Aosta 2026

This year I spent my summer holidays in the Aosta valley again. The large number of butterfly species and high densities attracted me last time and it were those same butterflies that made me want to revisit. I missed quite a few species and felt there was space for better photographs than I managed last time. This year was a little more dry and hot, but that did mean the season was a little further along already, allowing me to find more species. The south facing slopes were incredibly dry however, so those had very low butterfly numbers. In total we managed to find 108 species of butterfly, which is a number I am super stoked on (I was hoping for 80 before departure). Aside from butterflies, interesting sightings were sparce. Several marmots were seen, as well as chamois, bearded vulture, golden eagle and alpine choughs. No ibex and surprisingly no nutcrackers, which were very abundant last time. 3 days in my shutter broke during photography, but I managed to make it to the end of the holiday with a bit of a ghetto DIY fix, being able to continue taking most of the images I wanted. Photographs are mostly restricted to the butterflies however, where I do think I improved a fair amount on last visits results. Starting off with some fairly classic images below.

I took a white umbrella with me, mostly to prolong the soft light on the butterflies. I also used it as a background for several shots, eliminating elements that bother me and making more minimalistic shots. Some of my favorites from the trip by far and some images that I'm getting printed to hang on the wall.

Besides butterflies I got a couple landscape shots, a few shots of the marmots and some miscellaneous stuff that's sprinkled into the gallery below. All in all a pretty good trip. Quite a few keepers and 2, maybe 3 portfolio shots.