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Image

Description

In this horizontal color photograph, a person wearing a traditional light-colored conical hat and a dark long-sleeved shirt is positioned in the lower-center of the frame. The individual is bent forward, waist-deep in a vibrant green rice paddy, with bright green rice seedlings in their left hand. The field of dense, upright rice plants extends across the entire background, creating a textured pattern of light and dark green. The lighting is bright and direct, casting a shadow from the hat over the person. The camera angle is at eye-level with the person, and the depth of field is shallow, keeping the worker and the immediate surrounding plants in sharp focus while the background foliage becomes a soft blur.

Details

Title
Worker in rice field, near Da Nang, Quang Nam-Da Nang Province
Creator
Clifford, Geoffrey, Photographer
Balaban, John, 1943-, Collaborator
Variant Title
Rice farming is hard work. Seedlings have to be transplanted one by one to the flooded paddies. Women traditionally take on this backbreaking work, while men see to the repair of the dikes and the thrashing of the harvested rice sheaves. Rice farming will always require large numbers of people, knee deep in mucky water, backs bent under the tropical sun, and joined in a community task too big for any one family.
Published
1987
Full Collection Name
Vietnam: Journey of the Heart 1985-2000
Other Identifiers
BANC PIC 2007.056:6
Geographic Coverage
Vietnam. Pictorial works.
Vietnam--Social life and customs. Pictorial works
Type
Image
Extent
1 photographic print (framed); ca. 24 x 36 inches (unframed)
Other Physical Details
Color photograph
Archive
The Bancroft Library
Note
Caption text by John Balaban
Part of: Vietnam: Journey of the heart
C-print
Provenance
Originally donated to the South/Southeast Asia Library, and transferred to The Bancroft Library.
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Linked Resources
View collection guide
Collection
Source of Description
Image description generated by AI (Gemini 3.0 Fast) and reviewed, January 2026 .

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