Winter sunrise at Neuchâtel, Switzerland

On December 24, 2024, I made an early morning trip up to Chaumont above Neuchâtel and caught one of those rare winter moments where the forest feels like it is floating. Snow-covered pines, a sea of clouds, and a soft golden sunrise.

Getting there

Getting to Chaumont is part of the experience. The tower sits above Neuchâtel, and the best moments happen early, so it is worth planning it like a small sunrise mission. I went up before dawn, when everything was still quiet and the snow felt untouched. It is colder, yes, but the atmosphere is on another level, and the shadows look amazing once the sun starts to rise.

If you want the exact spot, here it is on the map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hG6z5hmtkMFynuC7A

The place

Chaumont has that rare mix of “easy to reach” and “feels like you escaped the world”. Up there, you are not just looking at a view, you are looking down onto an ocean of clouds. When the conditions line up like they did that morning, it looks like the forest is floating and the tower is sticking out of the mist like a lighthouse.

What really makes the scene work is the contrast. The pines are dusted with snow and still sitting in the cold shade, while the first sunlight is already warm and golden. You can feel the calm air just by being there, with that quiet cloud blanket below and a clean winter sky above.

The tower itself is a perfect subject to watch from a distance. It gives you a strong vertical line in the middle of all those horizontal layers: dark forest, pale mist, then the bright sky. As the sun climbs, the mood changes minute by minute, and you can see it in the clouds. They go from heavy and blue-grey to glowing and soft, especially around the edges where the light starts to catch.

Filming setup

This morning was filmed in 4K 60 fps, which felt like the right choice for slow, smooth movements above the landscape. I shot in DJI’s D-Cinelike profile to keep a bit more flexibility in the highlights and shadows, because sunrise over snow can swing fast between bright and dark.

Why it works from above

Snow and sunrise is such a strong combo for aerial footage. From the ground, you feel the cold and the calm, but from above you start to notice patterns. The snow makes the terrain easier to read, the long shadows add shape, and that early golden light turns the scene into something simple and clean.

It is also the kind of morning where you do not want to rush. Slow moves, gentle turns, and letting the landscape breathe is enough, because the location is already doing something dramatic on its own.

Editing

Everything was edited in DaVinci Resolve 20, and this one was intentionally a light edit. I applied a LUT to bring the log footage back into a normal look, then made small adjustments to keep the image natural. With snow and sunrise, it is easy to push things too far, so I tried to stay subtle and keep the colors believable, especially the warmth in the highlights and the cooler tones in the shadows.

Music

The track in the video is José González, Stay Alive. It fit the pace of the morning perfectly: quiet, steady, and a little emotional without taking over.