crampons for our outings. Slush snow and 15 degrees in the middle of January makes for bad skiing, yet clear skies and towering mountains makes for good landscape photography. In this case my session was a study in the triad of the legendary mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. The North Face of Eiger is particularly well know among mountaineers and climbers for being one of the most difficult ascents in the Alps - a vertical wall devoid of sunshine and with a height of around 1600 m and conditions that are often not favorable for climbing. For those in the know, it is classified as ED (Extremely Difficult), one of the few in the Alps.

Eiger and Mönch in an "Arabian Night" kind of interpretation.
The north face of Eiger to the left is rendered heavily shadowed reflecting its menacing character.

Mönch in a very interesting light, where the sunset orange is reflected from Eiger on the left to illuminate the left side of Mönch orange as well.

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Fredrik Arnell Photography

Portrait: Purple Dress

We scouted the entire La Côte (the coast of Lake Geneva between Geneva and Lausanne) to find a good spot for this session, and at Nyon we happened to stumble across this extremely narrow jetty with the Alps as backdrop. The high probability of falling into the water of either of us or the lighting that was placed precariously in the water to camera right was a thrilling spicing to this session. A rogue wave got me, but both Matilda and the lighting managed to keep as dry as was possible.

Model: Matilda Tehler
Location: Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: EF 85/1.2L II USM
Light: Canon 580EX II in umbrella as key light to camera right, Elinchrom Skyports

Portrait: Alley

I am trying to catch up with all the post processing I have to do. This is a session from a couple of weeks back, when Matilda and I went out in metropolitan Couvet for a session. A quiet and mellow session in an alley. Only one light source was used apart from the ambient. The intention was more to get to know the 85L than anything.

Model: Matilda Tehler
Location: Couvet, Switzerland

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: EF 85/1.2L II USM
Light: 580EX II in umbrella, radio popper

Ahh! My 5D Mark II broke!

The recent trip to Italy was not kind to my equipment. A lot of portrait sessions and urban landscapes in all kinds of weather. Most things survived - but not my 5D2! It ended up showing a cryptic Error 30 and stopped wanting to take pictures - in Rome of all places - the most photogenic city in Italy (after Venice of course)! Well, I have now broken out the trusty 1Ds Mark II while the 5D is on repair in Zürich which was scheduled to take "over two weeks"!

On a side note, I have now refound the love for the 1 series bodies - they are really amazing! But the 5D's have their advantages of course.

Crazy skies continue

I had a portrait photo shoot around Lake Geneva yesterday, and in between I had the opportunity to capture the sky that turned more and more crazy.