Aiguille de Blaitière, Aiguille des Ciseaux and Aiguille du Fou

Afternoon clouds part, revealing the dramatic peaks of Aiguille de Blaitière, Aiguille des Ciseaux and Aiguille du Fou, three of the numerous aiguilles (needles) above the town of Chamonix in the Haute-Savoie department of France.

This was one of a number of mountain landscape photographs I captured during a multi-day trail running photo shoot with a friend who was a Salomon-sponsored athlete. He and his wife were staying in Chamonix for the Summer and they kindly invited me out for a few days to join them. At the time I was accepting work as a professional outdoor and adventure sports photographer and so I hired an assistant and we spent a productive few days in what’s often referred to as the mountain sports capital of the world. The trip served its purpose - both athletes were happy and the photographs we captured led to more work - but the business I eventually decided wasn’t viable. It’s somewhat challenging and highly stressful committing to expensive commercial photo shoots when you have a full-time job and I decided I was perhaps twenty years too late in life to go all in, which is what was needed to make it work. It did instil in me though a professional work ethic for photography, plus a good knowledge of business practice - and it provided some amazing experiences - so although it was disappointing to close the business down after all the effort I put into it, I don’t class it as wasted effort in my life at all.