Issue 011 · Spotlight

Before the Day Begins

Pete Walls
July 2026

A silhouetted fisherwoman carries her catch on a shoulder pole along the beach at sunrise as seated figures watch, Hội An — Pete Walls

In the fields and on the beaches around Hội An, the day's real work happens early. Pete Walls is usually already there.

Words by Jack Ross

This issue is about the hours most visitors sleep through. In the countryside around Hội An, the day has a shape: ducks are walked out before the heat, basket boats go through the surf at first light, rice comes in while the fields are still gold. By mid-morning much of it is over, and the places that held all that energy go quiet until the same time tomorrow.

A man walks with his catch — Pete Walls
A man walks with his catch
A riverside shrine — Pete Walls
A riverside shrine

Pete Walls has built a body of work inside those hours. A British photographer who spent years moving through different regions of Vietnam before settling in Hội An, he photographs everyday work and the environments around it — markets, fishing beaches, paddies, doorways. Five of those photographs are in this issue.

Boats moored safely amongst the river_s coconut groves — Pete Walls
Boats moored safely amongst the river_s coconut groves
Clouds reflected in the river — Pete Walls
Clouds reflected in the river
Controlled burning occurs following the harvest — Pete Walls
Controlled burning occurs following the harvest

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Pete Walls in Hội An

Pete Walls describes his process as leaving the house without much of a plan. Years of living across Vietnam taught him to adapt to the rhythm of each region rather than impose one, and the work that resulted is less about chasing pictures than about being present when ordinary life happens — which, in central Vietnam, mostly means being present early.

Flooded rice paddies divided by low earthen dikes reflect a pink and lavender dusk sky, with a lone farmer working mid-field and blue mountains layered on the horizon — Pete Walls
Flooded rice paddies divided by low earthen dikes reflect a pink and lavender dusk sky, with a lone farmer working mid-field and blue mountains layered on the horizon
Seen over a man's outstretched arm gripping a pole, a pale mannequin floats on brown floodwater beside a submerged metal gate, banana trees, and houses standing in the flood — Pete Walls
Seen over a man's outstretched arm gripping a pole, a pale mannequin floats on brown floodwater beside a submerged metal gate, banana trees, and houses standing in the flood

The photographs in this issue map the working day around Hội An. A woman in a conical hat walks her flock of white ducks across wet grass, grinning, a plastic bag swinging from each hand. Fishermen wrestle a blue coracle through breaking surf, six pairs of hands on the rim, spray frozen mid-air against a low sun. A harvester stands waist-deep in gold rice, sickle in one hand, pointing across the field with the other — directing someone we can't see. The pictures are full of motion, but none of it is performed for the camera.

The best photographs come from real moments rather than forcing anything. You come home with new connections, good images, and stories worth sitting down with that night.

— Pete Walls

Then the day exhales. Flooded paddies hold a pink sky at dusk, a single farmer reduced to a silhouette among the field's dark seams. An elderly woman in a velvet jacket sits on a blue plastic chair in her doorway, hands folded, watching the street. Walls gives these quiet frames the same weight as the surf and the harvest, and that balance is what sets the work apart: he photographs the energy and the stillness it leaves behind.

A man in a dark helmet and grey shirt wades waist-deep in muddy floodwater along a shophouse street, clutching his rolled-up shirt beneath sagging orange tarpaulins — Pete Walls
A man in a dark helmet and grey shirt wades waist-deep in muddy floodwater along a shophouse street, clutching his rolled-up shirt beneath sagging orange tarpaulins
A smiling barefoot man in a blue and black jacket sits on the bow of a wooden boat being poled through a flooded street of yellow colonial shophouses — Pete Walls
A smiling barefoot man in a blue and black jacket sits on the bow of a wooden boat being poled through a flooded street of yellow colonial shophouses
A person in a conical hat and clear plastic rain poncho stands upright in a wooden boat, rowing with a long oar down a flooded lantern-hung street in Hội An's old town — Pete Walls
A person in a conical hat and clear plastic rain poncho stands upright in a wooden boat, rowing with a long oar down a flooded lantern-hung street in Hội An's old town

The warmth in these images isn't accidental. Walls talks about coming home with new connections as much as new pictures, and it shows — the duck herder is laughing at him, not past him. His work has appeared on Saigoneer, and alongside commercial projects he runs very small photography tours around Hội An, sharing the places in these frames with people looking for the central Vietnam that doesn't announce itself.

An elderly white-haired woman in a dark velvet jacket and patterned trousers sits on a blue plastic chair on a doorstep, gazing to the side in front of a brown metal door — Pete Walls
An elderly white-haired woman in a dark velvet jacket and patterned trousers sits on a blue plastic chair on a doorstep, gazing to the side in front of a brown metal door
In early morning light, two women walk past a street vendor in a blue bucket hat arranging produce on the pavement, with silk lanterns hanging overhead and a motorbike rider behind them — Pete Walls
In early morning light, two women walk past a street vendor in a blue bucket hat arranging produce on the pavement, with silk lanterns hanging overhead and a motorbike rider behind them

You can follow his work at @pjwphoto on Instagram.

