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| ©Alex Webb / Magnum Photos |
Alex Webb.
ECUADOR. 1999. Pampanal. Shrimp fishing from boat.
I like this image because it’s striking, deceptively simple, and because I think it
has some mystery and universality to it. (I also kind of wanted to pick a color image.) There are almost no overt national
markers in it. (Someone who knows a great deal about boats might be
able to place it geographically based on boat construction, but otherwise, I don’t think there’s much to
go on other than "a coastal setting in a currently warm place".) The title of the image gives a great deal of information that I don’t
think a viewer would otherwise be able to deduce.
The torso and head of a sleeping child (I think a girl) is
visible in the bow of the boat, her face and part of her body half-shrouded in
shadow. She is the only person clearly visible in the image (there is a
standing figure on the boat in the distance, but we can tell almost nothing
else about them). So we the viewer can’t help wonder about her, and what she’s
doing out there. Does she go out on the boat every day? Does she have a job on
the boat, or does she only accompany her guardian? Does she go to school at
all? Who else is on the boat? The boat itself is in somewhat rough shape.
Structure, wear and tear, and repairs are all visible, along with rust spots,
algae, and other discoloration. The cooler, too, seems to be in well-used
condition. This seems to be a working boat, not a pleasure boat.
The viewer is drawn into this image almost as a participant,
I think because of the proximity of the photographer to subject, and because
the viewer is put into the image in almost the same position as we would expect
the pilot of the boat to be. We see virtually the same view as the pilot might: a
cooler (?) in front of us, the yellow bow containing the sleeping girl, another
similar boat in the near distance off the left bow, and the distant horizon,
dotted with what appear to be other boats.
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