Mountain and ski photography — the ground, the light, and the record.
Click on the Mountain was a photography contest held in Courmayeur. It ran ten editions between 2009 and 2018 and has not run since. Cold Light publishes at its former address and is independent of it. How this works.
What is going wrong
Why does the snow come out grey?
Because a reflected-light meter is calibrated for a mid grey and a snowfield is roughly five times brighter than one. The meter is not broken.Why do I nail the white balance some days and miss it entirely on others?
Because snow in sun and snow in open shade are lit by two different light sources, and one frame can contain both. No shade on a south face.The light has gone flat and everything looks like a white wall. Now what?
Overcast over snow removes the shadows that describe shape; the treeline is usually the nearest thing that puts them back. Flat light in Val Veny.Why does the camera say the battery is dead at the top of the lift and half full in the bar?
A cold lithium-ion cell has not lost its charge; it has lost the voltage to deliver it. A cold battery is not a dead battery.Why do my photographs make a steep slope look flat?
Mostly it is where you stood, and only then what lens you used. Distance decides the lens.Where am I actually allowed to stand?
A photographer working a slope is a stationary obstacle facing uphill, and the rules of the piste are written for the person moving. Standing in the fall line.What was Click on the Mountain, and is it still running?
A photography contest in Courmayeur. Ten editions, 2009 to 2018. It is not running. The record of ten editions.How were the photographs actually judged?
By named themes that changed over the run, by a jury of experts — and for one early edition, by public vote. The 2011 public vote, and the juries that replaced it.Why did every edition happen in the same few weeks of the year?
Sun angle and snowpack leave a window at Courmayeur that is only a few weeks wide. Why it was always March.Which ground did the contest actually use?
From the lift-served sectors above Chécrouit out to Cresta d'Arp, and later by helicopter and Skyway Monte Bianco to glacier terrain. Cresta d'Arp to Punta Helbronner.
Recently
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Click on the Mountain, 2009–2018: The Record of Ten Editions Under Monte Bianco
Ten winters, four teams a year, and a photography contest that changed shape almost every edition. The complete account, assembled from its own archived pages and the press that covered it.
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Four Teams, Three Days, One Book: What Click on the Mountain Was and How It Worked
A photographer, some riders, no itinerary and a deadline. What the contest actually asked of the people who entered it, and how that changed between 2009 and 2018.
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Standing in the Fall Line: Where a Photographer Can Legally and Safely Work on a Snow Slope
Every rule of conduct on a piste is written for the person moving. The photographer has stopped, is facing uphill, and is invisible over a convex roll — and almost nobody has written down what that means.
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Belluscio, Giordan, Bellini: The 2011 Public Vote, and the Juries That Replaced It
The third edition ran 22–26 March 2011, and for one year the public had a formal say. What open voting selects for, and what a jury in a room selects for instead.
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The Meter Is Not Broken: Metering Snow When the Subject Lasts a Second and a Half
Everyone says +1 to +2 stops. The useful part is what moves the number — and why grey cards and bracketing are physically impossible on the subject this genre actually shoots.
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No Shade on a South Face: Alpine Contrast, and the Two Colour Temperatures of a Single Slope
Find shade, add fill, wait for golden hour: portrait advice that does not survive contact with a mountain. Snow in sun and snow in shade are lit by two different sources, in one frame.
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When the Mountain Disappears: Flat Light in Val Veny, and the Treeline That Saves the Frame
The commonest condition in the Alps and the least written about. With no directional light there is no shading gradient, so the slope stops existing — for the eye and for the autofocus alike.
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A Cold Battery Is Not a Dead Battery: Lithium-Ion, Dew Point, and Camera Failure Below Freezing
A cold cell reports empty under load, warms in a pocket, and reports half full. It was never discharged — and once you know why, you can improvise without a plastic bag.
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Distance Decides the Lens: Why a Forty-Degree Face Reads Flat at 200mm
On a slope, terrain and safety decide how far away you can stand, and focal length follows from that. Recommends no equipment whatsoever.
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Cresta d’Arp to Punta Helbronner: The Ground Click on the Mountain Actually Used
Sector by sector across the ground ten editions worked — altitude, aspect, the hour the light arrives, and what the institutional record says about the hazards. Not a route guide.
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Why It Was Always March: Sun Angle, Snowpack, and the Narrow Window Courmayeur Gives
Every documented edition fell between late February and mid-March. That is not a scheduling accident — it is where the light is long enough to work and the snow is still winter snow.
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Reading the Frame: Vittorio Sella’s Alpine Plates, and the Oldest Problem in Snow Photography
Sella carried large-format plates across the Alps, the Caucasus and the Karakoram, and met the identical exposure problem — with an emulsion far more sensitive to blue than to red and no meter at all.