French photographer's fascination for Huangshan

At dawn one April day, the summit of the Huangshan Mountain was a world adrift in a swirling sea of clouds and majestic pine trees dotted atop its jagged peaks, as French photographer Nicolas Cornet quickly took photos of the breathtaking scene.

This was Cornet's eighth time at Huangshan Mountain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Anhui province. Every visit, he says, has brought fresh discoveries and renewed inspiration.

The Frenchman's fascination with Huangshan began about a decade ago when he came across photos of the mountain by a Canadian photographer. He was immediately captivated by the mountain's "mysterious landscape" and started planning his own trip there.

In April 2016, Cornet made his first visit to Huangshan. The moment he set eyes on the gnarly pine trees, grotesque rock formations, and endless sea of clouds, he was hooked.

"I instantly fell in love with the mountains and knew I would be spending a lot of time there photographing them," he says.

That first encounter created a bond that would draw him back to Huangshan seven more times over the following nine years. For Cornet, the mountain never lost its allure as each season and each shift in weather revealed fresh and captivating beauty.

"As a landscape photographer, revisiting the same location under different light and weather conditions is essential to creating unique images," he says.

He adds that one of his most memorable experiences was seeing the mountain covered in snow. "It felt like walking through a fairy tale. I rushed between photo spots to make the most of the conditions," he says.

Cornet's visits culminated in a black-and-white photo series about the mountain on his photography website. He explains that the choice of style was directly inspired by traditional Chinese ink paintings.