I photograph the mountains because, for a long time, images allowed me to say things I could not always express in words.
In my twenties, I was very introverted. I could feel a great deal without necessarily being able to share it. Photography gradually gave me another language: light on a ridge, a tiny figure in the middle of a glacier or a few seconds of colour before nightfall could sometimes convey what I wanted to express more accurately.
The mountains became the natural setting for this way of expressing myself. It still guides my work today: conveying what these landscapes make me feel, showing places that not everyone can reach and sometimes allowing someone to recognise, in a photograph, a place that is already part of their own story.
My relationship with photography developed gradually, alongside my time in the mountains. I have never separated the two: the camera began accompanying me on outings, then photographic work took on an increasingly important role.
From my first DSLR to mountain photography
I bought my first DSLR in 2012. It was an entry-level camera, but it offered me something new: the ability to choose my own settings and, above all, to try to understand why an image worked or did not.
I taught myself through books, the Internet, plenty of trial and even more error. I was already spending time in the mountains: hiking, skiing, climbing and then mountaineering. At first, I did not necessarily set out to take a photograph. I went out to be outdoors, to walk, climb or ski, and the camera came with me in case something happened.
In 2016, photography became a second occupation and I registered as an artist-photographer. From 2017 onwards, mountain photography became truly central to my work. The Alps remain my main territory, although the Dolomites, Iceland and Norway have also shaped the way I see.
Over time, I realised that photography also allowed me to communicate differently. An image can show a scene without my having to explain straight away why it affected me. Someone else may see something different in it, or bring their own story to it.
A mountain photographed at sunrise is never just a mountain. There is waking in the night, the cold, the silence, sometimes several hours of effort to reach the right place, and then the waiting. The final image cannot show all of that, of course. But when it works, I like to think it holds on to something of the experience.
Photographing the mountains from within
My photography developed alongside my mountain sports. Hiking, climbing, mountaineering and especially ski touring and ski mountaineering gave me access to places and moments I would probably never have encountered otherwise.
I love this way of moving through the mountains because it makes you take your time. You have to climb before descending, observe the snow, read the terrain, choose a route, leave early and sometimes accept a complete change of plan when conditions do not match what you had imagined.
Photographically, this has given me some very particular scenes: valleys still in shadow, summits lit long before the rest of the landscape, a lone track on a slope or a skier who looks almost tiny against the terrain.
This passion also led me to take part in various outdoor projects and to collaborate with Millet Mountain and ZAG Skis, among others. I was interested in more than just photographing the action: I enjoyed telling the story of the whole day, the effort, the conditions, the terrain and, above all, the very modest place we occupy in the mountains.
Photographing the Alps also means telling the story of a region. Over the years, I have worked with the Département de la Savoie, the Département de la Haute-Savoie and various local organisations, and spent several years as a Savoie Mont-Blanc ambassador. These collaborations strengthened a conviction: a mountain region cannot be reduced to a few famous peaks or resorts. It also includes mountain huts, valleys, alpine pastures, lakes, villages, forests, glaciers and wildlife.
What I look for when I photograph a landscape
I have never wanted to photograph the mountains by following a formula. Some images take several days of preparation: I look at the weather, the orientation of the terrain, the position of the sun, access and composition possibilities. Sometimes I return to the same place several times because the light I had imagined simply never arrived.
At other times, everything happens in a few seconds: a break in the clouds, a ridge catching the light before the rest of the massif, a sea of clouds or a figure moving into exactly the position that finally gives the landscape a sense of scale.
Depth, scale and light
I am particularly drawn to images in which layers of terrain overlap and the eye can really travel through the scene. A natural line, a track in the snow, a mountain hut, a skier or a mountaineer can be enough to reveal the full scale of the landscape.
The telephoto lens plays an important part in my work: it brings distant layers visually closer together, simplifies a scene and turns a vast landscape into a more graphic composition.
The first and last light of the day are probably still my favourite moments. It is not just about colour: I especially love the transition, when the summits begin to catch the light while the valleys remain cold and blue, or when a few ridges stay lit for a few extra minutes in the evening.
Equipment is still a tool
Equipment matters, particularly when the files will later need to support a large-format print, but it will never replace good light, a viewpoint or being in the right place at the right time.
I mainly use a Nikon D850 with three NIKKOR zoom lenses — 16–35 mm f/4, 24–70 mm f/2.8 and 70–200 mm f/2.8 — as well as a DJI Mavic 2 Pro for aerial photography. For me, the drone offers a complementary perspective: from the ground or the air, the aim is the same, to create an image that makes you want to stop and look.
I explore this approach in my mountain photography guides, particularly through composition and depth, exposure settings and sunrise photography.
Vanoise and the Écrins, the two massifs closest to my heart
The Alps are immense, and I have grown attached to many places. But if I had to choose two regions in the French Alps, I would choose Vanoise and the Écrins without hesitation. These are the two massifs and national parks to which I feel most attached, and where I have made a substantial part of my mountain photographs.
Vanoise: a massif I always return to
Vanoise has a variety I particularly love. You can begin a day in gently rolling alpine pastures and, a few hours later, find yourself facing glaciers, limestone walls and high summits.
The Grande Casse, the Aiguille de la Vanoise, Pralognan-la-Vanoise, the glacier de Gébroulaz and the refuges de la Valette are among the places that immediately bring images and memories to mind.
I have brought together some of my experience of the massif in the guide Where to photograph Vanoise?, complemented by several field guides.
The Écrins: a rawer mountain landscape
The Écrins give me a different feeling. There, I feel the progression towards the high mountains more strongly: you make your way up a valley, the slopes close in, the forests gradually disappear and the landscape becomes increasingly rocky.
