This was published 9 years ago
The Big Picture reader photo competition winner announced 2014
By Larissa Nicholson
A moment of tranquil beauty captured in rural China has won Mike Clements Traveller's Big Picture photo competition.
Clements is retired now, but spent most of his working life in product development for Nestle, a job which took him around the world.
The art lover and keen traveller took a dedicated photography tour of Japan in 2010, which he credits with giving him a solid skills base.
"We were photographing 10 hours a day and I then became familiar with the camera," he said.
"Once you get the technical stuff under the belt you can focus on the other aspects."
On a three week trip to China with his wife Dianne last year, he snapped a fisherman on the Li River in the country's south using his Canon 5D Mark III.
When he looked at the shot later, he realised he had achieved something special.
"I probably only got five or six shots of that scene and when I looked back at the computer I realised it was the one," he said.
Clements said the Li River was just one highlight of the holiday.
"We were just absolutely blown away by the whole landscape in China," he said.
"The cities are great and the walls are great and the Forbidden City is fantastic, but when you get out into areas where there isn't a continual haze from the pollution, you're just in pristine areas."
Clements' wife Dianne also enjoys photography and she sometimes used an iPhone to avoid the hassle of lugging heavy cameras around.
One of the judges, Kylie McLaughlin, a professional photographer and producer on traveller.com.au says there are many factors that made this the ideal travel shot.
"Firstly, it is an unusual sight, and it is one that could have been taken yesterday, or 100 years ago," she said.
"The early morning light is spot-on and the composition is perfect, right to the backdrop of the misty mountains which clearly places the shot in China."
Clements will travel to Singapore, courtesy of Singapore Airlines, spending four nights at Accor Hotels' luxurious new Sofitel So Singapore and take part in a photography-inspired tour of Singapore from the Singapore Tourism Board.
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