Eat your seafood, or else...

These burly fishermen will punch out your lights out. But seriously, most of us see our seafood as well... seafood! We assume that the fishermen caught them sailing in the nice seas, with machines hauling up the nets and all they have to do is sail the boat into the right waters, right?

Well... it happens that the right waters for some of the seafood happens to be really cold, frigid and stormy! Did you know fishing for Alaskan King Crabs for example, ranks as the most dangerous job in the USA (Wikipedia reckons that one crab fisherman dies weekly during the harvesting season)?

I came across the works of Corey Arnold, who did a really nice job of documenting life on board a fishing boat. The journalistic value of the photos is high, and you almost feel like you've been on the boat during the fishing trip. The icy conditions and the camaraderie among the fishermen were plainly brought across in the photos. And yes, these guys sure have a great sense of humor too!

Check out his works in "Fish-Work Bering Seas" section of his portfolio at http://www.coreyfishes.com now.

Hong Kong and Vietnam gallery added!

Hi folks,

It's been a busy time for me, but hey... photography remains an important part of my life! These photos of Vietnam and Hong Kong were taken quite some time ago, but I've not shared them in the public domain as a collection yet...

The contrast between Hong Kong and Vietnam can't get any further... the slickness of the former British colony stands out against the war-ravaged past of the former French colony. The fast paced lifestyle of Hong Kong pits one another into working faster and harder than the person next to you, so you can really feel the buzz in every street of Hong Kong.

The charms of Vietnam appear immediately as you leave the airport, with quaint French styled houses lining the roads. Because each house is taxed according to the land area occupied, houses in Vietnam are built on narrow strips of real estate, and total floor area is maximized by building more levels. The Vietnamese are toiling hard to rebuild the economy after decades of war, and results are starting to show in the cities. But the charm of Vietnam remains in many parts of the country, and it is difficult to imagine such a beautiful country and wonderful people being embroiled in such a long era of conflict.

Visit my new photo galleries of Vietnam and Hong Kong at www.nelsontan.com (click on the Gallery section). Leave some comments here on how you like the photos as well!

In pictures: 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster

During the early hours of December 3 1984, a gas leak at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India killed more than 4,000 people in the first few hours. The poisonous gas swept through the town, and death tolls crept up to more than 15,000 dead within the next few years. 25 years later, the Bhopal disaster is still the world’s worst industrial accident ever, and thousands of people are still suffering from the sickness and deficiency caused by the contamination.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/25th_anniversary_of_the_bhopal.html