The slopeSeries is a project by award winning architecture and aerial landscape photographer Ingo Rasp, using aerial photographs to document ski resorts in eastern Switzerland by capturing winter images of the slopes and infrastructure from a new and unfamiliar perspective.

Switzerland is home to over 250 ski resorts with approximately 7000 km of slopes; development of this infrastructure began in the 1930s, shaping the alpine environment like never before. In the beginning, just simple drag-lifts were erected, but over the years more sophisticated systems have been introduced and high-tech buildings have been constructed at altitudes of up to 3500m.

Heated chair-lifts, rack-railways and rotating gondolas now provide access to even the highest and most remote pristine peaks. All this has left its mark on the environment, bringing about a process of alpine urbanization. The last new ski areas were created in the late 1970s before government restrictions and regulations came into effect. Since then, existing structures have been extended and modernized in line with the latest standards and high-tech innovations.

The photographs of the series focus on the interplay of man-made structures embedded in the natural structures of the alpine environment. Within this framework, humans are the connecting and meaningful element; through their use of the lifts and slopes the anthropogenic and natural structures merge to create a comprehensible overall image.

Alongside the documentary objective, the work also deals with our (limited) possibilities of perception of our environment. The aerial perspective enables us to see our planet and the environment we live in from a different viewpoint. It offers additional information about what we are able to see, perceive and experience in our everyday lives on the earth’s surface. This overview provides insights and leads to an understanding within the overall context. In his approach, Ingo Rasp uses abstraction and aestheticization as a visual language. He reduces a specific scene to the essence to expose the essential characteristics of it.

Photographs of the series were awarded with the 3rd place at the IPA International Photography Award in 2019.