Dolomites – photography trip 2024 – Part 3
The next morning, we headed towards Tre Cime, a group of three mountain peaks:
Cima Grande – The highest of the three, standing at 2,999 meters above sea level.
Cima Ovest – At 2,973 meters, this one is broader.
Cima Piccola – The smallest, reaching 2,857 meters.
Tre Cime is an extremely popular destination, located in the eastern part of the Italian Dolomites, within the Sesto Dolomites region. The image here shows it from the north, taken during the daytime.
When we arrived, there weren’t many people yet, but we got there before sunrise. I quickly took a few pictures of the surrounding mountains.
Slowly, the sun began to rise.
The rays of sunlight filtering through the distant mountain peaks and mist made for a fantastic subject.
After sunrise, we had a meal and took a short break at the Drei Zinnen parking lot on the southern side. Once we packed our gear, we continued on foot. We had planned a full-day hike, starting with a roughly 2-kilometer walk toward the eastern end of the mountains. The first section was very easy to walk, but the last 600 meters had a steeper incline leading up to the Forcella Lavaredo pass. Despite being off-season, there were a lot of hikers.
At this point, the view was becoming more and more impressive, even from the ground.
We took a longer break and had something to eat. I also flew the drone for a bit, familiarizing myself with the area. Meanwhile, we figured out the best spot to capture the sunset and where to take nighttime shots afterward. Dávid headed to the Dreizinnenhütte refuge on the northern side of Tre Cime. Zoli and I didn’t want to go that far since it was at least another 1.5 kilometers away. Instead, we walked to the Drei Zinnen Blick viewpoint, about 600 meters from the pass, along the trail leading to the refuge. I did another round of drone photography there.
As sunset approached, the view became absolutely stunning.
Once again, the drone proved to be incredibly useful. The biggest logistical challenge was managing the batteries. Even with five batteries, I could have easily used more in a place like this. It was difficult to make sure there was still enough power left by sunset, especially since I wanted to take shots from the surrounding mountains and peaks.
After finishing a timelapse that transitioned from sunset into the night, we started heading back to the car. Along the way, we made a few more stops for photos before returning to our accommodation. The usual routine followed, shower, dinner, and charging batteries. Given the intensity of the day’s hike, we planned the next day to be more relaxed. We didn’t even set an early alarm.
Now, I have to take a moment to talk about our accommodation. So far, I’ve had only good experiences both in Slovenia and the Dolomites. We’ve always managed to book decent and comfortable places. This time, however, we made a big mistake. We stayed at Villaggio Turistico Ploner (coordinates: 46.620443203400654, 12.217700268351972). It seemed like a good choice for hiking since the photography locations were nearby, that’s the only positive thing I can say about it.
The negatives started right at check-in when we found out that bed linens and towels had to be rented separately. I had never encountered this before, and it felt like a cheap trick to squeeze more money out of guests. The room was in poor condition, the Wi-Fi barely worked and was incredibly slow, and the kitchenware was a disaster, limescale-covered kettles and dirty, unusable dishes. When checking out, they even tried to charge us again for the bed linen fee we had already paid, simply because they failed to record it in their system. I will never stay there again,completely unacceptable and ridiculous.
But let’s get back to photography. We spent the morning recovering from the previous day’s exhaustion. The only extra thing I did was take the drone for a short flight near our accommodation. I ended up finding some great subjects around Lake Landro, where the surrounding hillsides were covered in glowing golden larches under the sunlight.
The original sunset plans were completely derailed because we hadn’t researched the location thoroughly enough. The climb would have been much steeper and longer than what we had the energy for, and we would have needed to start much earlier for such a long hike. So, we headed back to the car and came up with a new plan. The Giau Pass was relatively close, so we chose it as an alternative. Due to our late arrival, we only had time to take a few shots during the blue hour.
On the last day of the trip, we visited Cinque Torri. We arrived early, so we managed to hike up to the right spot before sunrise. However, my primary plan was to use the drone, which didn’t necessarily require climbing that high. I took a few shots in the final moments before sunrise.
As the sun rose, it painted the landscape in golden hues. The sunburst shot of Cinque Torri became one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Once the daylight fully set in, I explored the nearby rock formations up close.
In the afternoon, we visited Piramidi di Terra in Perca (coordinates: 46.80488426223125, 12.019475719202651). This unique site, located about a kilometer from the parking area, features tall, thin earth pyramids with small or large rocks perched on top. These formations were shaped by erosion. I had never seen anything like them in real life before. Capturing a good photo, however, wasn’t easy. When we arrived, the sunlight was still hitting the already bright earth, so we took a few shots but decided to wait until the sun is setting. The viewpoint nearby was well built, but once again, the drone was essential for capturing images from a different perspective. Flying it here was a bit nerve-wracking, as I had to take off from within the trees and maneuver carefully.
As we descended from the mountain, we started thinking about dinner. Luckily, we found a restaurant right at the foot of the mountain. After eating, we returned to our accommodation. The next morning, when we woke up, the entire area was covered in thick fog. Since I had already finished packing, I went out to the parking lot while waiting for the others and checked out the view above the fog. Once everyone was ready, we packed the car and started our journey home.
Overall, I’m really satisfied. I managed to take some stunning shots even at the places I had visited before, and we also discovered new locations. Visiting the Dolomites a second time was definitely the right decision.