Alpine Paradise

As everyone talks about artificial intelligence and images generated partially or entirely by software, I can claim this shot as my own, totally. But: I replaced the sky (not with Luminar) with a sky by myself.

What I want to say: Even if I edited this image rather heavily I put a huge amount of effort beforehand to make this work.

It all began with online scouting of this alpine area. There were a few Google Street Views but I searched a very special spot to shoot the milky way arch exactly over this mountain and lake. Google Earth helped me a bit with topography but I knew I had to be on location to search for the best possible spot.

After an hour of driving I was quite positive to easily get to this area further by foot on a medium level hike. I left my trekking poles in the car because I thought I didn't need them on the 5 km walk. Damn, was I wrong. I never ever sweated that hard. Narrow paths with holding ropes, super steep ascents with 3 foot high steps and a burning sun.

Reaching the lake was only half the fun. 300 metres of altitude on an unmarked path through dense pine trees really pulled the lungs out of my chest.

It was worth it. Every drop of sweat, every step und minute. Even if this was not the shot I was after (that was the milky way arch) I was really proud of it. The golden hour faded into the blue hour, the moon was about to set but shined its last light onto the peaks. Just glorious!