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Frédéric Terrettaz
@aerial__photography
Landscape photographer based in Switzerland
Valais Alps, Switzerland, is the place I was born and raised and where my feeling of connection to nature was established. I spent most of my holidays in a chalet in the mountains where time was filled with either skiing or hiking. Nature is the place where I find peace and silence. Being outdoors, simply appreciating all the beautiful landscapes around me is what I am longing for and even need, to get away from daily life, disconnect from my job in IT, and recharge.
"I think my youth and my current work have had a significant impact on my passion for photography."
I have always been a curious person and had a natural urge to discover new places. My parents and grandparents taught me how to better appreciate the diversity of nature and the world around us. I remember that, on Wednesday afternoon, I had a lot of time to spend with my grandfather, who was a mountaineer in his younger years. We spent hours walking around in nature; he would explain to me the names of the plants and the names of the mountains that surrounded us, tell stories and motivate me to be out in nature, exploring our beautiful regions. We could spend hours and hours in the outdoors together.
"Right now I miss him, but he's still pushing me, inspiring me to find out more. To always discover and appreciate."
Of course I started to take pictures during my hikes, like almost everybody else would do. Though most of these pictures ended up being stored on my phone, just as a memory, or on my private Instagram account. Then, two years ago I stumbled upon an aerial photograph taken in Switzerland while scrolling through my Instagram feed. I was amazed about the depth and the quality of the photo and that a drone could achieve that. So I thought: “Why not me?” Taking aerial shots allows greater perspective and all I had to do was to get out of my house and walk just a few miles to capture our breathtaking landscapes. This is how it all started! I still think of myself as a novice in photography, eager to learn more techniques.
"My job and interest in IT surely helps me to understand the technical part and take full advantage of all the options."
"I’m self-taught, like most people. Practice is the only way to improve."
I started with a small recreational drone, which allowed me to fly for 15 minutes. I soon realized that it wasn’t enough for me. Thus, after 2 months of practice I finally bought a professional drone, which allowed me to fly for 30 minutes with videos in 4K and the possibility to save my pictures in RAW format. I’ve spent a lot of time alone in wide open spaces learning how to use my drone, which allowed me to learn slowly and gain confidence. I think confidence is key, and at the same time growing that confidence is the biggest challenge. The more risks I took, the more confident I felt and the faster I learnt, but obviously taking risks comes along with uncertainty and fear that you have to overcome to improve.
When I take aerial pictures, I feel free and I can escape my daily routine. Seeing views you normally can’t see with your own eyes already gets you out of your standard way of thinking. It’s something different, new, and when looking at aerial shots you kinda feel like a bird. The drone allows unlimited compositions, but I had to spend a lot of time outdoors to get perfect shots. Every weekend, I walk between three and 11 hours to discover new places and new perspectives that I can get. I decide on the best composition according to what I like and the shapes that the landscape offers, and then shoot. Searching and exploring the surroundings to see what the landscape has to offer takes a lot of time. I have more than three hours of possible flight time; I do some scouting with 1-2 batteries, then I shoot my favorite places with the rest of my batteries.
My goal is to release photos with a beautiful contrast and views where subscribers can say: “Wow, this landscape is fabulous”. Switzerland is a beautiful country with a lot of diversity in its landscapes. The mountains are impressive and the lakes are numerous, so consequently my portfolio is very mountain oriented. Honestly, I feel like I live in paradise. I feel like an ambassador of our beautiful Switzerland.
"Through my pictures, I would like to motivate people to come and travel to Switzerland and make them discover our country under different angles."
I like to give character to my shots by adding unique style with my edits. Often I will use high contrast in my pictures and for the sky I prefer a very dark blue sky, which looks like a sea. For the clouds, I like to have contrasts and moody colors. I have created some presets that I use both for my Instagram stories which I post directly when I am venturing out, and for the photos I post on my feed after getting home and editing. This allows me to be consistent in my work and my audience to recognize my publishing style.
Besides photos I also dedicate time to create videos. On my trips, I think I do 70% photography and 30% video. I like both aspects very much, but I still have a preference for photography. I express myself more easily through photography because video editing requires more mastery in editing, in the planning of shots and how to put it all together including audio/music. For photography it’s different, it allows me to show an emotion, a landscape at an exact moment.
"Actually, I took one of my favorite pictures while I was creating a video of our snowy mountains."
It was six months ago, in winter, and was just a few kilometers away from our cottage. I had planned to make 2-3 hours non-stop of footage and create a nice video showing the beautiful white landscapes. I was filming the ridge of a mountain when I saw a black spot on the edge. I approached my drone quietly and I encountered a chamois resting. The noise of my propellers didn’t scare him away and I pressed the shutter to capture the animal in peace. I was very lucky that day: the right place at the right time. The sun was properly oriented, the weather was perfect.
"After taking some shots, I hurried back home. I was so excited to edit them and share them with the world."
One of my dreams would be to have partnerships with regions to promote our stunning country and showcase my photographs. Nevertheless, I would also like to travel more often and further away to discover other types of landscapes and to get out of my comfort zone, which is basically characterized by mountains and their landscapes. I feel good there and I don’t have many other people taking the same kind of pictures in my area, but it would be a challenge to explore new views, find new perspectives, create unique photos in other areas especially that are more often being photographed.
"The ultimate would be to be able to fly in a big city, like Tokyo or Hong-Hong, wherever it’s allowed."
The traffic and the lights would allow beautiful night or time lapse pictures. I don’t have much experience with that, but I can imagine the atmospheric and impressive results and it would enable me to increase my confidence and get out of my comfort zone as it’s something totally different from nature and mountainous landscapes. Even though I totally love how my comfort zone looks like, especially from above, that doesn’t mean I want to stay there. I am still as curious as I was when I was this little boy roaming in the mountains together with my grandfather.
I would like to thank my parents and grandparents who encouraged me to discover our landscapes and nature. Thanks to them I was able to follow my curiosity and develop my love for the natural world. Now photography allows me to explore it from different angles, to get out of the daily routine and to clear my head from any stress. Have you ever realized how much doing what you love and fulfilling your natural curiosity helps you to keep up with other things? We need those energizers!
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