TITLE: KOVALAM FISHERMEN

Located 16 km north of Trivandrum, Kovalam, from a simple fishing village, has become one of the most important travel destinations in India for its beaches that stretch for 17 km of coast and form a huge sheltered rocky promontory from the currents of the Arabian Sea.

Apart from the tourist shops and restaurants that line beach front property, fishing is the most lucrative industry that the majority of locals take advantage of.
There is no high tech fishing gear that these people use. In fact, their tools and techniques seem to mirror a way of life that has remained intact for generations.

They leave at night and the next morning, once they are back on land, they start pulling in their fishing nets that had been deposited far out in the ocean. This arduous process continued for more than three hours.

I wanted to document this lifestyle to try to transmit the great willpower and the extreme courage of these fishermen who still use their only physical strength even today.

AUTHOR: Lorenz Berna (Italy)

Lorenz Berna
is an award-winning travel & documentary photographer based in Florence, Italy.

Lorenz discovered his passion for photography during a transformative solo backpacking trip in Mexico in 2006, which inspired his lifelong pursuit of capturing humanity and landscapes with depth and intention.

Through his lens, Lorenz seeks to portray the soul of the places by blending candid, intimate street photography with striking imagery of landscapes and cultural heritage.

His work has earned recognition in several prestigious international competitions, including Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY), and has been featured in esteemed publications such as Geo, National Geographic Traveller, Forbes, and The Guardian.

His approach emphasizes slow travel, mindful exploration, and meaningful interactions with local communities, guiding photographers of all levels toward creating images with greater authenticity and emotional resonance.