I've just published Hà Nội Color on the Exposure platform, using a Color Efex Pro 4 "soup" to punch the colors up, and boost their saturation. The photographs were made with a Leica M9 with Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 and the Fuji X-Pro1 with a 18mm Fujinon f2.0. Most of the photographs were shot from the hip.
The streets and alleys of Hà Nội's Old Quarter (referred to in Vietnamese as Phố Cổ) are enormously interesting in terms of history, culture and visual vignettes of everyday life; life that is carried out in the open for all to see. Whenever I could, in between long and frenetic photo shoots of the Hầu Đồng assignment, I would wander around somewhat aimlessly...just waiting for life snippets to happen.
Perhaps because I was in Hà Nội in September 2014, and roamed these streets as well, I was a lot more discerning in what I photographed this time....principally looking for colors.
I have no idea if I actually walked all of the Old Quarter's 36 streets, but I did smell the famous grilled fish on Cha Ca, glanced at the silver trinkets on Hang Bac, ignored the endless displays of shoes and sandals on Hang Dau, the silk boutiques on Hang Gai (where my hotel was), entered one of the wonderful old houses on Ma May, passed by the bamboo products (Hang Buom), peeked in a shop selling medicinal herbs on Lan Ong, pushed my way through the female crowd on Hang Dao the "underwear" street and was tempted to drink beer on Ta Hien street but didn't.
After perusing Hà Nội Color, you may want to drop by Hà Nội Noir which is a selection of monochromatic photographs also made in the Old Quarter.
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