A portrait of the Swiss Alps

On departure from Zürich to Paris yesterday the ground was shrowded in gloom and haze, but above it the sky was clear and crystalline. I sat purposely on the left side of the plane to get a view, even though I knew I’d be photographing the scene against the sun, which would be low in the early afternoon on a day approaching the Winter Solstice. Worse, the window looked like it had been cleaned with fine-grit sandpaper. Still, I got some nice shots with my old Tamron zoom and the Canon Rebel Xti (borrowed from the excellent and generous Rebecca Tabasky, a colleage at the Berkman Center).

I’m guessing the plane was about a hundred miles from the shot above. Closer for some of the early ones, and much farther for some of the later ones, some of which feature Mont Blanc, the only peak I could easily identify. I’m hoping some of the rest of you can fill in the blanks.



2 responses to “A portrait of the Swiss Alps”

  1. You should have taken the train!

    Last year I took a train from Paris to Basel, CH. Next time I bone up on the insults in French so I can tell the Parisians off. Totally useless in letting me know what I needed to know. It’s pretty sad when you have to take a taxi from one train station to another because they can’t take the time to explain it to you.

    Going the opposite way would be great. Going back would probably work, I’ve done a little more homework, and would do a little more. I was worried about learning German when I should have been learning French.

  2. Yes, a train would be nice. Alas, I was flying from Boston to Paris, and merely hubbed through Zürich. But I understand that the snow is already deep in the mountains. Would love an excuse to go skiing there this (or any) winter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *