Sankt Johan of Nepomuk, Ranui, Santa Maddalena, and the lady in blue.
Q3, 2022
Almost at the end of the valley, after a drive into Villnösstal, Val di Funes, you will pass this chapel. Solitary. Alone, lonely, seemingly in a void. Like it has been there, always, as an essential natural, elementary part of this landscape. As a matter of fact, humans have transformed this landscape already ages ago. This chapel, erected in 1744, is not alone. It is surrounded by green pastures, like a warm coat around a body. Making it one of the most romantic places in the Alps, for a wedding or a little prayer. The lady in blue just went there for a little prayer and closed the doors.
On the internet you can find loads of pictures of this chapel. Many don’t reflect the feeling I had when I saw this chapel the first time. It is standing remote in the middle of an alpine pasture. Just there, vulnerable, well maintained, standing here for ages. A place to contemplate or to just be. That was my feeling, when I went here for the first time decades ago. Now, it is overtaken by mass tourism, the new reality.
Nevertheless, I wanted to express this feeling of a chapel standing alone, surrounded by a beautiful green pasture, making us ask: why is this chapel being build at this site in the first place? Why? Why here?
I don’t have the answer to these questions. May be one day I will find a local, who can answer the why-here-question. Meanwhile, I have to contemplate a little longer to figure it out my self.
Above all, I wanted to capture that initial first feeling.
So, I have been scouting, hiking in the surrounding area to find a spot to make this photo, imagining what the best season, time of day, and characteristic of light would be. On top of, as with many other of my images, I wanted to make a composite of several images to stitch them during post-processing into one large detailed image file. As with many of my other images, this picture consists of four or more separate images taken with a 300mm F2.8 lens, in post-production merged into one image.
Finally, after hiking around in the area during cloud covered drizzling days, I found the right spot to express my feelings. The last piece in this jigsaw puzzle was to wait for the day with the right light. And finally, on a late afternoon, there where almost ideal circumstances. Low light, no more tourists. That was the moment to set up the 300mm F2.8 lens attached to a sturdy tripod in a vertical position to make four panning shots, my model about two kilometers away speaking to me via bluetooth ear-connection and hiking slowly away from the chapel.
Capturing the initial feeling, in one image.
To show you the emptyness of the site, to show more of the surrounding of the chapel, this image has been made more from a distance, to express the emptyness of this landscape.
