It started with a last-minute flight booking and a bag packed way too heavy for the weather.

Bali has this quality of light in the early morning — before the heat sets in — where everything goes gold and soft. I spent most of my time chasing that window. Up at 4:30, out by 5, home by 9 before the tourist buses arrived.

The terraces at Tegallalang are genuinely stunning, even accounting for how photographed they are. What surprised me was how green they stayed — I expected the dry season to have bleached them out, but there was water running through every level.

The temples

I wasn’t expecting to be moved by the temple work as much as I was. Pura Lempuyang especially — the “gateway to heaven” shot is a cliché for a reason, but get there before dawn and you have it to yourself.

Most of what I shot didn’t end up being the famous landmarks at all. It was doorways, offerings left on sidewalks, kids on scooters in school uniforms, a woman arranging flowers outside a warung at 6am.

The best travel photography happens when you stop trying to make the postcard shot and just start paying attention.

Gear notes

Traveled light this time: one body, a 35mm, and a 85mm. Left the zoom at home and didn’t miss it once. The 85 at f/1.8 in that morning light was everything.

More from this trip to come — I have a few portraits from the north of the island that I’m still editing.