The Berner Oberland Bahn train leaves bang on time from Interlaken. This is Switzerland after all, where you can set your watch by the trains. Soon we climb gently alongside the fast running waters of the Weisse Lütschine river. The clanging of cowbells signals that we’re well and truly in the mountains; and keeping time already feels less important.
Stepping off the train at Lauterbrunnen we absorb our first, deep breaths of the crisp mountain air, feeling instantly uplifted. It’s a strange feeling of being fully energized, yet totally relaxed at the same time. Our heavy luggage even feels lighter as we walk across the railway tracks and up the hill into the village centre. There is something about this place that brings a sense of calmness.
Coming from the dry, dusty plains of New South Wales, I am blown away by the immense scale of these mountains, the sheer vertical cliffs lined with waterfalls, the lush green pastures, the steep mountain railways, and the spectacle of the snow-capped peaks high above. It hardly seems real.
The area has made such an impression that I am now on my fourth visit to this magical glacial valley, believed to be the inspiration for JRR Tolkien’s fictional Elven settlement of “Rivendell”.
A highlight of this, and every visit has been the round-trip starting with a cable car from Lauterbrunnen up to Grütschalp. Then it’s a walk along the trail via Winteregg to Mürren, where you feel you can almost reach out and touch the huge, rocky peaks of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau just across the valley. From here it’s a steep descent on foot via Gimmelwald to Stechelberg; then back along the valley floor, following the river to Lauterbrunnen. This all takes the best part of a day, allowing for a hearty mountain lunch and pausing for photo opportunities around every corner. The scenery is just breathtaking, and the exertion of the walk will earn you plenty of credits towards that next fondue, rösti, or apple strudel!
Being on holiday I have to be forgiven for some laziness, and this might have involved taking a few too many ‘happy snaps’ using the iPhone camera. But of course I did bring my serious gear as well, hoping to capture some nice alpine landscapes.
The autumn sun was low in the sky, the horizons are anything but flat, and the steeply angled mountains and valleys are split between light and shade for most of the day. Even with a set of graduated neutral density filters it was a real challenge to capture a scene in these highly contrasting conditions with a single shot.
I found it was a good practice to use exposure bracketing, and as always I shot in camera RAW format to be able to retrieve the most possible data from every pixel. For exponents of HDR processing this is the perfect environment to practice this technique. With all the walking I also appreciated having a sturdy but lightweight tripod – my new Cullmann Magnesit 525C carbon model passing its first test.
Lauterbrunnen lived up to my high expectations yet again, and I’ve chosen a handful of my favourite images to share …
Above: The Weisse Lütschine river running through the Lauterbrunnen valley on a dark afternoon. Such stunning scenery, and it’s easy to understand how JRR Tolkien’s visit here might have inspired his fictional ‘Rivendell’. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 16mm), ISO 100, 5.0 secs at f/18. Lee Filters GND’s 0.6h+0.6s].
Above: A low perspective of the Weisse Lütschine river, Lauterbrunnen valley. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 18mm), ISO 100, 2.0 secs at f/13. Lee Filters GND’s].
Above: Fog drifts up from the valley on an early morning walk between Grütschalp and Mürren, an old water trough on a dairy overlooking the railway tracks. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 16mm), ISO 100, 1/125 sec at f/9].
Above: Autumn colours on the narrow road from Mürren to Gimmelwald. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 17mm), ISO 100, 1/250 sec at f/9].
Above: More autumn colour between Mürren and Gimmelwald. The tourist T-Shirts here say “Switzerland – Up a mountain, Down a beer”. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, the Valley Hostel at Gimmelwald is perfectly positioned for lunch and a restorative glass of the local Rugenbräu lager before tackling the very steep path down to Stechelberg. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 16mm), ISO 100, 1/250 sec at f/9].
Above: The Weisse Lütschine near Stechelberg. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 16mm), ISO 200, 1/80 sec at f/6.3. Lee Filters GND’s].
Above: A view of the stunning landscape near Stechelberg. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 24mm), ISO 100, 1/4 sec at f/8.0. Lee Filters GND’s].
Above: Lauterbrunnen valley. It was difficult to capture this valley scene in daylight without some filtering or exposure blending. This is a single exposure using Lee Filters GND’s. Localised corrections to exposure were made in post processing, and the image was cropped after correcting vertical distortion from the wide-angle lens. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 17mm), ISO 100, 0.6 sec at f/14. Lee Filters GND’s].
Above: Dairy farms in the Lauterbrunnen valley. [Sony DSLR-A850, Zeiss 16-35mm (at 18mm), ISO 100, 0.4 sec at f/14. Lee Filters GND’s].
