St. Gotthard for Allianz, Munich, Germany

Assignment for Allianz Magazine: photography from the construction and opening phase of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland. At 57.1 kilometres, it is the longest rail tunnel in the world. During the shoot, crews were still finishing it. We worked outside the mountain and inside it. Outside: the alpine landscape. Inside: drilling rigs, ventilation shafts, the scale of a project that took seventeen years to complete.

For the Gotthard Base Tunnel photography, access ran from the portal deep into the mountain, to the working face. Inside, the constants were humidity, artificial light and machinery too large to frame whole. Outside, the alpine light did the opposite and made the tunnel disappear.

Part of our Reportage & Landscape work.