The majestic scene of a sun's rays breaking out from behind a cloud is one of the most mesmerising natural scenes I can encounter. You know it is just physics, and nature, or just pure coincidence, however you can't help but think and reflect that there's something much bigger than you out there to admire. I intentionally did my best to get the two people in the bottom left corner in the shot to showcase the difference in perspective between them and this majestic view of the sky. I personally prefer putting people in the foreground when taking landscapes as it gives me, the photographer, a sense of what I'm capturing size-wise. And also, more importantly, when I see a person in a landscape photography, it makes me believe I'm there. It gives me a realistic sense of appreciating the beauty as if I'm standing there.
Pre-Visualisation and Hunting
In terms of landscape and travel photography, my process doesn’t begin until I lay my eyes on the viewfinder. I don’t think or sketch out an idea in my head or anywhere. I’m in a scene, in a moment and literally my process begins when I lift up my camera towards my right eye. That’s when I start. Kind of like a hunter on the look-out for a kill. It’s basically like that. There’s a quote that goes “Photographers are hunters, not cooks”. Meaning we’re not concerned with the critique and opinion after the image is captured. As much as I believe myself so, I try to be the hunter and the chef afterwards as I do care and would like to know how my audience perceives my photographs. In this image it was just like that. I got into the pool wondering what my shot is going to be and for a brief moment I saw the final photograph in my eyes while I was lifting my camera. My brain was instantly calculating the shutter speed, ISO and all the settings to get this picture. My fingers pressed buttons and rotated dials and 1 second later, I yelled to my three friends to “Please can you guys not move for 1.5seconds”… and they did so without responding or looking back. I knew they heard me and a second later I pressed the shutter. I took my kill and into the Photoshop kitchen I went. Slight highlight adjustments and saturation and voila. My aesthetic meal is served. Enjoy the view.
