High Key
Burma 2011- Inle Lake
A young man glides on the canal of a floating village. You can see how he balances on the tip of his boat and how he uses his leg to propel his oar through the water. The people of Inle Lake learn to handle these boats as children.
Water hyacinths surround the houses in the floating village. They form a living raft. Pushed by the winds they can clog a canal or float across the lake. Children, light as feathers, can quickly run over them, using them as a stepping stone.
Our boat got caught in one of those hyacinth islands with a storm approaching. The thick vines of the plants had wrapped around our motor as our foolhardy boatman tried to make the boat leap over a hedge of hyacinths. It was dinner time and there were no fishermen on the lake to help us. After about forty-five minutes, a long-tailed boat came along and rescued us. We had to take refuge in a local man’s home because the wind was rising. Our guide felt he had lost face and he was not a happy camper. He was aware that we could have been swamped if we hadn’t been rescued and no doubt we would all have drowned. We tourists, not being familiar with boating, were not worried in the least. We busied ourselves taking photos so we could tell our friends about our adventure when we got back home.
In contrast to yesterday’s photos which were high contrast and the photos of Rabari women which are called low key, today’s photo lacks contrast. There is almost no black in the photo. This is called high key. It is commonly used for portraits of women and can be a glamorous look, all dark eyes and dark lips if you do it right.
High Contrast: http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/past-and-present
Low Key: http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/rabari-style
Wonder if the boatman changes legs so as to keep the muscle development equal? J.
Yes. They easily switch legs. It’s a beautiful sight to see them throw their nets.
Rosemary