A visual essay by Fred Tougas
The Dolomites
A vision by Fred Tougas
I am drawn to the highest places. Only there can I feel immensity, only there am I part of something bigger. Living in a city without any horizon to contemplate, we slowly lose our capacity to look afar. We became shortsighted. Hiking to the highest peaks puts things back into perspective. We watch the rock formations, the way they seem still, immovable and timeless, but aren't really. Observing the mountains, we read a story as old and complex as Earth itself.
The Dolomites' appearance is something else. From its valley, sharp and jagged peaks rise from the ground like spires, straight up to the sky. Some 200 million years ago, this area lay underwater. Now, stones lie in gigantic piles and fields like cemeteries, displaying the work of immemorial time. I had never seen such formations before, and kept imagining giant fossilized beasts, of which we could only see the dorsal spine emerging from down below.
The Dolomites' appearance is something else. From its valley, sharp and jagged peaks rise from the ground like spires, straight up to the sky. Some 200 million years ago, this area lay underwater. Now, stones lie in gigantic piles and fields like cemeteries, displaying the work of immemorial time. I had never seen such formations before, and kept imagining giant fossilized beasts, of which we could only see the dorsal spine emerging from down below.
Traveller/s
Fred Tougas
Photographer
Fred Tougas is a freelance, self-taught photographer from Montréal, Canada, interested in the passing aesthetics of our surroundings. Aiming for a slow paced approach towards photography and almost exclusively shooting on 35mm and 120 film, his work investigates the way scenes naturally unfold through human interference, as well as its absence.
@tougs
