Great Trip... only lost one hat

I am getting ready to start my 34 hour trek back to Seattle. I have about 4500 images with me - most of which I have not had time to even look at - and a suitcase full of very dirty and very sweaty clothes. The food was great, I didn't get sick, and I think that I even gained a little weight (which is probably worse than losing the hat). I learned a lot from Art and his assistant Gavriel Jecan ( a world-class shooter and Nat'l Geo. contributor). I just hope that I can continue to apply these lessons when I go shooting on my own. We'll see.

Note that two of the images above are ones that you probably will recognize. It is the iconic photo of Angkor Wat at dawn. I took about 50 images that all look pretty much the same. Add that to the images of the other 200 photographers that were also there at 5am, and you have one very-well documented sunrise. You should know that sunrise is the most populr time to shoot the temple because a good portion of the structure is now covered in green tarp as part of the ongoing maintenance. It's not so pretty in the daylight. You should also know that there is a secret to getting a good spot in which to shoot the sunrise. You want to be down front, at the shore of the small lake so that you can catch the reflection of the temple in the water. The way to do this is to come there the previous afternoon and pay one of the vendors that has set up shop nearby to save you a spot. They will then go out at 4am, before any of the tourists arrive, and set up chairs in your preferred spot. When we arrived at 5:30, most of the spots in front of the lake were already filled and there was much jostling for room. We just picked our way through the crowd down to the front row and claimed our spots. Our place-holder had coffee waiting for us. I think this service cost us $1 each.