Tag Archives: Stilt fishermen

The Real and the Fake Fishermen of Sri Lanka

Browsing for locations to photograph in Sri Lanka, one quickly comes across the photo by Steve McCurry, taken in 1995, which shows stilt fishermen off the Sri Lankan south coast. I am not ashamed to admit that this image put Sri Lanka on my bucket list.

As the world increasingly aspires to the same globalized modernity that diminishes cultural diversity, I am drawn to old practices and traditions and to see them with my own eyes/camera before they disappear.

Having visited some other locations in Asia (in particular in Myanmar) I know that McCurry has staged at least some of his images, though I am not sure if the stilt fishermen were already mere tourist attractions in 1995. Today, they definitely are.

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