Christophe Van Biesen

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Snow in Luxembourg

It's winter in Luxembourg. Snow and frost have created a true winter wonderland all around the Grand Duchy. It's the perfect time for a landscape photographer to head out and make some new pictures!

A head start into 2017

The new year is starting off on a very promising note! One of my most important New Year's resolutions is making many new pictures and creating a whole new run of limited edition art prints for 2017.

Luckily, the weather has been amazing during these first weeks of 2017. Snow and frost have created ideal conditions to create many new winter pictures.

Luxembourg's frozen countryside

Instead of focussing on the city of Luxembourg, as I did last year, I ventured out into Luxembourg's countryside. Frost and snow change the landscape unlike anything else. Most colour disappears and creates almost black and white sceneries.

On the first day of the new year, a thick frost had covered most of Luxembourg's forests. I took the opportunity to hike across these frozen woods and capture Mother Nature's amazing spectacle.

I was especially lucky to have the Sun come out at the end of the day. The snow on the ground, the frozen branches and the last remnant golden leaves of autumn together with the golden sunset light created some truly magical scenery.

Luxembourg's castles

On the second day of the new year, fresh snow had fallen during the night. Perfect to make a road trip and travel to some of Luxembourg's most famous landmarks.

When I travel around Luxembourg, most of the time, I know exactly where I am going. Over the years, I have a particular list of favourite spots to which I like to return and see how every season changes the landscape. Luxembourg's castles are among my favourite places. I had never seen the castle of Beaufort under these weather conditions. The pond in front of the castle was frozen and the trees were white with frost and snow. I captured this amazing scene in my picture Ice Castle.

After the Beaufort castle, I moved on to Luxembourg's most famous castle: Vianden. By the time I arrived, most of the snow and frost had already melted away. The Sun had however come out to play and add some much needed light and contrast to the landscape. With a bit of snow left on top of the hills behind the castle and a few clouds rising behind the horizon, the sight was quite beautiful.

I still have to capture a winter picture of my favourite castle though: the Bourscheid castle. Next time there is a lot of snow, I will probably make this my priority.

Snow and frost at the Upper-Sûre lake and in the MUllerthal

While driving through Luxembourg's frozen countryside, I made several other stops at some well-known, but also some lesser known locations.

The Upper-Sûre lake is truly a sight to behold in winter. On a clear day, you can see the distant hills of the valley.

The Schiessentumpel in Luxembourg's little Switzerland, also know as Mullerthal, is probably one of the country's most visited and most photographed landmarks. Usually, there are so many people on the bridge, on the steps down to the cascades and in front of the river. You have to wait patiently for them to move and hope for a short window where you can actually make a picture without anybody on it.

Thankfully not many people come here during winter. For once, I had the waterfalls all to myself! This allowed me to capture this place at a wider angle than usual.

Magical winter

Here are some more winter pictures of the Grand-Duchy's amazing frozen countryside:

I particularly like the picture Frost Giants. It looks as if it were a black and white picture, but it is not. This is how to forest actually looked like on a winter day with lots of frost and fog: colourless and pure.

I have already started a new limited edition print run of these new wonderful winter landscapes, which I cannot wait to show you.

And to finish this article about snow in Luxembourg, here is my favourite picture made this winter. I named it Broken Heart, although my heart is quite full of joy thanks to all these beautiful winter sceneries.

Selected photographs show above are available as limited edition fine art prints. The images are also available for web and print licensing.

Thank you for reading.


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