Description
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo — three isolated dolomite towers rising to 2,999 metres in the Eastern Dolomites — is among the most compositionally distinctive mountain subjects in the world. Their near-vertical north faces and the relative accessibility of the surrounding plateau have made them a pilgrimage site for landscape photographers. This photograph was made from a position 200 metres northeast of Rifugio Auronzo after a 4am start in darkness, timed to capture the alpenglow phenomenon: the brief moment when the first horizontal rays of the rising sun strike only the highest faces, producing an intense warm illumination against the cold pre-dawn atmosphere surrounding them. The alpenglow on the Tre Cime lasts approximately 6 minutes from first colour to the flood of full morning light that eliminates the contrast — every second of exposure requires precise attention to the changing light balance.
