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PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS for visiting Angkor Temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is a small town in central Cambodia. It's a poor village transformed into a tourist mecca. There are dozens of new, big hotels coming up here in addition to many already in operation. Imagine Las Vegas kind of hotels in the middle of a poor town, where some people have no electricity. No planning what so ever. More hotels! We need more hotels! If you want to see the most amazing architectural and cultural heritage place in the world (yes, I've seen many amazing places - Angkor beats them all), you have to come NOW! Next year it might be too late. And every serious photographer should make such a trip. It's a dream for you, believe me. The variety of temples to photograph, unbelievable sunsets and sunrises, amazing architectural details all set up in the great Cambodian culture - can you ask for anything better? I'm gonna show you our 4-day itinerary as an inspiration for the choice of temples to visit from the photographer's perspective and the time of the day to go there. The main photo tip you will get is simple - wake-up early! And I'm talking very early. The first two-three hours of the day have the best light and even the most popular temples (with the exception of Angkor Wat) are empty. Book a driver, tuk-tuk looks like fun, but get a regular car. You'll need one for farer trips and it's just more comfy and better for your camera. Good place to change lenses, check on your gear etc. Highly recommend Sak - cheasinak2500 [at] yahoo.com. I emailed him and he was waiting for us at the airport - that's the best way to meet. We spent 4 days with him and he was great. He's young, speaks good English and knows the place very well. Come in winter. Not only the climate is much better, with the exception of midday heat it's pleasant and quite cool at night, but you will have a much higher rate of colorful sunrises and sunsets. Wet period - no sunsets for you. Day 1 - Srah Srang for sunrise, Ta Prohm right after that - for more than 2 hours we had this amazing place just for ourselves! When people started to show up, we moved to Banteay Kdei - one of the underrated great temples of Angkor. After a break - yes, you need a break every day, the light for photography is crap and it's just great to hide in your hotel during the hottest part of the day - we went to Bayon. An amazing place with tons of details to shoot. Bayon is much less crowded in the afternoon. Most of the groups follow the same pattern and the trick is to go against it. You won't avoid people, but it will be much more pleasant. At the end of our first day we rode an elephant uphill for our first sunset. The place is very popular and it's a zoo - we knew about it, so we just took it with a smile :-) For the Angkor Wat shot from here you'll need at least a 200mm lens. Day 2 - 4AM wake-up call. We drove to Banteay Srey, probably the most picturesque of all. We were there just before sunrise, saw the Cambodian village wake-up and get ready for the day. A tip here - the road is very bad, don't eat your breakfast before taking it. Take some energy bars with you instead. We were the first people in the temple and the other tourists started to come almost two hours later! Another magical place for ourselves. Next we drove to Beng Melea, a very unique temple. It's completely taken by the jungle, no restoration has been done here. The trick is you explore the place like Indiana Jones would, walk on the walls, go through some tight windows... It's crazy, we were not prepared for climbing and some places are very dangerous. You have to wear good shoes, get an easy to access camera pack, as you have to constantly pack your camera back - you will need both hands for climbing. After the break we went to visit the main complex of Angkor Wat. This is probably the busiest temple of all and the crowds here are crazy. The climb is very dangerous as it's steep and coming back down requires a special approach. There are handrails on one side of the temple and people are lining down for the descent there - an easy hour wait (!). I'd say the inside of Angkor Wat was the biggest disappointment for us, it's great and huge, but lacks character of many other places. You can get some unusual shots from here though, like a high angle on some monks on the lower levels. The sunset through the North Pond is a must. Even without any spectacular colors, the long exposure here will help you catch some pinks and purples of the end of the day. Day 3 - Angkor Wat sunrise shot! Yes, it's crazy, thousands of people are coming here with the same idea. The trick is - come before they come! We got there before 5AM and were the first by the pond! Take a flashlight. Very soon people are starting to show up and if you are lucky, you will get your shot. Next we went to Bayon for another elephant ride - this time through the South Gate to Bayon temple. But we didn't stay here - we drove to an amazing temple of Prah Khan. It was a complete surprise for us, but that was one of the best! So big with so many options for details and Ta Prohm kind of trees on the back side! Great. We loved it. That afternoon first we drove to the Victory Gate and visited Thommanon and to end the day we decided to try a sunset shot from Pre Rup. It supposed to be empty, but there were still crowds here. We were getting tired by the crowds frankly. The sunset was great though and the temple is very picturesque and red. Day 4 - For sunrise we picked Bakong - a different area, east of Siem Reap. Again, it was a great decision - there was nobody there for more than 2 hours and the temple itself is great. My camera: Canon 5D + 24-70 f2.8L, 35 f1.4L, 135 f2L + 1.4x, Gitzo 1028 tripod, Markins Q3 ball |
