October 15th——

I’m on the plane and ready for take- off. The anticipation of this trip has kept a smile on my face for months. I am finally heading there. I have a direct flight to Munich and will meet my group tomorrow morning. We’ll drive 4 hours to our first stop along the way. We hope to have an incredible sunset shoot— fingers crossed…

Ok, we made it to our first stop after checking into our quaint mountain lodge in the heart of the Italian Dolomites. Our first photo session was a sunset shoot at the Church of St. John of Nepomuk in Ranui. The old-world church is situated in the very center of the valley with a backdrop of mountain peaks and trees. We waited and almost missed the pink sky at sunset.

In the morning we did a three-mile hike (one way—but this was an add-on and it was also an optional shoot, some of the group went to a different location that required no hiking) into the alpine meadows of the incredible Alpe di Siusi. This is Europe’s largest, high-altitude plateau. The imposing peaks of the Sassolungo and Sasso Piatto tower over the rolling hills below which are dotted with small wooden huts and yellow and green larch trees.

Evening shoot at the Church of St. Magdalena. This church is up on top of the hillside with layers and layers of trees and mountains behind it. We enjoyed our view of the majestic mountains with glorious light on the church as the sound of chapel bells and cow bells filled the air. It was a wonderful evening.

In the morning, our group visited the Passo Sella (Italian). The Sella Pass is a high mountain pass between the provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol in Italy. It connects the Val Gherdëina in South Tyrol and Canazei in the Fascia Valley in Trentino. There are 360-degree shots from the top and it’s hard to decide where to point your lens when you first arrive. However, the mountains become illuminated, and you can’t help but follow the light. I wanted a foreground element, and, in my search, I came across this tiny orange Charlie Brown tree that caught my eye. I used the pink sunrise colors and golden tipped peaks to frame my shot.

Next, we went to Baita Segantini in the early morning. Here we photographed a famous mountain hut at the foot of the Pale di San Martino. A nearby pond allowed us a beautiful reflection of the peaks of the Pale di San Martino. The weather forecast was for cloudy conditions, so we were hopeful for some color. Predicting sunrises is not a job I want…. you just never know until you get there. As we parked the car, we feared the worse- a sunny bright sunrise with the light directly behind our mountains. Ugh…Lucky for us, our patience paid off a bit with no wind, a touch of color and a wisp of clouds (we returned the next morning for a second chance). On our way back to the hotel we stopped to photograph some stands of trees that adorn the mountainsides. I captured the image below which is one of my favorites from the trip. In post processing, I softened it up a touch and desaturated it…

In the morning we took the Seceda cable car to the very top where we had a panoramic view with a stormy sky— yippee! Afterwards, we headed to Cortina and stopped at a quaint little mountain cafe on the way. During our stay in Cortina, it rained and there was quite a bit of fog for our first evening shoot at Lago Antorno. It’s crazy because we’ve been hoping for fog…. be careful what you wish for.

Our second photo shoot in Cortina was beautiful. We went to the top of Auronzo di Cadore for some “mountain peaks in fog” shots. We finished the evening session with a reflection at Lago di Misurina, the light was blah, but we had some nice blue tones on the mountains at last light.

Our early morning photo session was at Lago di Braise. This is the place that I most wanted to go to. Unfortunately, the water level in the lake was very low (hopefully on my next visit it will be back to normal) and the shot I wanted to capture was not so good… plan B- stand by the beautiful lake and reflection and shoot the mountains and boats with the reflection.

The tour ended with one last shooting session at Passo Giau, it connects Cortina d'Ampezzo with Colle Santa Lucia and Selva di Cadore. It was a lovely ending to a fantastic trip that I cannot wait to repeat!