The Tea Picker, a photo from Central, South

Photographer's Note

The tea pickers pick the leaves off the tea bushes by hand, once every 2 weeks. In Sri Lanka, they are all women. They can pick about 15 kilos of leaves a day. I've heard varying reports about how much they get paid, but it is in the range of US$1-$2 a day.

I think the tea has been picked this way for the last 100 years, and this photo looks like it could have been taken at any time. It's only when you look closely and see the machine woven cardigan and plastic pipe, that you realise it is a recent photo.

This the Pedro Tea Estate, near Nuwara Ella, a few minutes before 5pm, which is finishing time.
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2004-02-09: Since there were so many comments about colour vs black and white, take a look at a colour tea picker photo here:
Show me the colours!

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Critiques | Translate

khamoon (162) 2004-02-08 5:34

Nice, the b&w tones are great here. I like the woman's expression very much. Good DOF too. Thanks also for the informative note -- 15kgs a day, wow, it makes a lot of leaves.

claudiaf (4438) 2004-02-08 5:40

Very nice portrait of a dificult profession.

Luko (14000) 2004-02-08 7:13

I would have liked to see the tea pickers in action, but I only had a day in Nuwara Elya region and that was...sunday, tea picking holiday.(Instead of that most of the men were celebrating Shiva with hooks piercing their back or wearing shoes with nails, like working in tea plantations was not hard enough)

Your shot is an instant classic, I agree it could have been taken anytime. Great documentary shot.

clodreno (0) 2004-02-08 7:31

This is a lovely scene, surprise you chose the black and white here. i would have chosen the colors myself for the green od the tea estates is really special. still i like it a lot, what a nice expression on her face

maciekda (19895) 2004-02-08 9:17

very nice, a woman at work in grayscale... her look is very nice and the whole scene is very well composed. central composition mostly doesn't work well, but here I don't mind it. I guess a color version of this scene would be very nice too. anyway, very nice shot

eelliott305 (776) 2004-02-08 12:03

A good portrait of a woman at work. It looks very nice in B&W but I agree with comments that it would be nice to see a colour shot as the colours of S Asia are usually so vibrant.

BobTrips (1857) 2004-02-08 13:18

This is a good portrait and B&W works well to focus attention to the woman and not what would have otherwise been the green surround.

Try a few tweaks and see what you think. Crop closer on the left, just barely clear her basket.

Decrease the brightness of the background and sharpen. I think this one would have been nice with more DOF so that one could see the contours of the tea bushes on the slope in the background.

And, what's the purpose of the object on top of the tea bush?

michaelbix (2) 2009-09-06 16:34

Josh - I realise it has been a while since anyone has commented on this photo, but I am interested that you stopped to consider the social conditions relating to the picking of tea. That is commendable. There is always more to know of course, but the genteel act of drinking tea is usually accomplished without people considering its source, which this photo helps remedy.

I used a link to this page in conjunction with my blog about simple Buddhist lessons about food consumption at - http://mishaplineage.wordpress.com - a little bit down the page. I felt your explanation broadened the discussion about "where tea comes from."

As for the question about colour, I'm surprised that has been given such prominence as a "lack" here. Every b&w photo, with few exceptions, is taken in a colour environment. Don't let yourself get bullied into providing a colour version if you prefer to see.. and present the world you see... as vivid images in tones of white, grey and black. This is fine, and perhaps even more informative of the woman's temperment, stance, dignity and place in the world when undistracted by vivid greens and other shades.

Best, Michael