Valgaudemar, the plateau des Rouies, the Sirac, the Barre des Écrins and the Pré de Madame Carle are among the places where you immediately feel the scale of the massif. This is probably what I seek most in the Écrins: conveying the size of the mountains rather than simply showing them.
I have devoted a full guide to the different areas of the massif in Where to photograph the Écrins?, complemented by guides focusing on places including the Pré de Madame Carle, La Meije, the plateau d’Emparis and Valgaudemar.
Sharing what I have learned in the mountains
Over the years, I have wanted to go beyond showing a finished photograph. When a place has left an impression on me, I also like to explain why: how the light moves through it, what compositions are possible, what I have learned by returning or simply what makes me want to go back.
Much of the guidance published on AluArtMountains grew out of this experience. I do not want these guides to be simple lists of “spots”. An interesting photograph does not come from a GPS coordinate alone. You need to understand the place, observe, prepare and sometimes accept that conditions will decide for you.
Photography destinations
Mont-Blanc, Vanoise, the Écrins, Vercors, the Swiss Alps and other massifs explored in the field.
Photography techniques
Light, composition, settings, depth of field and the weather conditions encountered in the mountains.
The most beautiful places
Lakes, mountain huts, glaciers, viewpoints and landscapes that make you want to return to the mountains.
A landscape is never just a backdrop
Over time, I have realised that a mountain photograph can be seen in two very different ways.
For someone who does not know the place, a photograph of the Grande Casse, Mont-Blanc or the Écrins can be a discovery. For someone who has already been there, it can mean much more.
That summit may be the one you climbed with a friend. That valley may bring back memories of a family holiday. That mountain hut, a night spent with someone. That lake, a hike from years ago. Sometimes a simple outline of the terrain can bring back an entire moment of life.
This has become fundamental to how I see my work: allowing someone to bring into their home not just a landscape, but sometimes a place connected to part of their own story.
AluArtMountains grew out of this vision
In 2024, I founded AluArtMountains to give my photographic work a new form. First of all, I wanted my images to leave the screen, to be printed at a large scale and regain some of the presence we feel when a landscape truly fills our field of view.
I chose matte aluminium Dibond as the gallery’s main medium for its rigidity, flatness and understated finish. The matte surface reduces distracting reflections and lets the photograph occupy the whole visible area without adding a glossy effect that would overpower the image.
But AluArtMountains soon grew beyond printing my own photographs. I wanted to be able to help someone looking for a particular place: the summit they see from home, the valley they return to each year, the massif of their childhood or the landscape of a hike they shared with someone.
Keeping the image you receive faithful to the one you chose
For me, creating a gallery was not about putting files online and then leaving the rest of the process entirely aside. When a photograph becomes a print, I want it to retain what made me select it: its framing, detail, contrast and light.
I work with professional production partners and retain control over the preparation of the image beforehand. File resolution, framing, proportions and print size are checked before production begins. If a standard size is unsuitable, a specific crop can be considered without stretching or distorting the photograph.
I also wanted to minimise the risk for someone ordering a photograph without having seen it printed in front of them. That is why I chose to include insurance covering printing defects, breakage and damage in transit. If a problem is confirmed, a replacement print meeting the agreed requirements is produced at no charge, without limiting the applicable statutory guarantees.
For prints offered in the standard sizes in the catalogue, a right of withdrawal within 14 calendar days of receipt also applies. Genuinely personalised or custom-made pieces are subject to different rules.
The aim is simple: for the print you receive to be as faithful as possible to the photograph you chose on the website — and for buying an image that matters to you not to become a risk.
The Alps are too vast for one photographer to tell their whole story
I have not photographed all of the Alps. And I never will. There are thousands of valleys, summits, mountain huts, villages and viewpoints. No single photographer could honestly claim to tell the story of all of them.
That is why AluArtMountains has become a mountain photography gallery featuring multiple photographers. Alongside my own work, I select photographs by other photographers when they fit the gallery’s artistic direction.
I am not simply looking for a spectacular image. I look for a photograph that gives an identity to the place it depicts: an image that makes someone want to discover the place or, conversely, immediately brings back a memory for someone who already knows it.
Each photographer’s vision must remain their own. Every work is therefore clearly credited to its actual photographer on its product page. When the name “Pierre Thiaville” appears, the photograph is mine.
Collaborations, publications and professional projects
Over the years, my work has led me to collaborate with outdoor brands, public institutions and tourism organisations, as well as various media outlets. These projects have taken very different forms: photography in the field, editorial content, tourism communications, publication, decoration and licensing.
The collaborations and experiences already mentioned on this page include Millet Mountain, ZAG Skis, the Département de la Savoie, the Département de la Haute-Savoie and several years as an ambassador for Savoie Mont Blanc.
From photographic file to photo print
A photograph intended for large-format printing is not prepared in quite the same way as an image intended for a phone or social media. I check resolution, sharpness, detail, contrast and framing in particular, so that the image remains coherent when enlarged.
Some photographs can also be adapted to specific dimensions, subject to the available resolution and the composition of the image.
Photographic licences
Photographs that I have personally taken can be considered for various uses: tourism communications, publishing, digital campaigns, display, decoration or other media. A licence precisely defines the permitted uses.
I can grant rights directly only for my own photographs, not for works by other photographers featured in the gallery.
Rediscover a place, or discover a new one
If you are looking for a particular summit, valley, mountain hut or landscape in the Alps, you can browse the gallery’s collections and guides or simply contact me.
Perhaps you are looking for a photograph because you find the landscape beautiful. Perhaps you are looking for the place where you climbed your first summit, spent a week with your family, skied with friends or shared a day with someone who matters to you.
In either case, that is exactly why AluArtMountains exists.