Slovak photographer Simon Trnka spent 2015 chasing first light across his home mountains: the jagged High Tatras, the grassy ridges of the West and Low Tatras, the crests of Malá Fatra and the lone summit of Veľký Choč. His sunrise photographs show tiny figures, tents and friends set against layered ridges, seas of cloud and snow turning pink at dawn.
Simon Trnka, a photographer addicted to sunrise
Trnka was a 27-year-old from Slovakia when he shared these pictures, and his recipe is simple: climb in the dark, wait on a ridge and photograph the moment the sun touches the peaks. A person in a red hat or a green jacket often sits in the foreground, giving scale to the huge views. Friends, a summit cross or a tent tell the story of the morning.
High Tatras and West Tatras
The High Tatras are the highest part of the Carpathians, on Slovakia's border with Poland. Their top, Gerlachovský štít, reaches 2,655 metres, and glaciers carved the granite into sharp peaks and dozens of mountain lakes, called plesá in Slovak. Tatra National Park (TANAP), founded in 1948, protects the Slovak side.
The West Tatras continue the chain to the west, with a main ridge 37 km long that holds 31 peaks above 2,000 metres. The highest is Bystrá at 2,248 metres; the Roháče area, crowned by Baníkov (2,178 m), is the most dramatic part. Plan ahead: TANAP closes many high trails each winter from 1 November to 14 June, and camping in the park is banned, so use mountain huts or designated sites.
Low Tatras: Ďumbier, Chopok and snowy plateaus
South of the High Tatras, across the Váh and Poprad valleys, the Low Tatras run about 80 km from west to east. The highest peak is Ďumbier at 2,042 metres, and its neighbour Chopok (2,024 m), reached by chairlift, is the range's most visited summit. Below it lies Jasná, one of Central Europe's largest ski resorts, and the Demänová caves. The range has been a national park since 1978.
Trnka's Low Tatras frames show how different the light is on snow: a figure with raised arms against a smooth white plateau, and warm sun meeting a cold blue basin.
Malá Fatra and Veľký Choč
Veľký Choč, at 1,611 metres, is the highest peak of the Choč Mountains in north-central Slovakia. It stands on its own, so the summit looks out over valleys that often fill with cloud at dawn.
Malá Fatra lies further west, near Žilina. Its highest summit is Veľký Kriváň (1,709 m), and the rocky Veľký Rozsutec (1,610 m) is its best-known profile. The village of Terchová, birthplace of the folk hero Juraj Jánošík, and the Vrátna valley ski area are the main bases. Trnka's camp on a grassy slope here makes the tent part of the sunrise story.
Tips for mountain sunrise photography
- Go the night before: sleeping at a hut or a legal campsite puts you in place without a long climb in the dark.
- Use a person for scale: a bright jacket or hat makes a small figure easy to find in a wide frame.
- Shoot before and after the sun appears: soft pre-dawn colour and the first direct light give two very different pictures.
- Look for layers: overlapping ridges and valley cloud create depth as the sun rises.
See more of Trnka's work in Simon Trnka’s Mountain Nights: Campsites, Sunrise and the Milky Way, or compare the Alps in Mikołaj Gospodarek’s Swiss Alps in Black and White and Lukas Furlan’s French Alps: A Walking Photo Essay.
Related reading
- Simon Trnka’s Mountain Nights: Campsites, Sunrise and the Milky Way
- Ten Years in the Tatras: Karol Nienartowicz’s Mountain Collection
- Karol Nienartowicz’s Mountain Tents: Six Years of Camps and Landscapes
- Marcin Kęsek’s Tatra Mountain Photographs
- Winter in the Karkonosze: Snow, Summit Buildings and Borderland Views
- Mikołaj Gospodarek’s Swiss Alps in Black and White
- Lukas Furlan’s French Alps: A Walking Photo Essay
No comments