When Stockholm-based photographer Evan Pantiel arrived in the ancient city of Bagan, Burma he was a bit overwhelmed: the area was too spread out and it was flooded with tourists. He had hoped to find a personal project to work on and this isn’t what he had in mind. So when he got to talking to some of the locals, they suggested that he head to Inle Lake to see the fisherman there. Evan had worked with fisherman in the past and because of his good experiences he decided to go. With the help of a translator, Evan met local fisherman Shwe Yin Than and followed him on his day-to-day activities, rising early at 4 a.m. to hit the lake before sunrise.
Evan focused heavily on lighting in this series and was left with beautifully lit images depicting the everyday life of this one fisherman on Inle Lake. There were a few challenges though, including the early rise:
Sitting on a narrow fishing boat you have little control over positioning yourself because you are surrounded by water. It’s a bit stressful because you are on a time schedule with sunrise. You can’t tell the fisherman to move and reposition towards the direction of the light, nor can you hop out of the boat to get a different angled shot. You just have to sit and be patient.
Evan hopes to create a book from the series of images and send it to the fisherman as thanks.
To see more of his work visit evanpantiel.com