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<p>I can't believe that it has been three months since I posted a blog article. I had a wedding in the meantime, but shortly thereafter flew with my wife to Switzerland, and then to Paris. I posted the <a href="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/christopher-humphrey-photography/client-other-galleries/jacob-and-julie-tie-the-knot-1/">wedding pics</a> for the couple and their friends, but wrote nothing about photography till now.</p>
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<p>Switzerland was dazzling. On our first full day (June 26), I took 410 photos. The next day I took 555. As the week or so wore on, the daily number went down somewhat, as I became more familiar with what I was shooting: awe-inspiring mountains, glaciers, and valleys, sometimes in sun, sometimes in mist and shadow. (My Search-Engine-Optimization drill sergeant tells me that my sentences are too long. <em>Too bad. Read on</em>.)</p>
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<p>The first image shows where Wengen, our base, is situated, in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland. The second shows you the main street. This was close to our apartment. Switzerland is expensive: we economized by getting a basement apartment on the main drag, with no view out the one window. (It was an interior courtyard where people kept bikes, etc.) However, once we walked out the door, we were greeted by geographical beauty every way we looked. From the train station to almost every part of town, we could see the Monch and the Jungfrau mountain peaks (and a bit of the Eiger). The names are tied to a bit of folklore: the Jungfrau (the young <em>frau </em>or woman, or maiden) on the right, is protected from the Eiger (or Ogre) mountain, which is largely hidden to the left, by the Monch (or Monk) in the middle, which is the most prominent mountain, seen from Wengen. (It all sounds very 19th-century -- the "damsel in distress" -- but it probably goes back further.) Click to see the whole images.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A8030-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14481"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Wengen, between Lauterbrunnen (below) and Mannlichen (above)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A6785-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14410"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The main street in Wengen</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A6803-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14417"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The train station</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A6793-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14416"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The road leading out of town and up the hill.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A6787-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14414"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The train station viewed from the town square</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/L8A6141-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14412"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Eiger to the left, the Monch in the middle -- <em>I think.</em></figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/L8A6131-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14411"/></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/L8A6866-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14368"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The train station through the Spark lens</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/L8A6863-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14367"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The water is drinkable</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A7139-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14402"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mist is common -- clouds come down</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A6823-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14375"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The cable-car terminal in Wengen; the car goes up to Mannlichen, which overlooks both valleys.</figcaption></figure>
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<p>OK, that's the end of the family slide show. Most of the rest of the images that I will post will be of mountains -- peaks, glaciers, valleys -- as this is what impressed me most about Switzerland.</p>
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<p>Distances are hard to judge: mountains, that look like they're a mile away, are twenty. This is partly the effect of one of my lenses, the 100-400mm zoom. It compresses the distance, so you don't get the same sense of depth from an image. This will show up with images shot across valleys, the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys to be specific. As a zoom lens, it lets me reach high into the peaks from far away and at about the same height, and capture something with almost no context, whether its jutting rock, over-brimming snow packs, our blue glacier ice stained with brown rock debris. Mist on mountain tops also lends mystery and moodiness. (No more alliteration for now :-)</p>
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<p>There's a maxim of landscape photography: Don't shoot in the middle of the day, but either in early morning sunlight, or sunset. You want shadows. Well, with mountains, the light is often <em>raking </em>down the front or the sides of the rock, so you get <em>texture </em>from the shadows, as you can see from the first image<em>.</em></p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/L8A7082-2-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14474"/></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/L8A6932-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14429"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Schreckhorn</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A7125-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14401"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Mist in the Lauterbrunnen Valley</figcaption></figure>
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<p>I'm running out of time to do all the things I want to do. I'm working through Switzerland's photos, and then of course there is Paris. I have another creative shoot next week, and I'm hoping to finish a stained glass art piece. My plan with my travel images is to put up a series of blog posts on both locations, while preparing galleries of the best images, under the heading of locations and days on which we visited them.</p>
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<p>The primary division on the Jungfrau region is between the Lauterbrunnen Valley and the Grindelwald Valley. The ridge which divides them, and has cablecar terminals facing each way, is called Mannlichen.</p>
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<p>In the photos below, you see my wife Edith standing at the Royal Crown outlook on Mannlichen. On the left, the background shows the Grindelwald Valley, where a lot of the tourist activities take place (paragliding, bike-riding down the hill, etc.). On the right is the Lauterbrunnen. Tolkien used to hike in the region, and in particular in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. I am told that it is his inspiration for Rivendell.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A7024-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14394"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Grindelwald Valley</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A7025-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14395"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lauterbrunnen Valley</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A7628-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14470"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Grindelwald Valley</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://christopherhumphreyphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/O3A7060-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14400"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lauterbrunnen Valley</figcaption></figure>
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<p>That's it for now. Stay tuned. Much more to come, God granting me the energy to do this and a hundred other things -- like vacuuming.</p>
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