This is from the amazing Surin Islands in southern Thailand. A dozen islands make up for this marine national park 70 km ofshore in the Andaman Sea. Although not that far from the popular and hectic tourist destination of Phuket, it is the total opposite. It is peaceful and quiet, undeveloped and pure. Being protected as a national park I hope it stays that way.
Combined underwater and rain-forest wildlife makes these islands one of the most biodeverse places on earth. In a single day I saw a Flying Squirrel, Flying Foxes (giant bats), Pig-Tailed Macaque, Sea Eagle, Sea Turtle, Moray Eels, Giant Lobster (looked delicious), Giant Clam Shell, had a group of Black Tipped Reef Shark swim pass my feet, Clown Fish (Nemo), Puffer fish plus the hundreds of species of corals, coral reef fishes, insects, reptiles, crabs, trees and plants and I don't know the name of.
On this picture is a long tail boat stranded on a low tide on a early morning sunrise. I woke up at 5:45am. This is the time day to shoot reflections in the tropical regions as the wind often picks up when the sun starts to shine. It is also the time when things are most peaceful.
This was yet another rewarding early morning wake up in this trip, both from a photographic point of view but also from a nature experience point of view. These tranquil moments are the most memorable ones from the trip.
Statistics
Place: 10 out of 379 Avg (all users): 6.8095 Avg (commenters): 7.7778 Avg (participants): 6.7568 Avg (non-participants): 6.9722 Views since voting: 2101 Views during voting: 262 Votes: 147 Comments: 12 Favorites: 3 (view)
First Impressions 'Ding Ding' - This is my 100th Critique Club Critique and I'm very pleased to have drawn this image from the stack.
I gave this an 8 during voting - beautiful image.
Really like the strong perspective, colors, but mostly my favorite part of the image is the rope visible/captured under the water.
Photograph Information, Technicals & Composition Review I really like how your exposure time and depth has created a borderline milky effect on the water, yet still retaining that transparency. Of course the reflections, subtle from the boat but more dominant on the left from the mountain, add extra interest to the image and in no way create a sense of 'busyness'. These and the other elements just allow you to view 'new things' when revisiting the image.
I like the composition and any change to it would create another (excellent) image. My only real 'niggle' with this image and it is fairly minor, but one that my mind always finds unsettling, is that the horizon & water 'level' seems out by a whisker (needs the smallest of fractions up on the right), but could be the perspective/angle, plus the fact the angle of the boat, which perhaps just fools the eye.
The shape on the distant pinkish clouds 'sweep in' toward the boat which is good - but does make me wonder about accentuating that in your composition, but again - another image. Maybe I'd like to see a little more detail on the fore of the boat, especially where the writing/drawing/artwork is in white... but again - another image.
Comments, Score & Placement Review 10th place (out of 378) in a Free Study is excellent and a score of 6.80 is strong (a little surprising, to be honest I was expecting to see it higher). An average of 7.77 from your commenters with one or two 'suggestions for improvement', but these sound more like personal taste and I'm not sure that they would improve this image (again, another image). Otherwise, your commenters mostly just tell you what they like about the image and their reactions, which of course is usually a good thing.
Summary This must bring back those pleasant feelings and thoughts for you when you look at this and I hope you have it somewhere, whether printed or digital, to 'take you there' when you need it most.
Congratulations on the top 10. I'm thankful this image was #100 for me.
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