In the past month, I spent quite a bit of time hunting for attractive alpine winter landscapes to photograph. I haven’t been fortunate with the weather and mountain light so far though. It is however always good to just go out anyway and explore new areas for future shooting trips.
Unspoiled
A landscape in colour, featuring a meadow and alpine forest in winter with a fresh coat of virgin snow. Mountain peaks rise above the fog.
At this time of year, the sun doesn’t reach deep into many alpine valleys yet. So, luck needs to be helped a bit now and then. For the photograph to the right, titled Unspoiled, I resisted a very tempting cup of hot chocolate with apple pie after a long snowshoe hike. Instead, I hiked up yet another steep hill to reach a place where I expected to see scenery that was reachable for the late afternoon light. I was right and found a fairytale-like alpine winter landscape bathing in sunlight with a meadow and trees dusted with fresh snow. Besides that, the snow on the meadow in front of the trees was still unspoiled. I came away with a very nice series of alpine winter landscapes.
I was quite close to the first line of trees, so I used a wide-angle lens to open up the scene and to include enough of the virgin snow in the foreground as well as some of the drama in the sky. In the background, you see a few of the peaks of the Mont Blanc massif by the way. The viewpoint in this photograph is in Le Chapelet in Valais, Switzerland. I hope you like this alpine winter landscape!?
Click on the photograph to learn more or to buy a print or licence.
Cheers, Johan
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This alpine winter landscape is part of the Forest & Trees landscape photography theme, which also includes:
Interested to see more? Please visit our Winter & Snow photography theme. This theme showcases many more landscapes with mountains and alpine forests in winter from all over the world. Alternatively, check out our Swiss Landscape Photograph portfolio for more Swiss landscape photographs.
Wow!its so nice
Thank you Chen ! 🙂
Amazing +++
Thank you 🙂
@Anna: thank you 🙂
@Sharmon: many thanks Sharmon and nice to meet you :)
Nice to meet you too, Johan! :)
Beautiful Image Johan!!! ….breathtaking.
Beautiful shot!
Beautiful & Calm Johan
Many thanks Brian ! Thanks for stopping by :)
Thanks Annette and Chen !
Thsnks 4 sharing guy
I like so much 🙂
♥ ~❤❤❤~ ♥
I like it!
I take hundreds and hundreds of snow photos and painted only few yet, is never enough to look at beautiful snow shots like yours, bravo!!
Thanks for the bravo Mona!
Gorgeous !!! Thanks for this !!!
You are very welcome Martine! Thanks for the kind words 🙂 Nice to meet you :)
gorgeous! love the snow filled trees, the long shadows on snow and those mountains in background…wonderfully composed image
thanks Sweedon. One of the few days this winter with really nice light 🙂
Maravillosa foto y lindo paisaje.
Muchas gracias Teresa :)
Cudo!!!! Wonderful.
Thanks again Barbara! Thanks for stopping by! :)
a beautiful wintery view! tyvmfs Johan :)
Yw 🙂 Thanks for the kind words Darlene !
yw +Johan Peijnenburg ! :)
🙂
Lovely ethereal shot Johan
Many thanks Nicolas !
Woow amazing!
Thanks for the woow Enrique 🙂
no tracks.. just pure clean snow.. what a gorgeous winter scene.. so peaceful.. and here I want to climb in and make a snow angle.. “grins”.. hey.. someone has to do it.. it to fresh not to..
Many thanks Hope! I don’t mind snow angles … after I am gone 😉
awesome! love how you brought the white out
Thank you David !
Lovely shot Johan ! Beautiful atmosphere!
Thanks again Emanuele ! Much appreciated 🙂
@Suzie: glad you like it Suzie! Thanks!
@Johan: thanks and thanks for stopping by even though you are busy Johan!
Beautiful
Stunning inspirational image, perfect
Thank you Елена!
Many thanks Charles. Glad you do.
Johan beautiful, simply beautiful. I like ti a lot.
Wonderful atmosphere ! Thanks for sharing, Johan !
@George: it really is and they are not easy to find in a state like this 🙂
@Shane: yes, that hot chocolate was quite nice 🙂 Thanks for the kind words!
