I spent a few days on Phu Quoc Island recently to shoot a photo essay for Oi Magazine on the mysteries of the Phu Quoc pearl industry. The photo's appear in the November issue of Oi Magazine. The main part of the shoot involved spending a day on a pearl culturing pontoon a few hundred metres off a beautiful stretch beach on uninhabited An Binh Island. The pontoon is built on stilts and is open on both sides. On one side the view was across crystal clear turquoise waters to the beach and on the other it was across a stretch of beautiful blue ocean to Cambodia in the distance. Not a bad office for the 40 odd people who work there.
The workers daily commute.
Culturing the pearls
Suspended animation.
A room with a view. An Binh Island.