In pictures: An Italian photographer’s earliest images of the majestic Himalayas

Vittorio Sella was a pioneering Italian photographer whose work at the turn of the 20th Century shaped both mountain photography and mountaineering history.

His rare images of the Himalayas remain some of the most iconic ever captured.

A new ongoing show in the Indian capital, Delhi, called Vittorio Sella: Photographer in the Himalaya brings to life the breathtaking grandeur of the Himalayas through his lens.

Curated by renowned British explorer and author Hugh Thomson and organised by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), the show is likely one of the largest collection of Sella’s Indian views.

It features some of the earliest high-altitude photographs of Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, and K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, captured over a century ago.

Born in Biella, a town known for its wool trade in northern Italy, Sella (1859–1930) made his first ascents in the nearby Alps.

“Throughout his career Sella made use of his skills in engineering and chemistry that the wool mills and his father had taught him,” says Thomson.

By his twenties, he had mastered complex photographic techniques like the collodion process, enabling him to develop large-format glass plates under harsh conditions.

His panoramic images, crafted with technical perfection, earned worldwide acclaim.

Sella’s Himalayan journey began in 1899 when he joined British explorer Douglas Freshfield on an expedition circumnavigating Kanchenjunga.

Any circumnavigation of the mountain also involved an incursion into Nepal, which was also a closed kingdom.

While the team’s climbing ambitions were thwarted by relentless rain, Sella seized the opportunity to capture pristine snow-dusted peaks. He experimented restlessly with technology, trying out telephoto pictures of Kanchenjunga. His images transported viewers to a world untouched by time.

A decade later, Sella reached new heights – both literally and artistically – on a 1909 expedition to K2 with the Duke of the Abruzzi.

His photographs of the world’s most difficult mountain stand as a testament to his skill and resilience. Carrying a camera system weighing nearly 30kg, Sella crisscrossed treacherous landscapes, creating images that defined mountain photography.

Jim Curran, author of K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain, calls Sella “possibly the greatest mountain photographer… his name [is] synonymous with technical perfection and aesthetic refinement”.

Sella was known for his extraordinary toughness, traversing the Alps at remarkable speed despite carrying heavy photographic gear.

His makeshift camera harness and boots – three times heavier than modern ones – are preserved at the Photographic Institute in Biella.

His clothing alone weighed over 10kg, while his camera equipment, including a Dallmeyer camera, tripod, and plates, added another 30kg – more than today’s airline baggage limits.

On the K2 expedition, Sella captured around 250 formal photographs with his Ross & Co camera over four to five months; on Kanchenjunga, about 200, notes Thomson.

“By modern digital standards, this number is nothing extraordinary – and even in the last days of analogue film, it would equate to some eight rolls, what a 1970s photographer could have used in a single morning on a single mountain – but when Sella was photographing, this was a considerable number.

“This meant enormous care and thought was given to each photograph, both because he had relatively few plates he could shoot.”

Years later, the famous mountaineer-photographer Ansel Adams would write that the “purity of Sella’s interpretations move the spectator to a religious awe”.

High-altitude photography came with risks – many of Sella’s most ambitious shots were ruined when humid conditions caused tissue dividers to stick to the negatives.

Yet those that survived reveal a masterful eye, notes Thomson.

“Sella was one of the first to recognise how tracks in the snow are as much part of the composition as the mountaineers who made them.”

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