His hand only shook lightly as the shutter dropped, capturing yet another photo of the old pier at Hai river during sunrise.
Even if the river looked mystical at best around this time of the day, he knew if he wanted to get what he wanted, he needed to work for it. It was never easy getting just the right angle, the right focus where he could capture the sunrays illuminating the old pier like some scene from a vintage movie. The skyscrapers on the horizon would also play into the whole dreamlike setting, working as an almost blurred background that would look as rippled as the water from the river itself.
It would be a beautiful picture if he could capture it. He had found this place by chance during his morning stroll around Beijing every morning. Even though it looked to be in a sorry state, standing broken in the middle of a lively city that had all the colours to offer, it still had its own stories to tell. The empty old pier and the ever-evolving city clashed together like two worlds on the bank of the river. The scene almost looked surreal around dawn, making it the perfect subject for him to work with. Because of this, he had been coming to this place for two days now, hoping to get just the right amount of lighting so he could get what he wanted, and today luck seemed to be finally on his side. Clicking away every few minutes as he adjusted the camera, he knew today he would get the shot he wanted. It was a surety that came with years of practice and fumbling, and he had honed this since he was just twelve, fumbling with an old Nikon Handy-cam his father had around that time, capturing and recording anything that he fancied.
Photography had been a part of him from a very early age. So when he took up Cinematography as his subject to study in college, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. He wanted to learn
So it was an easy decision on his part to study Cinematography when he finally moved to Beijing from his home in Layuong three months ago. He wanted to learn everything there was to know about filming, so he could capture the entire world from the angle he saw it in, at the same time, understand how others saw the world in return.
It was when the sun's rays started to get a tad too bright for his setting that he saw him. And he could not help but take the camera to his eyes to capture the shot.
The monsoon wind started picking up its speed as he made quick adjustments, and he watched in fascination how the wind and light worked together, turning his newfound subject into something spectacular.
Dressed in a faded grey jumper and loose running trousers, the man stood on the edge of the pier, still unaware of his presence just a few feet away Leaning carelessly across the railing, he took lazy drags from his cigarette as he stared blankly across the river. Even with his ebony black hair being tousled in the worst way possible by the wind, he still managed to look put together, and the sun rays, now in shades of bright orange and gold, made his skin look translucent.
It was only after getting home that Wang Zihao took a closer look at the photos he had taken of the man, and what he saw left an unknown feeling in his guts.
As he zoomed into the photo to resize the picture, his eyes got stuck on the man’s face.
He had the saddest eyes Zihao had ever seen.
It was undoubtedly, the best picture He had taken till then.
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