Repairing fishing nets

I’ve taken literally millions of photographs in my career. This shot which I took today has to be in my top five all- time favorites. I captured this amazing scene in Hoi An, Vietnam, and it shows women repairing fishing nets. It was hard to figure out exactly what their fast-moving hands were doing, but it was intriguing to watch and more intriguing to capture such stunning color and design. I stood on a short ladder with a 24mm focal length to get this unique perspective, and the camera settings were 1/60, f/13, and 2000 ISO. One of my clients in the photo tour talked about blurring the background for what he called an ‘ethereal effect’, but I didn’t agree with this. I used a small lens aperture specifically to insure everything was sharp. I think it was important to retain the texture and detail of the cyan-colored nets.