It took me 5 days to realise that my room had a beautiful view of the sunrise in Bali, overlooking the beach. Taken from the 3rd floor of our room in the Ibis Styles in Nusa Dua, this is one of my favourite memories of Bali.

I’ve also shot a couple of time-lapses of multiple sunrise in Bali, but this had the best view among them all. This shot although was taken as a long exposure shot, before i started on the time-lapse.

My visit to Bali was spent staying in different locations for different reasons. We were in a small room for 2, cheap and cosy, by the beach side when Claude and me did our advanced open water certification. From there, we moved to the more upscale Nusa Dua for the wedding we were shooting.

Stay in Nusa Dua saw us constantly exchanging rooms between the Ibis Styles and Westin, of which I personally love the Westin for the atrociously huge campus, right by the beach. We also went snorkelling from the Westin private beach, which was pretty much wading through 3 ft of water almost a km into the sea. More on that for another day.

Photographer tip – Shooting with the sun in frame regularly I feel takes a toll on the camera’s sensor. Which is why if shooting time-lapses with the sun, shoot when the sun is almost rising or setting. Choosing the settings is something that comes with time and practice, and depends on the location itself. A neutral density/polarizing filter can help loads if the sun appears in the frame.