Oeschinensee

One of the things I missed the most when I was in Spain these last holidays was the snow. Even if some snow flakes fell in Madrid during Christmas, they melted right away… So I was looking forward to come back to Zurich and enjoy the winter landscapes here. But when I came back to the city all that wonderful Christmas feeling was gone: no more lights, no snow… This is when I decided that I had to see snow and I planned a short trip to one of the places I’ve been seeing on Instagram since I moved here: Oeschinen lake.

Oeschinensee (this is its German name) is an alpine lake close to the small town of Kandersteg, surrounded by the Bernese Alps. From the photos I had seen, in summer it is a dark lake surrounded by green and grey mountains, a great spot for hiking and swimming during the hot Swiss summer days. In winter, the lake freezes and it’s possible to walk on the frozen water or even fish in the ice! When it has been snowing, the surface of the lake is white, but after a few sunny days, the superficial snow on the ice melts and the lake gets a beautiful black color and it’s possible to skate on the lake….

I went there two weeks ago. To reach the lake I had to take a gondola from Kandersteg to the ski station and, from there, a beautiful and short walk through an enchanting forest leads you to the frozen white lake. It was quite a view! I went to the lake and walked on the ice (I hadn’t done this since I was living in Stockholm, almost 6 years ago!). It was super cold, but also a great experience! And I saw people fishing in the ice, making small holes in it (from where I could see how thick the ice was)…

This was also my first time photographing snowed landscapes… I have to say that it wasn’t easy! So many photos got burn because of the sun reflecting on the snow… Others have a very high dynamic range, so the shadows look underexposed and the whites overexposed… And the sky didn’t help! It was a beautiful and clear day, with the cleanest blue sky!! But that also increased the difficulty. It was fun to photograph these landscapes and also very challenging!

Now that I had my dose of snow, I hope it snows in Zurich soon, so I can see the city covered in white again… Otherwise I’ll have to go back to the mountains! 🙂

Here are some photos I took during this trip to Oeschinensee. I hope you like them!