@Ada : glad you like it Ada! Yes, I actually bring it with me quite often, but forgot this time 🙂
this is absolutely amazing!! it is like a fairytale dream landscape. Superb,as always!
p.s. next time do not skip the hot chocolate, take it to go :)
this is gorgeous Johan! love the lines and texture in the snow. the light…the one twisty tree in the forground and the mountains peeking through.
I bet the hot chocolate was great after this.
This is gorgeous Johan; there is nothing like finding your own spot with fresh snow
dear johan, this looks heavenly!
love it:)
Thank you Betty! Nice to meet you here as well :)
nice to meet you, too Johan
I really like the light, the textures, and the subtile mountain on the background. It’s a superb image, Johan, very serene.
Merci Francis! Appreciate the feedback :)
@Rikard: Thank you and good luck with the hunt!
@Tom: many thanks Tom!
@Meg: thanks Meg! 🙂
@Anette: thank you very much Anette!
A beauty as usual :))
Fantastic view and beautifully captured :)
Lovely image and a good read as usual Johan.
Very very nice winter-scape Johan. I plan on finding a similar location in the next coming days. At least I will try 🙂 Was It shot in Switzerland?
@David: many thanks David!
@Julia: glad you like it 🙂
Superb Johan! So fresh and clear! Glad you postponed your hot chocolate that day! This shot was totally worth it, can’t wait for the rest! :)
Excellent exposure Johan. I like the way the peaks pop out.
Beautifully made Johan
thanks very much Bill!
Very nice winter landscape!
thanks Daniel!
seriously beautiful Johan
Thanks a lot Ed !!
Beautiful image ! Great clarity and sharpness. I usually find it is the photographer’s use of the equipment rather than the equipment itself that makes for a great photograph!
thanks for the compliment! I agree with your statement. It is not the gear. A camera and lens are just tools. It does help if they have a certain quality. Having the dynamic range of the D800E available for instance, makes a big difference in being able to achieve something on a lot of days 🙂
The pristine clarity of this winter panorama makes me wish that it could be winter forever. Thank-you for seeking it out and the sharing it.
for ever would be too much for me Carolyn, but I do love it as well 🙂 Thanks and you’re welcome!
beautiful winter scene !!
thanks Elena! 🙂
@Louis: thanks for the compliment Louis. Will try 😉
@Kurt: danke dir Kurt!
Great !
Nice work Johan. Very serene. Great process. Good eye for the shadows in the foreground. Great perspective. Keep it up :-)
Two months ago I had a chance to work for few hours with Hasselblad H4D-40. It is absolutely killer 🙂 But also very expensive toy. I think D800E for landscape photography is the best option, your photos obviously confirm it. Thank you very much and best regards!
the question is whether that is a practical option … think a Hasselblad set-up with the right lenses weighs a bit more than a D800E with similar lenses. It might work if you can drive everywhere, but most times I am hiking, snowshoeing or skiing to where I want to shoot 🙂
Johan is a great photographer no doubt, but is it wise to judge sharpness and resolution at web sizes?
I completely agree with you Scott – Johan is absolutely great photographer, always when I make any comments on his photo I refer to his skills. This time I just wanted to know more about his gear and secrets of postproduction. I still use DX and for me the difference between photos from D300 and D800E is very easy to catch, even at web sizes. Best regards for both of you! :)
@Grzegorz: you have some very sharp shots yourself! I have never been able to tell the difference between the formats online personally. Just out of interest, I wonder if you’d be able to tell from my last post (rio grande cottonwood) whether I use a d800e or not? And if so, then let me know your secret to telling :)
That really looks like an invitation to go skiing, Johan :)
that is ok after I have shot the image Christa 🙂
damn … now I’ve written such a lovely comment and it got deleted, because I accidently navigated to the next picture. I hope I can rephrase it Johan 😉
lol, you can give it a try Matthias. I am not seeing it yet 🙂
it was something about the skill of bringing nature’s details out “as-is”, cameras alone don’t do that and there are only very few people I’ve seen that are able to deliver that. you certainly do Johan .. I guess it sounded more dramatic and impressive in the first version :-)
lol! Well it sounded very nice and it is a great compliment! I think I still can improve a lot though, so I’ll keep practicing 🙂
unspoiled snow can indeed paint such beautiful scenery.
nice one Johan
Thanks very much for the kind words Mike!
nice scene Johan, well done.
