Photographing Aigle

Aigle is a small village east of Montreux where you can find the Chateau d'Aigle and lots and lots of vineyards. This region is the producer of the Swiss Chablais wine. The chateau houses a museum on wine and wine making, which I did not have a chance to visit since I was there before they opened their doors. Yes, I went to photograph the Chateau with the Alps in the background and the vineyards in the foreground during sunrise.


The train ride from Lausanne is only 30 minutes. I changed to a funicular, aka street car, that took me to the stop of Aigle-Depot. This stop is where the trains are repaired, but it is also the back road to the castle where the vineyards are.


It was a very cloudy sunrise with not much colours in the sky, so I tried to capture to the best of my abilities the many different angles that the chateau can be photographed. I started from a distance still at the depot stop.

Image 1 - Chateau d'Aigle view from Aigle-Depot funicular stop

Then, I walked through the vineyards to a small rustic set of stairs where in my option is the best view of the chateau. In this location you can work with the lines of the vineyards to draw the eyes into the picture to the main subject, the Chateau d'Aigle.

Image 2 - Chateau d'Aigle view from rustic set of stairs in the middle of vineyards

Image 3 - Chateau d'Aigle view from rustic set of stairs in the middle of vineyards

For me, the horizontal format works better, but I still love both! I can only imagine how amazing this angle will look when the vines are all grown later in the summer. I have it marked down to go back there... and hopefully the sunrise will not disappoint either. 


But, I wasn't done yet, from the stairs, I arrived to the main road that takes you to the castle ("main" loosely used here since it is a very tiny two way street without sidewalks that I had to move out of the way whenever there was a car coming either direction!).
This is the view that most people take of the castle. There is a viewpoint area with some tourist information. 

Image 4 - Chateau d'Aigle view from viewpoint area

It is still a very interesting angle, but the side lines of the vineyard are for sure my favourite one. Later in the day, I tried a couple of views from the a mountain trail that I have climbed, but in this angle you cannot see the Alps in the background and there is too much distraction from the city behind. 

Image 5 - Chateau d'Aigle view from mountain trail

Before heading to the mountain trail, I got trigger happy with the abstracts that the area provides. The fields are all over the place and separated by lines of rock walls. Just have fun with lines and colours! 

Image 6 - Lines and colours from Aigle's vineyards

Image 7 - Lines and colours from Aigle's vineyards

Image 8 - Lines and colours from Aigle's vineyards

Image 9 - Lines and colours from Aigle's vineyards

It was while seeing all the lines and colours that I came across the secret of the Olympic Champions. They have their own wine reserve!!! J

Image 10 - Olympic Wine

To complete this shooting day, a train crossed the fields on the opposite mountain on a pretty beautiful composition. So, here is one more train picture to my new passion collection. I just wished the train colour was red or blue to jump out of the picture... but I guess photoshop can do miracles, right?

Image 11 - Train crossing Vineyards on the mountains

I do recommend the walk through the village. It is very small but beautifully preserved. Because I came from the back road, I did not have the impact on the arrival. So, if you are not planning a sunrise shot, just walk 20 minutes from Aigle's train station and get the experience of the village.