It’s not news that our valley is filled with talented photographers and this is a huge blessing for your favourite resort magazine (that’s us!). It means that we get to work with the likes of George Treble and his new mountain art project – Aspect Images Morzine. George has also kindly donated an inspiring image for our 2021 charity landscape calendar, which is currently available for sale in the Source Shop.
Web: www.aspectimagesmorzine.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/aspectimagesmorzine
Email: georgetreble@googlemail.com
How long have you been living in the local area and what brought you here?
I’ve now done nine winter seasons living in Morzine, since I first came here to work for Avoriaz Alpine Ski School as a rep. I’m lucky to have travelled and worked in New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Norway and many of the other resorts in the Alps but doing so has led me to realise that nowhere ticks as many boxes as Morzine-Avoriaz. I’m now getting stuck into the summer lifestyle too and looking to make this area into my longer term headquarters.
When I arrived after three years studying economics in Birmingham, I immediately fell in love with snow sports and the mountain lifestyle so I set about making a career enjoying and sharing it – through ski teaching, photography and film making.
Tell us about Aspect Images Morzine – what’s your Objective?
When last winter season was cut short on the 17th of March, we started 60 days of lockdown. I’ve wanted to properly display my photography for a few years and this was a perfect chance, so I set about making 70cm x 60cm wooden frames for them using recycled pallets. I really enjoyed the process and was stoked with the results. I’d blow torch the frames and then sand them back to reveal the grain and protect the wood. I’ve chosen a selection of 10 of my favourite photos from the local area and had them printed and put in the hand-made frames. I have a few of each and they’re ready to decorate the many stunning interior walls we have here in our valley.
The objective, as always with my photography, is to remind people how beautiful this corner of the world is and to inspire people to get out there and enjoy it. Check them out on www.aspectimagesmorzine.com.
I’ll also be giving 10% of each purchase to Montagne Verte, helping them towards their goals of developing solutions for the region of Morzine to reduce its environmental impact.
Tell us about the day you took the image we’ve included in the calendar. Where were you and who were you with?
That’s Mark Mckellar stood on the ridge in the bottom of the image, saying goodbye to another beautiful April day in Avoriaz. We had both been teaching all day and we had set our sights on an after work sunset on the top of Les Hauts-Forts (you can see the summit cross at the top of the image). We knew from up there you could see it all, from Mont Blanc to Lac Léman, and that this golden hour was going to be a great one. Once we arrived at the ridge however, we realised there wasn’t enough snow to safely get to the summit, so we watched it from this perch instead, then skied 1500m down to Prodains, nipped out for a pint ‘n’ a pizza, then bed. Ready go again tomorrow.
Do you have a favourite photography location in our valley during the winter season?
I’m afraid not. During the winter season I prefer to take my camera skiing as high out of the valleys as I can, to the tops of the highest and pointiest peaks. I make plans to be at the best viewpoints at the best times and then taking the photo is easy. I can’t pick a favourite location, but the photography potential during ski tours is definitely a favourite activity, and the touring available in our area is epic. Making fresh tracks in good light will always be magical, but the locations are constantly changing.
What are you most looking forward to this winter?
The start of the season will certainly be quieter for ski instructing work with holiday makers, so I’m really excited about enjoying and sharing the arts of ski touring in the local Chablais paradise. I’ll be running courses with the Avoriaz Alpine Ski School introducing people to ski touring and mountain safety, as well as hopefully ticking off some prize lines with good mates. The cameras will be coming along for the ride so check out my Instagram pages if you’re interested: @aspectimagesmorzine and @treble_edit
