Overview 
A photography collection that turns real landscapes and night skies into a designed viewing experience. Made for a general audience online (and strongest on large screens or large-format prints), the work asks: how can a single still image convey scale, time, and harsh conditions—so viewers feel immersion, awe, and respect for nature without motion or interaction?

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Project Facts
Role: Photographer (planning, shooting, editing, sequencing)
Team: Solo practice
Context: Multi-year collection across mountains, glaciers, ice, oceans, waterfalls, Milky Way, meteor showers, and aurora; some photos exhibited as large-format prints in Shenzhen (2025 China Merchants Bank photography exhibition)
Tools: Route research + navigation, astro planning apps (PlanIt), weather forecasting app (Windy), field safety systems, Photoshop editing
Outputs: Curated image collection + web gallery sequence 

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The UX Question
How do we create “immersion in stillness”—guiding attention and emotion in a single frame?
How do we sequence images so viewers experience scale → time → environmental pressure, rather than scrolling through unrelated highlights?

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Audience & Journey

• Viewers enter through an opening image that establishes scale and depth, then move through themed chapters with a clear emotional arc.

• Most images are built with a foreground anchor, a line of travel, and a distant subject.

• Across the page, the sequence shifts from daylight scale cues to twilight/night time signals (stars/aurora), then returns to weather and terrain constraints.

• On large screens or prints, depth cues become more legible, encouraging slower viewing and longer attention.

• Viewers leave with a concrete impression of nature’s beauty—and a stronger impulse to explore responsibly and protect it.

 

Key Design Decisions

• Use scale anchors (human figures, ridgelines, ice textures, tree lines) so the viewer immediately understands magnitude.

• Build foreground-to-subject pathways (guiding lines, shore edges, ice cracks, trails) to stabilize attention in wide scenes.

• Prioritize depth: keep clear foreground/midground/background layers, let distance soften detail, and use contrast to guide the eye.

• In night images, the sky carries the time signal—structure, direction, and intensity.

• Favor locations and angles with unusual forms or rare conditions (unique landforms, reflections, aurora structures) to avoid generic views.

• Edit with a clear intent: not “make it pretty,” so the eye lands on the subject first, then moves through the frame.

• Accept constraints as part of the design: narrow weather windows, long nights, terrain blockages, and safety margins shape the final composition.

 

Build / Prototype / Iterate
I work through a consistent workflow that combines research, timing, risk assessment, and fast on-site adaptation. The process begins with mapping common viewpoints, then designing a new angle through route, timing, and weather decisions. In the field, terrain and cloud patterns often force rapid reframing; back in post, selection and sequencing refine the intended attention flow and emotional pacing.

• Reference scan to identify overused viewpoints and define a unique target.

• Route planning (tracks + elevation) and timing (sun, twilight, Milky Way/aurora windows).

• Forecast cross-checking across models; decide go/no-go and backup plans.

• Gear tradeoffs based on safety + stamina (batteries/cards, cold management).

• On-site iterations: switch focal lengths, shift foreground anchors, re-balance composition when conditions change.

• Post: strict RAW selection (composition/exposure), then Photoshop to reinforce hierarchy and attention path; sequence images into chapters.

Common failures (wrong forecast model, wrong focal length, insufficient batteries/cards) became design constraints that improved my checklist, redundancy planning, and shot prioritization under time pressure.

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Outcome
This collection consistently translates real-world constraints into a readable visual experience—viewers can sense depth, scale, and time through composition and sequencing rather than explanation.