A Particular Photo

The first photograph that popped into my mind at the prompt of "standing out" to me is actually one that I took myself. The fact that it's my own picture might be a large part of why it stands out (since I know the story behind it; Hello, Bias), but I do believe that the picture itself is interesting on its own. The right-side foreground is taken up by a wooden fence crossbar and the legs and feet of an otherwise-unseen person; the midground contains various green, fern-like leafy plants of different sizes and shapes; and, most interestingly, the far background, seen most in the upper left corner... fades into an empty, grey-white nothingness. Now, that white backdrop isn't some kind of photo-editing--my digital camera captured exactly what I saw that day back in 2012. Because this picture was actually taken on the summit of the Poás Volcano in Costa Rica. A boiling-hot and extremely-acidic lake nestled deep in the volcano's crater pours out a near-constant column of steam--such as the cloud I photographed as it drifted up towards the tourist viewing platform. The leg of the girl in the picture was actually someone I didn't know. But when she hopped up and sat on the rickety wooden fence overlooking the crater, the plume of steam making it look like the world ended just beyond the narrow cliff she was perched on... That was an image I simply could not pass up.

Also, included here for coming in second place for Most Memorable and still a very, very cool shot: a panorama I took of the crater when the steam had cleared a little, to give the first pic a little perspective beyond the Emptiness cloud: