Exploring the Ultimate Beauty of Landscape - Thomas's 2017 Photography Selection

At the beginning of this year, Thomas wrote "At 27, I Will Walk My Own Path, Without Regret."

Before we knew it, the end of 2017 had arrived, and Thomas had been on the road of professional landscape photography for half a year. During this time there was confusion and hesitation, but more than that, there was down-to-earth effort toward his dream: recording the most ultimate landscape beauty in this world!

Landscape photography requires the patience to wait.

On the afternoon the photo below was taken, the whole fjord was covered in dark clouds, but my teammates and I still decided to gamble on the weather, climbing 600 meters high to wait for the sunset. All evening the clouds were simply too many and too thick, and the sun was completely hidden. But we still waited patiently.

After a while, the distant clouds and peaks actually slowly turned red, and in the end they even burned hot, letting us witness a miracle moment that lasted only 5 minutes yet was immensely spectacular.

The photo below records the most dreamlike night in my 2 months of trekking and exploring in Greenland.

It had rained for 2 straight days, and I was already suffocating in the tent. Suddenly a beam of moonlight hit the tent, startling me into rushing out to check. After the storm, the clouds had parted and the fog had cleared: the distant giant peak's rock walls were all covered in white snow, glistening in the moonlight, as if the gods had descended to earth.

Without time to organize, I grabbed my tripod and camera and rushed to the small river, creating until moonset. After 4 straight hours by the river, I was nearly frozen and was about to head back to camp to rest. At that moment, an even more explosive scene appeared: the aurora across the sky began to dance and erupt, with countless green arches stretching from northeast to southwest across the sky. Only a 2-row, 12-frame vertical stitch with a 14mm wide-angle lens could record this incredibly stunning miraculous celestial display!

When we arrived at this 4,800-meter camp on the first day, we happened to encounter a clear sky with no clouds. Though the team hadn't showered for nearly 2 weeks and was exhausted, longing to return home, everyone still decided to stay an extra day here — and finally witnessed the breathtaking snow peaks beneath a sky full of rosy clouds.

Landscape photography requires the courage to take on challenges.

Our team began packing camp at 9 p.m., officially departing at midnight. After a night of endless climbing, we finally successfully reached Gondogoro La at 5,700 meters before sunrise.

At that moment, the morning sun gradually pierced through the dark clouds, lighting up the surrounding 8,000-meter, 7,000-meter, and 6,000-meter Karakoram peaks in turn. The endless golden snow peaks, together with the climbers, witnessed this peak moment.

On the coast of the Indian Ocean, giant waves towered. Every time a wave crashed against the rocks, it made a huge impact sound, as if tearing the earth apart. But I still carefully groped my way to the outermost rocks and used long exposure to record the moment the giant waves burst against the rocks.

In the Erguna area of Inner Mongolia at minus 40 degrees, our convoy braved the bitter cold and ice and snow, driving through the depths of the Greater Khingan Mountains, witnessing the morning sunlight falling on the forest — a fairy-tale secret realm where cold and warmth intertwine.

Landscape photography requires the steps of exploration.

My teammates and I planned carefully on Google Maps, deciding to land on the west side of this uninhabited Arctic islet. It took us two days of trekking over mountains to reach the cliff area on the east side of the islet. It was even more stunning than expected: glaciers, cliffs, fjords, clouds, and floating ice formed a breathtaking painting.

At the Urdukas camp at 3,900 meters in Pakistan, after setting up camp, our team didn't lie down to rest but carefully trekked and explored the glacier strewn with rocks nearby, finally discovering this cluster of Kashmir delphinium flowers.

Shooting the scenes inside snow mountains and glaciers has always been one of my wishes. This year, under the leadership of AdventureX's Shi Fei, we carefully searched the Karakoram range and finally found the icy wonderland in the photo below.

Landscape photography requires eyes that discover.

At Indonesia's Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, I didn't go to the crowded viewing platform to watch the classic sunrise. Instead, at sunset I searched the slopes for a different foreground, finally discovering this oddly shaped tree. Combined with the several volcanoes billowing smoke behind it, it made one feel transported back to the Jurassic era.

The same applies to Switzerland's Château de Chillon, a postcard spot. Even in drizzly, unfavorable weather, I didn't give up shooting but worked hard to find a distinctive camera position.

In the end, I climbed over the embankment and found this angle in front of the rocks in the lake. The screen full of yellow leaves not only highlighted the autumn colors, but also just happened to block the sky with no detail — two birds with one stone.

In the popular town of Santa Maddalena in Italy, I observed there for 6 days and finally discovered a telephoto angle few have shot. Through advance planning with the Planit app, I captured this scene of the moon hanging above the peaks, illuminating the mountain cabins.

2017, my footprints in Singapore:

In Pakistan:

In Greenland:

In the Alps:

In Indonesia:

And in China:

Along the way, my learning of landscape photography techniques owes much to the generous sharing of photography masters like Max Rive, Gaogaoshou Li Tao, Daniel Kordan, Yan'er, Yunman, A Liu, Bandao Xueren, Sean Archer, and so on.

Several other photographers of the "AdventureX team" — Pan Weihao, Shi Fei, Shi Yanbing, Yao Minglai, Zhou You — along with Teacher Ning Sixiaoxiao of "Photography Notes," and friends from Tuchong like Muxi, Xiangyu Qing, Yongyi, Fang Thomas, Binghe, and others, have also given me a lot of help during my growth.

And of course, every reader who follows, supports, and encourages me on social media like WeChat official accounts, Weibo, Zhihu, and Tuchong — your messages and comments often move me to tears and become the driving force for me to keep improving and moving forward on the path of pursuing ultimate landscape photography!

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The new book "The Fundamentals of Landscape Photography Post-Processing" (《风光摄影后期基础》) accidentally got delayed to 2018; it will definitely be printed and published in January.

The "Dreamscape Landscape Pre- and Post-Processing" (《梦幻风光前后期》) video series course is in full swing. Welcome to scan the QR code to join.

And of course, there are 200 free quality photography tutorials. Thomas has organized them into a learning index by difficulty and topic. Click "Read More" to start learning!