Where's Dariel? – Travel Blog

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*Note: This is NOT a sponsored post.

Angkor Wat! I remember it being one of my top to-go places ever since I saw amazing photographs of the beautiful temples and structures from a colleague who visited donkey years ago. When I finally planned for the trip to Siem Reap last year, I wanted to make it a memorable one with a lot of nice photographs. However, since I was (still am) very much in the learning stage on photography, I decided to sign up for a photography tour with an expert who will be able to teach and show me the ropes.

After much research on the internet and comparison of prices, I got in touch with Eric d Vries from Photo Cambodia, a foreigner (Dutch if I remember correctly) who married a local girl and settled down in Cambodia for many years now. (Hint hint: he knows the place inside out!)

On the day of the tour, Eric met me at my hotel at 5.30am with his trustworthy tuk-tuk driver and we went to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was pitch dark when we got there and “choped” a good location, not that there were many people when we arrived. For the first time in my life, I saw the sky filled with bright and shiny stars! Couldn’t help being excited about it since it was simply stunning! Something to occupy me while waiting for the sun to appear.

As we stood there waiting for the right shot, Eric started to give me pointers on what to do and told me when to adjust my camera settings.

Angkor Wat sunrise

Angkor Wat Sunrise

From the photos you probably cannot imagine how many people were there for the sunrise but yeah, that’s a perk for getting someone who knows how to avoid the crowd!

Throughout the day Eric brought me to the different temples, usually with no or few crowds. He not only showed / taught me how to utilize the colours around us and composition, he also provided technical guidance on my camera. Not to mention he also patiently answered many of my ignorant questions ha!

Here are some of the photos taken that day with his guidance. My camera was mainly set in AV mode in case anyone is interested to know.

I was trying to capture the sun ray behind come from behind the tree. I was told if there’s some dust around (like somebody sweeping the floor) then it would be more dramatic.

Capturing the different colours on the wall.

Move nearer to your subject and focus on what you want to show in the picture.

Doesn’t it look like a candle?

The nun who gave us blessings in the temple

Eric said he carried the rock and placed it there 2 years ago to give depth to the photo!

Stone lion at Preah Khan

Nature wins!

At Leper King Terrace

No editing was done for this photo and it is not a combination of 2 photos. Amazing isn’t it?!

Leper King Terrace

Monk statue

Here we were playing with shadow, light and colours.

Using black & white to compensate for the (non) effect of the harsh afternoon sun – Banteay Kdei

The Bayon

Master at work

Popular shot of statues touching nose to nose

The Bayon from the outside

These are just some of the photographs I had taken with Eric. Believe it or not, many of the pictures have not been edited at all!

As you can see, Eric mainly brought me to the less trodden path with less crowds. I appreciated that a lot. Due to time constraints, he gave me tips on when to go to the more popular temples like the Ta Prohm (where Tomb Raider was filmed) and to take note what to photograph. It was a truly enlightening and enjoyable tour. By the way, he also brought me to a restaurant that served the best Amrok Fish I ate on the trip!

If you are interested to see more beautiful photos taken in the Angkor Archaeological Park, do head over to my Facebook page! Also check out what are the other things you can do in Siem Reap here.

Note: This is NOT a sponsored article.