Vittorio Sella

Vittorio Sella came from a family of photographers and already began documenting the world of the Alps with his plate camera whilst mountain climbing as a youth in the 1880s. Considering the state of camera development at the time, this was a feat requiring a not inconsiderable amount of logistical and athletic effort. He used the wet collodion process, which required heavy glass plates as well as the wooden camera and tripod. Between 1889 and 1909, he took part as a photographer on various international expeditions to the Caucasus mountains, Sikkim and the Himalayas, and also travelled to East Africa and Alaska where he photographed mountains and rocky landscapes whilst climbing.