Reduce to the essentials
- Adrian Wirz
- Dec 20, 2025
- 5 min read
Am I a landscape photographer? An artist? Or a minimalist? Probably a bit of everything! Looking back on my 10 years as a landscape photographer, I've probably made all the mistakes a beginner makes! Trying to cram as much as possible into the photo! Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, a beautiful flower meadow, a few alpine huts, and some cows on the right—they have to be in the shot too! And there you have it, a landscape photo?!
There are photographers who have mastered this type of landscape photography, but I'm definitely not one of them. I'm more of a zoomer than a wide-angle photographer. A long focal length allows you to reduce a photo to its bare essentials, similar to a macro lens. That's why macro photography fascinates me so much! In my early days as a photographer, I was exclusively at racetracks in Europe. A big gun in front of the camera was paramount! What did I want with a wide-angle lens and tripod back then, the spectators in the stands? No, the car and the driver, filling the frame as much as possible. Then as now, I prefer to include as little as possible in my photos, but what little there is, I want to capture without any unnecessary clutter. I love this kind of photography! But back to the linden tree in the Emmental. At the beginning of March 2020, I saw a photo in an Instagram story and I was blown away by its simplicity! A linden tree on an Emmental hill with the most beautiful 4000-meter peak in the Bernese Oberland behind it—what more could you want! There are countless photos of these solitary trees with magnificent sunsets, but I've never seen one with such a melodious name as the Schreckhorn in the background!
About two months later, I was there. It was a cool spring evening with good visibility.
It was a lovely spring evening in the Emmental valley with Daniel Horisberger. But it could get even better! In mid-November, the time had come. One Friday evening, Daniel asked me if I wanted to go to the Bölchen the next morning. I very rarely go up the Bölchenfluh on a Saturday morning! But I asked him what he thought about the linden tree in the Emmental; thick fog was forecast. "That could work," he said. So we met the next morning at 6 a.m. at the agreed meeting point and set off, accompanied by Barbara Klopfenstein. It was still pitch black, and only a faint sliver of light was visible on the horizon. When we arrived at the spot, we could only faintly make out the tree and the Schreckhorn; the distance is enormous!
Luckily, there are still many farms in the Emmental region, and most farmers are busy with barn work at this time of year. This meant the autofocus found a point to focus on thanks to the barn lighting. This time I had my Nikon D7500 with me, which I usually only use for wildlife photography. But I wasn't happy with the combination of the Nikon Z7 and Sigma 150-600mm lens back in the spring. The fog was swirling in front of the Schreckhorn mountain, and I needed to be quick since I don't have any ND adapter rings for the Sigma. The very first shot was a bullseye!
Due to the long distance and the limited sharpness of the Sigma lens at 600mm, the photo appears like a painting. Unfortunately, the Sigma 150-600mm f/5.6-6.3 DG HSM Contemporary is only suitable for landscape photography to a limited extent. However, the fog masks the poor image quality at 600mm (900mm on a DX camera) in the nautical twilight.
I suspected what kind of discussions this photo might spark, but I was still somewhat surprised that so many people thought it was a fake or a Photoshop composite. But I can easily imagine that people who aren't very knowledgeable about photography might think that. The photo really does look surreal. I was lucky that morning because I had a hunch and a good colleague, Daniel Horisberger , who knows the Emmental region and its weather. Without his confirmation that it looked promising, I probably wouldn't have gone! We went back a few weeks later at a different time of day; there's no photo from that evening because the fog was a bit too thick.
You can see that it's real in the making-of photo; I still had to crop it a little despite the enormous focal length.
A few more details about the most beautiful 4000-meter peak in the Swiss Alps: The Schreckhorn is a popular destination for mountaineers seeking a challenge. The summit can be reached via several routes, including a more demanding route through the north face and an easier route through the south face.
The first successful ascent of the Schreckhorn was made in 1861 by a group of English mountaineers. Since then, the summit has attracted many ascents by experienced mountaineers from all over the world.
The Schreckhorn is also an important part of the environment, as it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn. This area is known for its impressive glaciers, high mountains, and pristine natural landscape.
It is important to note that climbing the Schreckhorn can be very demanding and dangerous, requiring good physical condition, experience, and equipment. It is recommended to hire an experienced mountain guide and to carefully check the current weather and glacier conditions before setting out.
Photo of the Month November 2020
Photo of the Year 2020
Photo of the Year 2020 at SRF METEO
I managed to take another photo of this imposing and northernmost 4000-meter peak in the Alps in the spring of 2016 with the full moon.
The photo with the linden tree in front of the Schreckhorn has sparked some discussion; among other things, I was asked if it's one of my best photos. No, unfortunately, from my point of view, I haven't taken any in recent years. You can read about my three best photos in the following blog post: My three best photos
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