The early bird...

catches the photographic opportunity. This image was featured in the Australian Society of Travel Writers' book One Foot Forward.

It was taken with quite a bit of reluctance on my part. I wasn't reluctant to push the shutter, it was nearly impossible to get me out of the door in the first place.

You see it was early, and I'm really not a morning person by nature. In fact I'd probably be a lot happier soul if the best light happened between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon!

It was my last day in Nepal, my flight was due to leave Kathmandu that afternoon and I was planning to spend the morning sleeping in, maybe a leisurely breakfast, a stroll down to my favourite bookstore. You get the picture.

Well my wife had other ideas as she forced me out of bed at some ungodly hour to go and have a look at the city of Patan, on the other side of the Kathmandu Valley. In particular she wanted to go to Durbar Square. When we got there there was this gorgeous mist covering the whole square and locals were out and about doing their shopping, taking a walk and just going about their business.

It was literally photographic paradise. There were no other tourists there (one of my favoured ways of getting unique images as you know), life was going on as it had for thousands of years and there was this gorgeous mist over everything. These women above were doing their fruit and vegetable shopping and putting the produce in these large wicker baskets. The blue cast is caused by the pre-dawn light and the mist combined.

I always knew that getting up early led to better pictures but this case just reinforced that belief. That and the fact that your travel photography is never over until you're actually on the plane! And even then there might be a nice view out the window. :) I can thank my wife Chiharu for this pic.