Lacs des Chéserys, Chamonix Mont Blanc, awakening early morning after a stormy night
Q4, 2022
On a summer night in 1985, I was alone while camping at this lake with a gorgeous view across the valley toward the Chamonix Mont Blanc range. Alone. Last summer in 2021, I counted twenty four tents on a single summer evening. That is the effect of instagram, the effect of mass tourism, better and cheaper equipment, the increasing popularity of outdoors. On top off, it wasn’t good weather to make the shot I had in mind. This spot, this area with this tranquilizing lake, serene reflecting the mountains to let you see them twice, is a place which is, for me personally, in my heart. There are only few places in the Alps to witness huge jagged bom proof granite walls in combination with snow covered peaks including the highest peak of Western Europe, the Mont Blanc, so close by. And, it’s only two and a half hours hiking, one way if you hike and don’t use a funicular. That is why this place is so popular.
Altogether, that is enough motivation to go back again to the Lacs des Chéserys.
The call was made late October: first snow fall. It snowed during the night above 2000 meter. Winter season started, the funiculars are closed, no more tourists. In short, ideal circumstances. We stuffed our backpacks with our photo gear, to hike from Tré le Champ to the Lacs des Chéserys, starting in the dark, three hours before sunrise to make sure we had enough time to make the hike and arrive at the lake before sunrise.
During the night it stopped raining, making the hike more comfortable. The sky has clear spots full of sparkling stars with high cirrus clouds moving away to the east, setting the expectations high. While hiking I was already composing the photo in my mind. Where exactly should I set up the tripod, how to manage the contrast of a dark foreground and a bright illuminated sky. Would this be the ideal circumstances I was looking for? Is this going to be the photo that is in my mind? Once we arrived at the Lac des Chéserys, the reward was there. It was pristine. Lac des Chéserys is such a spectacular place to go to, especially off season, when the funiculars are out of order. That’s when it get’s quiet in the mountains. That is when you can be alone at popular places that normally are overcrowded during the high season. That is when you still can experience the tranquility, calmness, remoteness.
The clouds started to color pinkish orange yellowish lighting the snow covered peaks, no wind, the lake was not yet frozen, to reflect the Mont Blanc mountain range at the opposite of the valley.
This image has been planned in my mind for years. Today, it seems like all pieces of this jigsaw are coming together: it was perfectly moody.
Meanwhile, the camera is on a tripod, with soft grade filters, flashing the foreground just a little to let them pop and reduce the shadows with stacked filters, to allow little and easy work in post production.
Lacs des Chéserys, Chamonix Mont Blanc. D800, Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8 at 24 mm, 10 seconds, F16, ISO100, late October. Nikon SB-900 multiple flashes at 1/32 in the foreground, Lee filters stacked: a full 1,2 filter plus 0,6 hard grade.
Lac Blanc. Longest day of the year, a few minutes past five o’clock early morning, just after sunrise, no wind, some cirrus with the north faces of Les Grandes Jorasses reflecting in Lac Blanc. Because of their orientation to the north, the north faces of les Grandes Jorasses hardly ever get direct sunlight, except in June. In June, the sun is shining from a relatively northern direction, giving the north faces for some hours the only direct sunlight they will annually get. In June, only the Grandes Jorasses will be lit by the sun making it stand out compared to the rest of the image. This opportunity, is at least one good reason to get out of bed early morning, to hike during the night, to make a photo of this impressive huge 1200 meter high granite wall at the frontier of France and Italy. Except that you can make a beautiful photo early morning, it also prevents you getting squeezed between the tourists at this lake as soon as the funicular let them go up. Middle of June, the longest day of the year.