Two women talk across a makeshift counter inside a weathered market hall strung with red flags, surrounded by stacked crates, plastic stools, red chairs, and parked bicycles — Pete Walls
Two women talk across a makeshift counter inside a weathered market hall strung with red flags, surrounded by stacked crates, plastic stools, red chairs, and parked bicycles
A woman in a knit hat and plaid shirt ladles broth from a large steel pot at a street food stall, beside a glass cabinet stacked with bowls under tarpaulin shade — Pete Walls
A woman in a knit hat and plaid shirt ladles broth from a large steel pot at a street food stall, beside a glass cabinet stacked with bowls under tarpaulin shade
A smiling woman in a conical hat and blue jacket stands with her loaded bicycle — feed sack, furled red umbrella, and baskets — on a street of yellow walls and pink bougainvillea — Pete Walls
A smiling woman in a conical hat and blue jacket stands with her loaded bicycle — feed sack, furled red umbrella, and baskets — on a street of yellow walls and pink bougainvillea
At a riverside fish market, women in hats sort fish around a foam crate piled with crushed ice, with red and orange plastic basins and the river visible beyond the stalls — Pete Walls
At a riverside fish market, women in hats sort fish around a foam crate piled with crushed ice, with red and orange plastic basins and the river visible beyond the stalls
A woman in a conical hat and green patterned shirt strides past fish vendors working among yellow crates and styrofoam boxes beneath a concrete bridge pillar bearing a red Viettel 5G billboard — Pete Walls
A woman in a conical hat and green patterned shirt strides past fish vendors working among yellow crates and styrofoam boxes beneath a concrete bridge pillar bearing a red Viettel 5G billboard
An elderly woman sits on a stool holding a conical hat outside a small blue-shuttered shop with a rusted tin roof, while a shirtless man stands inside by a snack-stocked cabinet — Pete Walls
An elderly woman sits on a stool holding a conical hat outside a small blue-shuttered shop with a rusted tin roof, while a shirtless man stands inside by a snack-stocked cabinet
Two men load bundled fishing nets onto a blue wooden boat at a rocky shoreline, one in a turquoise shirt hauling green netting beside a floating round coracle basket — Pete Walls
Two men load bundled fishing nets onto a blue wooden boat at a rocky shoreline, one in a turquoise shirt hauling green netting beside a floating round coracle basket
A woman in a purple jacket and conical hat carries two huge sheaves of rice straw balanced on a shoulder pole across a cut rice field — Pete Walls
A woman in a purple jacket and conical hat carries two huge sheaves of rice straw balanced on a shoulder pole across a cut rice field
A man in a beige shirt and blue bucket hat carries a large bundle of golden rice straw over his shoulder through harvested paddy stubble — Pete Walls
A man in a beige shirt and blue bucket hat carries a large bundle of golden rice straw over his shoulder through harvested paddy stubble
A laughing woman in a conical hat and maroon jacket herds a flock of white ducks across wet grass at the edge of a rice field under a cloudy sky — Pete Walls
A laughing woman in a conical hat and maroon jacket herds a flock of white ducks across wet grass at the edge of a rice field under a cloudy sky
A man in a grey polo reclines in an old barber chair with one leg propped up, looking at his phone inside a green-walled barbershop with bamboo and tools on the wall — Pete Walls
A man in a grey polo reclines in an old barber chair with one leg propped up, looking at his phone inside a green-walled barbershop with bamboo and tools on the wall
A red and white combine harvester cuts through a golden rice paddy while a man in a conical hat walks in the foreground and two workers gather stalks behind — Pete Walls
A red and white combine harvester cuts through a golden rice paddy while a man in a conical hat walks in the foreground and two workers gather stalks behind
A woman in a plaid jacket and conical hat stands in a ripe rice field pointing into the distance, holding a sickle and an armful of cut rice stalks — Pete Walls
A woman in a plaid jacket and conical hat stands in a ripe rice field pointing into the distance, holding a sickle and an armful of cut rice stalks
A woman in a plaid jacket and conical hat stands in a golden rice field holding a sheaf of green rice stalks under one arm and a sickle at her side — Pete Walls
A woman in a plaid jacket and conical hat stands in a golden rice field holding a sheaf of green rice stalks under one arm and a sickle at her side
A close portrait of a smiling man in a brimmed canvas hat paddling with a long wooden oar against a pale sky, wearing a light blue t-shirt — Pete Walls
A close portrait of a smiling man in a brimmed canvas hat paddling with a long wooden oar against a pale sky, wearing a light blue t-shirt
A woman in a conical hat with a shoulder bag stands in market shade as two vendors in purple bend over their stall, with bicycles and shoppers blurred along the lane behind — Pete Walls
A woman in a conical hat with a shoulder bag stands in market shade as two vendors in purple bend over their stall, with bicycles and shoppers blurred along the lane behind
A white house-number plaque reading 47/24 Trần Hưng Đạo mounted on a yellow wall dappled with leaf shadows in warm light — Pete Walls
A white house-number plaque reading 47/24 Trần Hưng Đạo mounted on a yellow wall dappled with leaf shadows in warm light
An elderly white-haired woman sits at a market stall behind a basket of eggs wrapped in plastic, flanked by red mesh sacks of shallots, a red plastic basket, and bundles of green beans — Pete Walls
An elderly white-haired woman sits at a market stall behind a basket of eggs wrapped in plastic, flanked by red mesh sacks of shallots, a red plastic basket, and bundles of green beans
Ice arrives to be broken down into smaller chunks — Pete Walls
Ice arrives to be broken down into smaller chunks
Squid neatly arranged in bamboo — Pete Walls
Squid neatly arranged in bamboo
fishermen pulling coracle boat through breaking waves at sunrise — Pete Walls
fishermen pulling coracle boat through breaking waves at sunrise
fisherwoman carrying catch at sunrise vietnam — Pete Walls
fisherwoman carrying catch at sunrise vietnam
fisherwoman carrying fresh squid at sunrise — Pete Walls
fisherwoman carrying fresh squid at sunrise
portrait of vietnamese fish market worker — Pete Walls
portrait of vietnamese fish market worker
vietnam market elderly vendor portrait — Pete Walls
vietnam market elderly vendor portrait

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