2012, Day 349 - Icons

There is no image of Cambodia more iconic than Angkor Wat at sunrise.  It is the shot that everyone with even the most remote interest in photography wants to remember their trip.  Although we have all seen many when it is you behind the camera it feels special.  On any given morning there may be a hundred people or more lining the edge of the reflecting pond in the hope of a good sunrise and the morning this was take was no different.  The bank of the pond was crowded with people trying to find enough space to take a picture.  Many had flashes going off lighting nothing at all and others were using their smartphones.  I had a tripod, multiple lenses, and a pouch full of filters.

We arrived a little later than I would have liked and our initial position along the pond wasn't great but as the sun crested the horizon people began to leave.  Soon there was space in the prime positions so I grabbed my Lee Big Stopper to push sunrise back a little bit and kept taking pictures.  Those people who left missed out, the colors got better as the sun rose.  I even had a Japanese gentleman standing by side looking at my images on the back of my camera as I shot.  He was impressed with the results and how I was achieving the look of sunrise when there was already so much light in the sky.  I kept taking pictures and explained what I was doing and he thanked me when I started packing up.  It's great to share tip and tricks; hopefully he was able to utilize them to get the pictures that he was hoping for because I know I got mine.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
53mm, f8, 1/80 sec @ 100 ISO