At first the wall seems almost empty. Then the small shapes resolve into ibex, standing on a surface that looks astonishingly steep from the camera’s position. Paolo Seimandi’s photographs reward the closer look.
The wide view hides the useful detail
From a distance, the dam appears smooth. The closer frames reveal joints and irregularities that are difficult to see in the establishing photograph. The contrast explains why the scene can initially look more impossible than it does under closer inspection.
The archive’s location descriptions have circulated inconsistently, so this selection retains the Italian setting without treating an uncertain park label as confirmed. It also avoids presenting an exact wall angle as something measurable from a photograph.
Skill is visible; motives are less certain
The animals’ position is observable. A specific explanation of what every individual is seeking requires more than the frame alone. Compare these wild mountain animals with the domestic sheep in Peter Oswald’s rescue photographs, or with the close encounter in Juha Salo’s seal-pup recording.
From an empty wall to individual animals
The first view relies on scale: small shapes are hard to distinguish against the broad wall. Closer frames reveal the animals and the surface beneath them. Keeping both views is essential to the story, because the close-up alone would lose the initial surprise.
The original text used “damn” where it meant dam and “ipex” where it meant ibex. Those wording errors are corrected without adding an unsupported exact location. The older explanation about seeking minerals is presented as an interpretation of such behaviour, not a diagnosis of each animal’s motive from a still image. The photographer’s credit remains attached to the collection.
Love this. Tiny quibble they're climbing a dam,not a damn
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