The Eiger

THE EIGER
Kleine Scheidegg Switzerland - 2025

Anthony Bourdain once said “It’s an irritating reality that many places and events defy description. For a while after, you fumble for words, trying vainly to assemble a private narrative, an explanation, a comfortable way to frame where you’ve been and what’s happened. In the end, you’re just happy you were there - with your eyes open - and lived to see it.”

In 1840, the Hotel Bellevue des Alpes opened its doors for business in the fabled Kleine Scheidegg pass in Switzerland. Sitting proudly at nearly 7,000 feet, with the notorious Eiger mountain towering above it, this grand old hotel has, for 185 years, offered unparalleled bedroom visuals. Its decor and design have an Agatha Christie vibe and its location a James Bond one. Anyone with a visual sensibility recognises immediately that there is nothing remotely normal about this place. Its existence is testimony to Swiss ambition and engineering prowess eight or nine generations ago.

I had pondered and iterated for some months as to how to do justice to the location. There were a few easy decisions such as filming in the winter and to position my camera far enough back from the righthand wing of the hotel to give the structure room to breathe and, in so doing, convey a necessary sense of isolation and scale. I knew that the end frame demanded perfect compositional balance.

But delivering a legitimate foreground narrative was more challenging. The north face of the Eiger has claimed 64 lives since 1937 and is something of a “Holy Grail” for mountaineers who get a rush from the implicit risk and danger. The setting draws in risk takers and thrill seekers and that was ultimately the angle I focused on.

I sensed that an old European roulette table would not only play on risk taking well, but it would also double down on the James Bond vibe that the setting evokes. I wanted to reinforce the message that is not only a hotel where guests have literally and metaphorically lived on the edge, but also a destination that attracts those who live fast paced and glamorous lives.

The missing link in this layered story were the protagonists and I knew that they would be critical to the whole piece. If they fell short, the picture would fail. It was that simple. David Gandy is a bankable asset in any picture, that is why he has been the face of Dolce and Gabbana for so many years and, for a still camera, there is a very creditable 007 look. Meanwhile, our old Austrian friend Nadine Leopold - with her femininity, grace and intelligence - adds to any story.

My sense was always that this vignette needed to be taken as close to twilight as possible; the sense of impending darkness would add drama and certainly complement the styling
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