Crans Montana, After the Fire
I cannot shake the accounts that followed the fire at Le Constellation. Not images I witnessed, but descriptions of what happened inside. This story documents the aftermath of a tragedy that changed a village overnight, and the difficult task of stepping into that reality to record it.
The Backstory
01.01.2026
Issue 6
We had little success connecting with anyone except a priest, who informed us a memorial would be held during the church’s regular service. That became our main focus. We parked the car nearby.
We headed to the church, where a photographer friend working for a news agency had cleared with the priest that we could move respectfully inside. I appreciated that. The priest could not stop the media, but at least one of us asked for permission.
The church quickly filled to capacity, every seat taken and people standing in every available space. Moving through the crowd to take photos became a real challenge.
I alternated between two cameras: the Q3 43mm for quick, close shots and the SL3 zoom to capture emotions from a distance. In the end, the Q3 43mm felt best for staying small and close to people. As it usually does.
After capturing some initial photos I knew would work, I went up the staircase to get a top shot of the crowded church. From there, I saw the choir singing through a square opening and captured this intimate and slightly different moment too.
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In my daughter's school there's a boy who has been gravely hurt - he was in a coma, now he is awake and communicating via an iPad with his family; the thought of what that entails in the long run - I don't know him, but hearing his story via the school, knowing how this affects victims in the long term, and connecting it with your images of the aftermath creates adds a strange connection to the incident.