I like that you included the snow in the foreground. The foreground often goes forgoten but it’s elemental for a good landscape picture.
Thanks for the compliment Fabrizio! You are right. In case I am shooting specific mountains, I often skip the foreground though :)
@Markus: good morning Markus! Thanks and have a great day too!
@Kamal: you are very welcome Kamal and thank you!
@Subra: thanks for the compliment Subra!
@Sumit: thanks Sumit!
@Nikola: thank you !
@Margaret: hah, I would love to do that to 🙂 Thank you Margaret!
@Sandra: a good week to you too Sandra!
@Dominique: thank you Dominique! Hoe is het met de sneeuw in België?
@lizett: thank you very much Lizett!
@Michelle: it sure is 🙂 Thank you Michelle 🙂
Meer sneeuw dan we gewoon zijn Johan.
meer files ook zeker 😉
Files in België? 😉
😀
@Pam: thanks for the compliment and nice to meet you 🙂
@Jordan: lol! How cold is it over there Jordan?
@Brian: glad you like it Brian! Thanks 🙂
@Yasmin: ow thank you so much Yasmin 😀 You are always way to nice. And yes, I had a nice cup of hot chocolate afterwards anyway! 🙂
Nice to meet you as well Johan . I am loving looking through your photos!! So great…
very nice to hear that Pam!
A gorgeous untouched snowscape, a good choise to postpone the hot chocolate 😉 🙂
A wonderful image, Johan! :)
First things first: A wonderful capture. I like the subtle lines the “snow-waves” create in the foreground, matching with the shadow lines on the unspoiled and fluffy surface. The clouds frame the distant peaks very well, and I can see clearly a symmetry in the trees in this image. As the mountains appear not too near in this 15mm shot and zooming in is limited, it’s hard to name them. I’d go for Aiguille d’Argentiere and Le Portalet for the first guess ;-). Thank you, Johan!
thanks for the great feedback Wilfried and yes you are spot on regarding the names of the two peaks in the back. I can assure you that I also have a few nice close-ups of those from this day. We still have to go to this place together! This is also where I shot that other image last year :)
A really rewarding place we have to visit together ;-)!
we have a lot of things to plan Wilfried! You will need more days off!
picture perfect….thank you so much johan…
Afternoon Johan and an absolut wonderful winter scene. Have a good day.
A scene that makes my heart want to fly to the peak of Mont Blanc. Beautifully capured Johan
Great photo and work!
Really unspoiled! Lovely!
Fantastic shot , the lighting and colours are top notch !
So lovely…a winter scene to ponder, for sure.
wonderful winter scene <3 it !!!!! : )
Such a pure and beautiful image.
good week my friend
This is another “killer” dear Johan, you are such a very talented person, plus you work so hard. Thank you for showing us the best of your awesome world.
Hope a big mug of hot chocolate was your reward after these shots 🙂
Have an excellent week!
Love those peaks framed by the trees and clouds Johan! Wonderful shot!
Absolutely gorgeous; post card perfect!
Wow – beautiful photo Johan!
thanks Michael. With a touch of mountain 😉
Very good! I like those tip of the mountains in the background, awesome scene.
Thank you very much Vitor !
Wonderful winter landscape ! I love the shadows on the snow, the majestic trees and the fascinating Mont Blanc massif in the background. Great work :-)
merci beaucoup! Thanks for the very kind words!
@Marianne: thanks! I can imagine. If I could mail over some snow I would!
@Jordan: many thanks Jordan! Hope you are enjoying a nice drink to go with the view!
Indeed I am drinking some tea to stay warm beneath my two polar fleece blankets that I’ve added to my wardrobe. Bonus feature? They have polar bear illustrations on them! lol :)
I see a very cool selfy coming up Jordan! Hope you pimped that tea a bit!
Bahaha! Alright.. oh man.. You’ve given me ideas! LOL
you already had those ideas, but you were fighting them! 😉
Lets just say it’s a might bit draughty outside when your only outerwear is polar fleece Johan 😉 LOL #LookAtWhatYouveStarted! lol!
