In September, my family hopped the ferry from Ireland to France and then drove from Brittany to Switzerland. This was all done to visit friends of ours who live in a small village outside of Lucerne. The husband grew up in the village and he had invited us to come and experience the Alpabfahrt – literally the “Alp departure” – the festival that celebrates the farmers bringing their cattle down from the mountains to their barns for the winter. The main street of the village was full of people, sausage and beer stands with communal tables, and seemingly the entire village there to partake in the festival. Throughout the late morning, there were several different groups of farmers and their cattle that walked through the town. The cattle were incredibly decked out with massive bells, flags, and wreaths, while the farmers themselves, wearing traditional garb, were clearly proud of their animals.
I knew I wanted something special to shoot the event, so I used my Leica M3 loaded with Ektar 100 and the Voigtländer 40mm Heliar (f/2.8) for that bit of extra width over my usual 50mm. I took a quite a few shots of the various parades, but I like the sense of movement in this shot, as well as the particularly elaborate headdress on the cow.
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