Palace in the Clouds: Clouds and a Floating Palace at a Corridor's End

In the same corridor a girl stops and turns to look straight into the lens, not startled, with a knowing calm and a trace of a smile, her outline burned into a silhouette by backlit windows. Shows how one frozen direct gaze can create an eerie but restrained sense of recognition. Image 3 of Zhao Yifan's set.

Seen from the highest platform over a sea of clouds, a figure in white turns away from the camera toward the churning clouds, whose surface refracts rainbow-like light. Uses a high-angle shot to close the set with a sense of reaching the summit. Image 4 of Zhao Yifan's Palace in the Clouds set.