I like it! I like being warm and viewing it right now too! lol 😀 Thanks for getting out and sharing your visions 😉 :D
Gorgeous scene! A welcome sight for a desert dweller :-)
super winter setting here Johan Peijnenburg
thanks a lot Walter!!
lovely hue of blue …
Thanks Nathan !
Beautiful Johan !! I love your winter wonderland!! It’s gorgeous!!
Thank you Margaret!! How are things?
Johan, thanks for asking. I’m doing well except my knee went crazy today and I’m in a lot of pain. I’m hoping all is well with you!! This photograph is most awesome my friend!!!
Hope that knee gets better quickly Margaret!! All is well here. I am not on-line a lot, but that is because I am trying to create a series of winter landscapes like this. Having fun at it 🙂 Thanks again for the compliment!
You should consider putting that series in an e-book! It would be awesome!!!
I am working on a few ideas Margaret. Will be publishing something towards the end of the year 🙂
That’s great news Johan!! Keep me on the updates list!! I know it will be great!!
will do!
@Scott: thank you Scott!
Many thanks Mady !
wonderful landscape
Really beautiful simplicity!
très belle
Merci jany :)
Absolutely stunning Johan
tnx Giu!
I am very impressed with all the details form D800E. It is just amazing, definitely I need to upgrade my gear. Would you tell me if you took this picture on the tripod or from your hand? However, the photo is amazing, the virgin snow is such beautiful… incredible landscape!
it is an amazing camera Grzegorz. I was used to a D3x, but this one is even better. Even more dynamic range and detail. You have to shoot with care though and have the better lenses. This is a handheld shot. By rule I use my tripod as much as possible, but when I am hiking in the snow I will try to get away with shooting handheld with wider lenses. Thanks for the compliment!
Thank you very much Johan for your explanation! The lens 14-24mm is great, one of the Nikkor’s best but I was thinking about 17-35mm due to problems with filters attachments to 14-24mm. How do you deal with this?
The 14-24 indeed doesn’t take regular filters. So far I have just lived with that fact. At the moment I am debating to either get the Lee SW150 filter holder for the 14-24 or to get the 16-35 as an extra lens. The latter option we allow me to do LE’s wider than 24mm, but I doubt I would take it along very often instead of the 14-24. So I think I will get the SW150 system.
I don’t think the 17-35 is a good option on FX. If you read the reviews, you will learn why :)
Thank you Johan for your lesson again. You are absolutely right, 16-35mm is much better than 17-35mm. The last question, as I am still impressed by quality of your photo, did you use at all a sharpening in Lightroom or did you adjusted only colours leaving original sharpness from D800E?
I do sharpen in Lightroom. Usually at 45/0.7/70 and than mask at 20. I also use a bit of clarity, but not too much. You really want a D800E now ejh?
Fantastic!
thanks a bunch Christophe!
@Paul: more luck with snow indeed, but not always with the skies and light Paul. Glad you like it!
@Gerard: it is hard to find here as well Gerard. It usually means getting up a mountain reeeeally early. Otherwise it will be “spoiled” by skiers. Thanks!
I love untouched snow. Hard to find here in the UK unless you go out into the wilderness. Lovely scene Johan!
yes Johan i like it! very lovely scene. seems that we’re both getting more lucky with snow the last days 🙂
Beautiful Johan !
hank you Jenn! How are things with you and the family? It’s been a while 🙁
Thanks! Things are going well, baby is keeping us on our toes that is for sure!
Good to hear all is well Jenn. Hope to see you guys again during one of the walks!
Yes for sure! we did some snowshoeing over christmas with success with the baby so hopefully we can join that one… else def. should be able to make some of rochers de naye :)
sounds like a plan! :)
Awesome shot Johan! I’m looking at it on my phone right now but can’t wait to look at it on a proper screen ;)
thank you! I can assure you it looks really cool full screen. At least that is what I think 😉
It looks better than pretty cool on a big screen Johan ! :))
Lol thanks Paul !
Excellent Johan!
thank you Monte!
Wonderful landscape
thank you! 🙂
Thanks. Well-spotted Manuela 🙂
@Gatto: :D
=^.^=
Outstanding. Love the small glance of the mountain.
@Оксана: thank you Oksana 🙂
@Shelly: thank you! My favourite season 🙂
@Leyla: couldn’t live without winter Leyla! Glad you like it!
