Vittorio Sella was born in the foothills of the Alps in Biella, Italy in 1859. During his long and industrious career as a photographer and mountaineer, Sella took part in many expeditions to the world’s greatest and least explored mountain ranges. Using large-format cameras that had to be carried up the mountain and often developing his plates in portable dark rooms, Sella’s photographs captured alpine scenes with unprecedented vividness and detail.