This photo was taken during a camping trip to the highest mountain in Oman, Jebel Shams. The name translates to Mountain of the Sun, as it is the first peak in the country to catch the first light of the day at sunrise. The landscape is dominated by the surrounding mountains and rocky plateaus, with some sparse trees. During winter and early spring, the temperature and humidity are lower; hence, the atmosphere is clear, with good visibility. This helps when photographing during sunrise and sunset, with vibrant colours and wide vistas.
After finishing the routine of setting up camp, I walked around the area while waiting for sunset, looking for an interesting tree to act as a foreground subject. In the background, I wanted to frame the distant Jebel Misht mountain, with its peculiar triangular shape. After finding the composition I was looking for, I set up my camera on a tripod and waited for the right moment.
I chose my Voigtländer 27mm lens for my Fuji APS-C camera, which gives an angle of view equivalent to 40mm on full frame. I like this focal length very much, somewhere between 35mm and 50mm. Being a manual-focus lens, it helps slow down my mental process in landscape photography. I positioned the camera behind the tree in a way that would provide a nice sunstar effect; albeit small, there are three or four where the sun shines through the branches. In the meantime, the sky was painted with the rich, warm colours of the sunset.
