Fishing for Photos in Zihua

I'm in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, to do a little shooting. This morning I got up early to walk the beach and see what morning would bring. I always find that, to see local culture in full swing, early morning is the time to be out and about.

We saw dolphins in the bay, hummingbirds in the air, watched the frigate birds diving for fish, and watched the locals fish off the promenade. Rather than fishing poles, they have fishing line wound around a piece of wood or bottle, attach a weight and hook to the end, and put a palm-sized fish on the line. Then they'd swing it around, toss it out into the water, and wait.

As I photographed them, one pescador had a fish on the line, and offered it to me. So I took it and started reeling the fish in, hand over hand, walking back and forth along the boardwalk as the fish swam this way and that. Finally we could see the fish in the water below us, and it was big! One of the boys hopped down on the rocks, and picked the fish up out of the water and brought it up to us. It was a yellowtail, nearly 3 feet long.



Travel and editorial photography in Mexico is one of my very favorite jobs!