By the Water

  • When I found myself on a small Island in Kavieng in Papua New Guinea, called Nusa. I was fascinated by the closeness to water that the people enjoyed. Everything evolved around it. My interest was to observe, document and learn. It was all about working together towards a common goal. They rowed a distance from where the rest of the group was. I witnessed as the two ladies left the group. Once they arrived at the ideal spot, they then positioned the net. Removing what was not meant to be there and spreading the net wide open. The larger group rowed towards the net hitting the water with their sticks. As they rowed forward they continued to hit the water. At the beginning I was confused not know what was going on. As they got closer and got off their boats, I realised what was happening. The hitting of the water was driving the fish into the net. Genius I thought. Everyone started using their spears to fish what had been trapped in the net. The fish were gutted and then insides get disposed back into the water. Fish fill the boat and everyone gets enough. What stood out was how, different families, worked together. It wasn’t just one family fishing for their food. It was a community working together to feed their families. It was a different life. The closeness to the water fascinated me. Life didn’t exist without it. Everything just flowed and there was a sense of calm. The whole family took part, watching a mother and her two young sons working together to catch fish. It was a different look into what daily life can be. How it worked. It was so different from my current life but I had a huge appreciation for it.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing a calm body of water with gentle ripples, a small boat in the distance, and a sky filled with large, fluffy clouds.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing silhouettes of two people in shallow water, with one on a boat against a cloudy sky and calm sea in black and white.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing a person standing on a small boat in a body of water, holding a long stick upright. In the background, three people are sitting in another small boat.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing a person standing on a small boat in a body of water, hitting the water with a stick. In the background, three people are sitting in another small boat.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing three children in the water with a boat; one holding a paddle, one standing next to the boat, and one facing away near the boat.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing a three people standing in water, with two holding fishing rods, in a black and white photo.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea. This image shows a woman smiling and sitting in a wooden boat on the water, holding a fish she just caught.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea showing multiple fish inside a wooden boat on water.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea. This image shows a traditional wooden canoe partly submerged in water, with a fishing net inside it, creating reflections on the water's surface.

  • A travel photograph fishing community series captured in Kavieng, Papua New Guinea of a calm ocean waves near the shore, with a cloudy sky overhead.