During my trip to China, one of the photo opportunities I had most been looking forward to finally arrived. Coming from a fishing family myself, I was eager to discover and photograph the ancient art of cormorant fishing on the Li River.
I left my hotel at 0’dark thirty, drove for half an hour or so, and then took a little ferry across the river to be on the spot long before sunrise. I was keen to see the Karst Mountains, and I wanted to prepare as much as I possibly could before the fishermen arrived, so I started making long exposures just to see what would appear on my LCD screen.
It kind of reminded me of the darkroom days of past when you put your paper in the water and waited with high hopes for the photo to appear. It was so dark that I really didn’t know what I was going to see. I could barely see the tops of the mountains. Then, when the photo displayed, a feeling of utter glee enveloped me when I saw my first shot (above). I was delighted that the water on the Li River was absolutely glassy calm, the sky was clear, and the mountains were just as craggy as I hoped.
I adjusted my frame to eliminate the large mountain on the left and the tree at the top right. Then … a light in the distance. My fishermen were coming!
I prepared as much as I possibly could for what was going to happen next but I really didn’t know if I would be able to get the shot.
What happens is the fishermen light the lanterns on their rafts. There was going to be a bright flash and a really dark background, and I had to capture it without blowing out the highlights.
As I was standing there, I was wishing I had picked up a faster lens for this occasion. With the equipment I had, I knew I was looking at f/4 for my widest aperture and I cranked my ISO up to 6400. Even then, I was going to have a lot longer shutter speed than I wanted. It turned out to be 1/10th of a second, which is waaaay too long for a subject that might be moving. Fortunately, that calm water was my friend and I got the shot!
After the intial lantern lighting, the light was more of a constant glow which lit the faces of the fishermen.
Using cormorants to catch fish has been a custom in China since about 960 AD. On a bamboo raft, the fishermen have a lantern and usually a pair of cormorants. The cormorants have a ring around their necks to prevent them from swallowing the larger fish. When they have a fish, the fisherman pulls the cormorant up by a line attached to its leg and takes the fish. I feel a little bit sorry for them, but at least the birds get to eat the small fish!
This traditional way of fishing has been dying out over the past few decades since it cannot compete with newer more efficient methods of fishing. The fishermen you see in these photos learned to fish this way from their ancestors, but today they are making a decent living as models who show their custom to photographers and tourists.
Cormorants love to stand with their wings open allowing them to dry. I can attest to this coming from British Columbia, Canada, where there are a lot of cormorants. They are always dunking themselves in the water and then standing with their wings open. It’s how they hydrate themselves and stay cool.
This was one of those photographic opportunities of a lifetime with the beautiful and calm Li River, the rugged and dramatic Karst Mountains, and the cormorant fishermen in full traditional dress on rafts and with their cormorants.
After the photo shoot, I did the full touristy thing and hopped on a raft for a float down the Li River. Aaaahhhh.
Fabulous photos! Thank you for sharing!
Hello Anne. Congratulations with those wonderful images and the story behind them. Wish you all the best with your new career !
Thank you very much Elin! The new career is going well 🙂 I love my new life in photography.
Hello Anne! congratulations for the group of photografies you took in the Li River. I’m looking your work usually in Facebook…in the cafeïnated photografers.
I’ll be in Guilin in two weeks and I would really love to be able to have this expirience and to try to take pincures too…could you explain a little bite where did you go…what time and with a taxi? Or did you drove yourself in China?
Very pleased to talk with you.
Cristina
Hi Cristina, Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. I wish I had some details to give you about the location, but I didn’t make the arrangements myself. Once you are in Guilin or Yangshuo you’ll be able to get the information you need from any of the tour operators. It’s a pretty popular thing to do. I took a van to the river where I got on a little ferry to go to the other side of the river to meet up with the fishermen. I wouldn’t considering driving myself in China. The driving was insane!! Most of the time I just tried not to look. I hope you have a great time on your trip!
I hope to be there next May, your wonderful images wet my appetite for this destination even more. Well done.
How was the driving in China?
Hi Daryl, I didn’t drive myself. My group had a small bus. But most of the time I tried not to look 🙂 It was total chaos. There were a couple of times I actually covered my eyes with my hands and said “don’t look” out loud, haha.
LOL, I was afraid of that, thanks for the get back 🙂
You captured the real China, not just the ‘post card’ China. Thanks to you, I revisited an amazing time and place.
Hi Brenda, thank you very much for your comments! I try my best to convey my experience, even when my experience is a subject that has been photographed before. I have seen photographs of the cormorant fishermen, but I tried to get something unique as well.
Thanks again for sharing yous posts. Although I have seen this on other publications but with your story, it makes it even more interesting and truly captivating,
Thank you Angelito! I try to share the experience as well as the pictures as much as I can.
Wow, love the pics especially the lantern lighting & fishermen in contrast with the blue hour reflecting off the water and distant mountains. Love it Anne and always look forward to your next news letter.
Thank you Robert! I really had my fingers crossed for that lantern lighting shot because I didn’t know how bright the flash was going to be! I appreciate your visit and comments 🙂
Oh, Anne. These photos are magnificent! They pull me right into the scene. So beautiful! Your work is always an inspiration.
Thank you so much Phyllis, I appreciate that!
I love the series of images and the “captions”. Of course the photography is super splendid.
Thank you for the kind comments Don!
Stunning!
Many thanks Michelle!
Just fabulous, Anne! I want to be like you when I grow up! (Rhonda, Eddie Glonek’s friend)
Hi Rhonda! Great to hear from you. Hope our paths cross again next snowbird season 🙂
Thank you for taking me with you just for a few minutes. I could feel the calmness of the water. Your message was most certainly translated/
Thank you so much Heather!
Where did you get the raft to see the fishermen? What was the cost? Thank you Theresa
What was you final shutter speed? and ISO ?
Hi Theresa, it was organized by a tour company as part of a larger tour so I don’t have the details about the raft. But if you are in Guilin, any tour operator should be able to arrange it. I constantly change my settings as the light changes on the scene, so all the images have different settings. But I did really crank the ISO. One of the images has ISO 8000! Some are 6400, 1600, 400 all depending on the amount of light. Thanks for your comments.