Talking Fishing Blues

Inle Lake, Shan State, Myanmar. October 2016

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This is the most touristy of all my chosen photographs. It also highlight why I wouldn’t even consider travelling without a camera. It is how I see the sights that others take for granted.

The fishermen are an icon of Inle Lake. You will see them in brochures, on postcards and if you go there you will see them on the lake. It is not so much their ability to catch fish that makes them different to other fishermen, it is how they use their legs to both row their boats (look Mum. No hands!) and manouvre their nets. Their bright orange pants ensure most people can see them at all times. Not me though. They were too far away from our boat, which was moving too fast for me to spot them with my naked eye. I knew they would be around though so I put the long lens on my camera ready to zoom

My brother let me know when he saw a fisherman and pointed in that direction. Nope, I still couldn’t see them. I raised my camera and zoomed in, not so much looking for a fisherman but just looking for an object, a shape, something that may turn into a fisherman with the help of digital technology. I found such a blob contrasting against the colour of the water and began to click. As my eye focused a little better through the viewfinder I thought I saw a fisherman but I still wasn’t sure. I clicked again. Later, on my computer screen I did see a fisherman.