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Discover the stories behind my photographs, captured around the world in magnificent landscapes and foreign cultures

Duplicated Heritage

 

Hello out there,

Getting up early in the morning is absolutely crucial to really experience the magic of Angkor Wat. When the sun rises right behind the Cambodian world heritage, you will be rewarded with a view you will never forget and therefore actually don’t need to capture in a picture. But to be able to share this experience with you, of course, I did bring my camera along.

The evening before I took this photo the hotel manager recommended me, to start my discovery of the site early in the morning, to be ahead of the big tourist groups entering it after breakfast. So I arranged with my guide to meet around an hour before sunrise. Luckily he was at the hotel in time, since I heard from other travelers, that the punctuality westerns usually count on, the Cambodians are not quite used to. But this way I was able to get a ticket for the day within just a couple of minutes and arrived at Angkor Wat well before sunrise.

Now I had enough time to look for the perfect view of the monument, which was actually not too hard to find. Right away a small pond drew my attention, fitting perfectly in my desired composition. It seemed like most of the people had the same intention, as the small spot behind the pond got more and more crowded, as the sun started to rise.

First I was quite disappointed when it started getting brighter and I recognized that the whole sky was covered with clouds. But as the sun kept rising, an unreal magenta light filled the whole sky and turned the scene into a once in a lifetime moment. Since I had my camera already set up, I just had to press the shutter to capture it.