Mark Kriedemann, Scramble to the Sea (ENTRIES CLOSED - March theme: The Great Outdoors)

Thai fishermen and scuba tour leaders wriggle their way out of the tightly packed docks of Ao Nang. Shooting from a high vantage point, I used my favourite focal length for travel (35mm) to widen the scene just a little more and include the series of characters in their boats along the docks. As an Australian, I was immediately struck by how vibrantly coloured, and yet earthy in tone the boats being used by the captains were. This encouraged me to include as much of the scene as I could while trying to bring a sense of order to it by using my high vantage point. To give the scene a sense of movement and narrative, I waited for the first couple of boats to release from the pier, showing the organised chaos with which the boats all eventually make their way out. Since the light was very bright, I reduced the clarity in-camera to give the brighter spots a bit of shine and glow. I also used a cloudy-oriented white balance to give the scene a slightly nostalgic tonality consistent with the at once simple, dangerous, yet exciting life that I imagine fishermen to lead.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.