A night under the stars at the Gemsstock

For some time now, Timo Baumann has been dreaming of capturing the Milky Way in his beloved home canton of Uri with his camera. But realising such a picture requires meticulous planning. First of all, you need very good weather conditions with a clear night and the right location that allows you to be as close as possible to the starry sky. In addition, you should be as far away as possible from an urban centre so that light pollution is low. If this location is accessible by gondola and you don't have to carry the more than 20 kilograms of equipment per person up the mountain on your back, almost nothing stands in the way of the perfect picture. Almost nothing! Because it also takes good foresight, skill, experience, patience and a little bit of luck.

After intensive research, Timo Baumann came to the conclusion that the Gemsstock, so close to the centre of Switzerland, was the ideal place to capture his dream image of the Milky Way. So he set about fine-tuning his vision. On the winter night in question, the stars were favourable and the weather forecast promised that the new moon night would be clear. So nothing stood in the way of the "Milky Way on Gemsstock" project. The beautiful panorama image was captured from 10 pictures with an exposure time of up to three minutes using special equipment that follows the Earth's rotation.

Timo Baumann and Michael Hafner have other dream images that they would like to realise here in the Andermatt region. Timo Baumann, who is also interested in rough rock formations, dreams of photographing the famous Gloggentürmli as well as the Small and Large Camel by the Sidelen Hut. For Michael Hafner, it would be a long-awaited photographer's dream to spend a night on the Dammastock, the highest peak in Canton Uri, and photograph the night spectacle. But as we all know, dreams are there to be realised one day. Many thanks for the great shots.

If you would like to see more of Timo Baumann and Michael Hafner's photographic work, click here.