The old man and the sea

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An opportunity picture, shot on the outskirts of the fishing village of Tai O, in Lantau which made me think of Hemingway’s “the old man and the sea”. This fisherman was staying under the harsh sun to carry out some subsistence fishing.

A sunny day

This picture is somehow reminiscent of the book by Hemingway, the old man and the sea, for the communion that can be felt between the sea, the mountain in the back ground and the lone figure of the fisherman.

That day, the sun was almost “cymbals of sunlight crashing on my forehead” as it was when recounted by Albert Camus in “l’Etranger”:

Because of that bright sun, the final image resulted almost monochrome, and hence was  a good candidate for a treatment in black and white.

The context

While this picture conveys an impression of remoteness, and distance, the context is a little bit different. Tai O is nowadays a big touristic destination. So, about 100 m behind, you have crowds of tourists making their way to another point of the island. The peacefulness of the scene is further sometimes disturbed by tour boats passing just in front of the fisherman. Obviously, I captured one of the peaceful moments, and apparently, no tourist paid attention to this fisherman.

A lesson out of this picture? Be on the lookout and generally look in other directions than most of the crowd. Your most interesting pictures will happen when your eyes look differently.

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