The calm after the storm [explored on 2022/08/21]

At the border of the high Padan Plain, just at the feet of the first line of the Prealps, there lays a string of five lakes. They draw a line that is the base of the so-called Larian triangle, i.e. the triangle-shaped mountainous land between the two arms of the Lake Como (also called Lario). These lakes, often called the Lakes Briantei, or the Brianza Lakes (from the name of that land, Brianza), are way smaller than the Lario and the other great lakes of Northern Italy - just a string of beads in the higher plain - but they share the beauty of their larger cousins, although on a smaller, more intimate scale. I have always felt quite strongly the fascination of their common origin, which dates from the end of the Würm glaciation, some 11,700 years ago. I can easily see in my mind the enormous, mighty glaciers from the Alps flowing beyond the last mountains and spreading through the high plain. A powerful sight, indeed... Yet all that glory was deemed to end as the climate was becoming warmer, and eventually the glaciers began to recede, leaving behind deep ditches and huge semilunar terminal morains. You can easily fill in the story - the melting waters, the swamps, the debris from the looming mountains, and, eventually, the lakes.

Well, this is not a lesson in geology - I am by no means an expert, just a guy who perceives geology in a very emotional way (quite possibly a trait acquired from my late father, who was a passionate amateur mineral and fossil prospector). I have begun a photographic exploration of those relics of the last glaciation, the Lakes Briantei. At sunrise, of course. My first session was at the Lake Annone, the largest one, that is divided in two basins by a narrow peninsula. I limited myself to the Western basin, mostly looking Eastward.
It had obviously been a stormy night on the mountains: occasional, distant thunders were still rumbling Eastward, above the Resegone*. The sky was overcast, angry, threatening - one of the very few weakenings of the African cyclone that was ravaging Italy and a large part of Europe. The air smelled of rain. And I tried to capture the beauty of the place, with that tormented sky gradually opening up to hail the new day. This photo is the result of the very first exposure bracketing I took on that morning. I hope that you like it!

Explored on 2022/08/21 #26

* This strange name means "the great saw", the word "resega" meaning "saw" in the Lombard dialects. It is a mountain towering over the city of Lecco and the southern end of Lake Como, characterised by a long line of Triassic dolomite summits, the teeth of the saw). It is featured in Manzoni's renowned historical novel, The Bethroted, most prominently in the famous passage from chapter 8 known as Farewell to the mountains.
After all this about the Resegone you might be wondering where it is in the photo. Well, er... it is entirely invisible from this point of view, being out of the framing on the right, behind that mountain and beyond the Eastern arm of the Lake Como. Please, forgive me and understand my feelings: I was hearing the thunders echoing from its precipitous rocky walls and absolutely had to tell you! By the way, I have completely forgotten to even mention the mountains that are in the framing, namely, from left to the right: the Grigna massif (Northern Grigna on the left, Southern Grigna on the right, with its crowd of rocky pinnacles and needles). Further away, where the light of the new day was gathering, you can glimpse the elegant outline of the Pizzo dei Tre Signori (= "Peak of the Three Lords", a name stemming from the historical division of the area that it marked, between the State of Milan, the Republic of Venice and the Grisons canton of Switzerland).

I have processed this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-2.0/-1.0/0/+1.0/+2.0 EV] by luminosity masks with the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal" exposure shot).
Along the journey - post-processing always is a journey of discovery to me - I tried the inverted RGB blue channel technique described by Boris Hajdukovic to give a slight tonal boost to several parts of the scene, mainly the foreground. As usual, I gave the finishing touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Raw files processed with Darktable.

Taken in: Italy / Lombardy / Annone di Brianza (show map)

Taken on: August 2, 2022

Tags:

Italia

Italy

Lombardy

lake

Annone

lago

lago di Annone

Prealps

mountains

montagne

prealpi

glaciation

glaciazione

Resegone

canne

canneto

reeds

rushes

reflection

town

Civate

grasses

underwater

glaciers

morains

sunrise

daybreak

alba

aurora

early morning

morning

mattina

clouds

cloudy

overcast

golden light

angry sky

thunderstorm

thunder

Nikon

D750

Nikkor

24-120 mm

zoom

lens

Darktable

the Gimp

Nik Color Efex Pro 4

inverted RGB blue channel

exposure bracketing

luminosity masks

silence

calm

geology

landscape

water

rocks

morene

colline moreniche

quiet

laghi briantei « less

Sets appears in: • Lakes Briantei • Explored photos more » • Sunrise « less

Groups appears in: • Sunsets & Sunrises around the world (We Rock Again!) • Flickr Addicts more » • 600+ Faves 1-2-3 (Post one,Comment and Fave two) • Rural Excellence ~ Nature Landscapes ~ 20+ Faves • Nature, ...as such and abstract • The New**Perfection In Pictures** ( Sweeper) • All kind of Landscapes • ! FavTop Master 500+ (P1, A+F4) • Land Of Landscapes Magazine • CSSS: Earth - My Perspective, A Personal Focus • **Special Landscapes** • A Picture, A Story, A Pearl « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/13.0, 3 sec, 24mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	3
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	GIMP 2.10.32
Show full info

Stats: 22,916 views / 116 comments