Love it, is just amazing winter scene… missing in TX…
Very lovely winter scene!
So beautiful!
magical!
Thanks Mikko!
nice, lots of snow in NL at the moment, but all with grey dull clouds. does make for great animal shots though
yes it’s winter in NL I hear. Also hear it is ending again no? Thanks for the kind words Peter!
@Aditya: thanks! That would be cool 😀
@Louisa: thank you! You still in Africa?
Yes, cannot believe it has been this long. Mom still touch and go, but we are all being positive and she retains her humor which means more smiles than sadness. She is stubborn and does not want to return to Europe. I respect her decision, but I will miss her once I come home. My photography is keeping me sane most days at the moment 😉
good to hear! How long have you been there now?
Since the end of Sept.
that’s a long time already. Guess you’ll be staying for another while no?
I am not sure Johan, but I am opening another branch of my business here too which is amazing, so super happy. I have all my things in Milano though thus I cannot stay here much longer though 🙂 I will fly out and see my Mom ever few months though once back home.
the side effect of living somewhere else than the rest of the family. I know the feeling :)
I have been doing it since straight out of school, my brothers were the same. Glad I am not the only one who knows the feeling :)
been doing it for 5 years only now. Not always easy. I am very glad that the family can and is a still visiting CH as well. Hoping everybody will stay healthy and mobile for a long time to come!
I hope they will too, have a lovely day Johan :)
You too Louisa !
Loving you pp Johan, so beautiful. I am missing Winter so much back home thanks to all of you 🙂 Still sweltering here :)
I love it I share this
What a pristine scene Johan. I Love that one tree stands out a bit, the shadows in the snow and the peek at that mountain in the background. :)
Thank you! For some reason it looks a touch dark here. Need to fix that. It is a gorgeous place. It was one of the rare days so far this winter that I came away with a lot of nice shots …
I have not been hitting gold this year. I am still waiting for my “come away with a lot of nice shoots” winter shoot Johan. We need to get out in it soon. Been too long. :)
I have been out in the snow about 10 times already now. The weather and light has rarely been good however. The good part of winter should start now with the sun hitting the vallies a bit more 🙂 Yes, I agree!
At least you guys get some sun 🙂
Great shot here, True winter wonder land
We did get some indeed Philipp. Need a lot more though! Thanks :)
Very nice!
Thanks Jens !!
Great pic 🙂 Glad our trips were worthwhile ….besides getting rid of our “lazy sweat” as the Dutch expression tells you …. ;-)
thank you! I still have some lazy sweat left btw 😀
Working on that … this wednesday let’s go skiing, that will do it :-)
great plan 🙂
just a nice winter capture, simple and not easy to catch!
thanks Thomas! Very true. It has been difficult this winter so far!
Absolutely pristine, gorgeous winter scene my friend!
Thanks Alex! “Pristine” was my alternative title 😀
wonderful Johan
many thanks Dalibor 😀
Superb capture !!!
Thank you Eric !!
Beautiful!
many thanks Rich! Nice to see you here again!
Just took a look at your website! AWESOME WORK Johan !
Thanks for checking out my site and the compliment. Still need to upload loads of stuff but it is getting there 🙂
@Gemma: thank you Gemma!!
thanks Rodolfo !
Thanks Markus and Milena !
@Diego: thanks Diego! Enjoying winter as well?
@Michel: merci? How is winter now over there?
On a un peu de neige ici à Genève…
😀
Photographically speaking not so much! It’s more a lack of time than a lack of inspiration… I’ve spent a lot of time with family and friends… not bad 🙂 We didn’t have a lot of snow… till this week end: 70 cm of deep powder in the southern part of piedmont 🙂 that was fun :))
family is a good alternative! I have been taking them along a lot on shooting trips 🙂 Hope the inspiration will be back soon. You know, just going out is already half the inspiration!
I really hope this spring we could have our hiking in the Gran Paradiso… I’m really sorry for not doing it last year!
let’s make sure we do that Diego! I have been close again many times. Been doing a lot of shooting in the Grand St. Bernard region (the image above comes from there)!
Beautiful shot!
perfect tones, wonderful atmosphere, so beautiful shot!
Very beautiful Johan.
So peaceful! Wonderful image!!
Stunning!
beautiful winter winterlandscape!