High Tauern. The Zone Studies I

This photograph is part of my High Tauern. The Zone Studies series, in which I approach the Zone System not as a set of technical instructions, but as a disciplined way of thinking about photography. Although I have long worked with advanced analogue processes and digital tools, I deliberately postponed a direct confrontation with this method, treating it as a demanding encounter with the tradition that shaped my understanding of photographic craft, responsibility, and visual ethics.

The series was realised within the High Tauern National Park, a landscape I have known and photographed for years. This particular work was made at Dorfersee, in the Dorfertal valley at the foot of the Großglockner. Rather than reinterpreting tradition, the photograph records a moment of readiness — a conscious decision to enter into dialogue with a method that allows neither shortcuts nor formal compromise.

The photograph was conceived as a finished object rather than an image file. It is realised exclusively in the 8×10” format and presented only in a solid black oak frame, with a museum-grade mat and museum-grade glass.