One of Singapore’s premium tourist attractions is the pair of conservatories located at Gardens by the Bay. I took this picture inside the Cloud Forest, which is slightly smaller of the two conservatories, although it is considerably taller than its neighbor. The highlight of Cloud Forest is Cloud Mountain, an artificial mountain which one can descend by means of a winding skywalk.
This is exciting for several reasons.
First, artificial mountains are by their very nature tremendous things. Cloud Mountain is a particular triumph, with slopes densely covered by greenery and waterfalls and even some cave-like displays in the center. Granted, none of those attributes appear in this picture; the caves are inside the mountain and the waterfalls are on the opposite side of the mountain, so none are visible. And by converting the image from color to black-and-white, I removed the green along with the rest of the colors which had originally been in the picture.
Second, skyways are fun. Perhaps some people are scared of heights; this is borderline understandable, but for me, skyways provide a chance to see the world from a different perspective, which in turn means a chance to take fun and exciting pictures.
Third, well, just look at the skyway. The entirety of Gardens by the Bay is a triumph of architecture and engineering, but this skywalk in particular is gorgeous. The sharp angles, the visual interplay with the structure of the dome. The boldness of the line crossing through the frame.
I had debated editing this photo in full color. The sky was a very nice shade of blue, and the plants on Cloud Mountain provided some life to the picture. However, once I started playing around in editing, I realized that what really drew me to the photo was the geometry and composition of the image.
Snapshots from Jiangsu 