A sailor paints a ship's handrail at sea during sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. Seafarers are key workers in global marine commerce. To facilitate the movement of goods around the world, the ship needs to be kept in good and efficient condition. Daily maintenance involves hard work such as chipping, scaling, cleaning, and painting. As a ship's captain and being a documentary photographer, I always wanted to capture the unique and rare shots showing seafarers working on board the ship while sailing. One day, I noticed the red deck and the whirling blue sea beside the ship during sailing in the ocean. This view seemed special to me and made me think of a split screen since the solid red deck and blue ocean are contrasting. I imagined it would be nice if a sailor worked in this split-screen view. But I just wanted the moment spontaneously and I waited patiently for the right moment. After a month spent with this thought and an afternoon, I noticed on the bridge wings that a sailor was painting the ship’s railing on the red deck while sailing. I quickly took my camera and started taking pictures of him in the split-screen view ( the swirling blue water contrasting with the solid, vivid red of the deck, and a meticulously clean white line dividing the two ) until I was satisfied with the shot.

*Awarded Grand Prize Winner in “ Clever Angle Photo Contest” on ViewBug USA *Selected “Editor Choice” in National Geographic YourShot *Awarded “Photo of the Day” on National Geographic website - October 24, 2015 *Selected “Editor Choice” in 500px.com *Published in National Geographic printed magazine July 2016

Location - Gulf of Mexico Edition - 1/1 Dimension - 7200 x 4785

About Artist: Zay Yar Lin is an award-winning National Geographic YS photographer. He is a very accomplished travel and documentary photographer from Myanmar. He is also a ship captain by profession. He began his photography since 2013 after being fascinated by the works of National Geographic photographers. He mainly focuses on daily life, portraits and culture; images that tell stories of people and sense of the places. He always seeks the moment and the light in the capture of travel pictures and tries to use his photographic instinct to transform ordinary into extraordinary. He creates narrative images that convey emotion, mood, narrative, ideas and messages. In 2016, one of his photos was first published in National Geographic printed Magazine, which was published in July. He has been named Grand Prize Winner in many prestigious photography competitions including American Photography Open, Travel Photography Competition UK, CGAP Photo Contest and Chang Fine Art Photo Contest. He is a lifetime member of the Myanmar photographic Society. He was awarded Best Photographer of the Year in Myanmar twice. He has been recognized in published, recognized and awarded in the prestigious photography competitions such as National Geographic, NIKON, SONY, HIPA, SIENA, IPA, Xposure International Photography Festival and American Photography Open, etc. He achieved EFIAP distinction by FIAP organization. He serves as a jury member in some international photography competitions. He also does photo tours in Myanmar and overseas. He believes photography can capture a powerful story telling images. His purpose is to document human stories as much as he can and to share those stories to bring positive change to the world.

License: Primary NFT holder is free to use in display privately and in groups, including virtual galleries, documentaries, and essays by the holder of the NFT, as long as the creator is credited. Provides no rights to create commercial merchandise, commercial distribution, or derivative works. Copyright remains with the creator.