Negombo Fish Drying Grounds
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PrizeBronze in Press/Feature Story
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PhotographerThibault Gerbaldi, United States
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Date of Photograph11/21/2025
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Website
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Instagram
In Hatton, in Sri Lanka’s central highlands, Tamil tea workers hand-pick the top two leaves and a bud from each shoot, a method known as fine plucking. Working long hours on steep plantation slopes, they carry heavy baskets and repeat the same precise gestures throughout the day. Despite the physical demands of the job, pay remains low and is often tied to the quantity harvested, exposing the human cost behind a global commodity and the economic precarity of the women whose labor sustains Sri Lanka’s tea industry.
Thibault Gerbaldi is a self-taught Leica photographer and passionate traveler, known for authentic stories from the world’s most remote regions. His work spans landscapes from Greenland to India, blending documentary, travel, and portrait. He has self-published seven books and earned recognition: 1st at Siena Awards 2025, International Photo Awards 2025, and TPOTY Rising Talent (2024). Exhibited globally and featured in LFI and LENS Magazine.A board member since 2019 he funds solidarity projects through donations linked to the dissemination of his books and photographic prints.
Awards SELECTED AWARDS
● International Photography Awards — First Place, Jury Top Five and Best of Show, 2026; First Place and Jury Top Five, 2025
● Siena International Photo Awards — First Prize and Third Prize, 2025
● Lucie Foundation Open Call — Finalist, 2026
● Life Framer — First Prize, 2026 and 2024
● Fine Art Photography Awards — Second Place, 2026 and Third Place, 2025
● European Photography Awards — Platinum Winner, 2026
● Vienna International Photo Awards — Black & White Photographer of the Year, 2026 and Travel Photographer of the Year, 2025
● Global Peace Photo Award — Selected among the 25 winning photographs, 2026
● MonoVisions Photography Awards — Third Place, 2026, and Second Place, 2025
● Travel Photographer of the Year — Finalist and Commended, 2025 and Rising Talent of the Year, 2024
● ND Awards — First Place, 2025, and Second Place, 2024
● INTA Travel Awards — Photographer of the Year, 2025 and 2024
● HIPA Environmental Competition — Winner, 2025
● Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) — Gold Winner, 2025, and Second Prize, 2024
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
● Fragilités & Résiliences, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France — March-July 2026
● Fragilités & Résiliences, Place de la République, Blois, France — August-September 2026
● Confluence, One Art Space Tribeca, New York, United States — October 2026
● Wanderlust, Leica Store Miami, Miami, United States — June-August 2026
● Atlas of Humanity, Paris, France — November 2025
● Les Rencontres de Marrakech, Dakhla, Morocco — November 2025
● Above Us Only Sky, Siena Natural History Museum, Siena, Italy — September-November 2025
● Treviso Photo Festival, Treviso, Italy — September 2025
● Festival OFF Arles, Arles, France — July 2025
● Around the World with Leica, Leica Headquarters, Wetzlar, Germany — June-October 2025
● Collettivo Veneziano, Venice, Italy — March-April 2025
● Art-Icon, Paris, France — November 2024
● Venice PhotoLab, Venice, Italy — October 2024
