Hoi An Fisherman, by David Smith

This marvelous old man sits in his canoe at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hoi An, Vietnam, an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. He patiently waits for tourists to walk along the bank of the village lake saying with broken English words “pictures for a dollar”. I gladly gave him a dollar took his photograph and then took the time to turn my camera around to show him his photo on the LCD screen. I must have been the first person in weeks to do that because his face lit up with a huge smile and chuckle. I needed his attention because my first photo was awful as he was looking into the sun with hot spots and blown out highlights on his face.Most of the tourists that visited Hoi An that day were from a cruise ship, a 2-3 hour drive away, so most snapped his photo at noon with glaring mid-day sun and contrasty haze then moved on not realizing how their bad photo can be corrected easily. Having his attention and after waiting for the crowd to disperse I waved my hand in a circular motion to get him to turn his canoe around so the sun was behind him while I pulled out my 70-200 mm lens and moved further back to zoom in and create a narrow depth of field. To properly expose his shaded face and blow out highlights in the debris filled lake I guessed at a camera exposure value (EV) of +2.0 and spot focused in his eyes then recomposed. An alternative was to stay close and use flash to lighten up his face but I would lose much of his wonderful facial feature lines and old character. A quick glance at my LCD confirmed the dramatic effect I was looking for as I sensed a “once in a lifetime” type of photo op was upon me.

Canon 20D with 70-200mm IS L | Exposure 1/250sec @ f/8 | ISO 400 | Focal Length 200mm
Hoi An Fisherman, by David Smith

As I teach digital and travel photography worldwide I decided to bracket more shots at +1 and 0.0 EV to demonstrate the benefit of taking the camera off automatic, over exposing using no flash and zooming in for a narrow depth of field. Out of the 10,000 images in my Interface Images at http://archive.interfaceimages.com/ this one is the most viewed image by far. This image is used frequently in my own photography and camera classes and workshops to demonstrate camera exposure value settings and is featured in my online Travel Photography-Amazing Tips and Techniques course at
https://www.udemy.com/travel-photography-amazing-tips-and-techniques/. I will be posting a story of the photography of this wonderful fisherman coincident with his image being announced as Light and Composition image of the day on my Images – Connecting the World Blog http://www.interfaceimages.com/blog/

Award Winner: Photo of the Day | May 15
Award Score: 68 (Value 13, Clarity 13, Composition 18, Style 12, Skill 13)
Photo of the Day Award Category: Portraiture Photography
Photograph Location: Hoi An | Vietnam

Photographer: David Smith (Vancouver, BC, Canada) Registered
David Smith is a professional photographer, travel writer and keynote speaker based in West Vancouver, BC.He has traveled to over 90 countries and 6 continents and considers himself a “dream traveler capturing the world one smiling face at a time”. His travel images have been published worldwide with over 10,000 images of world travel, ethnic life and cruise ship adventures in his Interface Images online gallery at http://www.interfaceimages.com.

David frequently lectures on digital and travel photography; travel adventures, world culture and port destination topics. As a frequent guest lecturer with Holland America, Oceania Cruise Lines, Regent Seven Seas and Seabourn Cruise Lines in the last 8 years he looks forward to explore the amazing photogenic world in future. He also tutors and teaches digital photography classes and camera workshops for photographers at all levels at home between trips. He is represented internationally by stock photo agencies and his images and travel writings have been published internationally in magazines, books, websites, and newspapers (recently in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today Travel, Geo Saison Magazine and Frommer’s Travel Guides). He is a professional member of the Editorial Photographers Association and past President of the North Shore Photographic Society in West Vancouver, B.C. His presentations are known to inform, entertain and inspire his audiences. A 1969 B.Sc. (Hon. Chemistry) graduate of the University of British Columbia, he spent a 35-year career in executive management, entrepreneurship, corporate finance and business crisis management. Ironically, as soon as “they took chemistry out of photography” he followed his true passions and pursued digital photography and world travel as a full time career over 12 years ago. His wife Anna is also a published travel photographer, travel writer and cruise ship guest lecturer and workshop leader on exotic fabrics and world textile arts. He has recently published a series of popular Travel Photography online courses with live recorded video, audience Q&As, comprehensive handouts all viewable online 24/7 and downloadable to all tablets and smart phones.

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