The Travel Photographer : September 2014

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Hà Nội Noir | Audio Slideshow

Street photography has almost become an obsession. Arriving Hà Nội with my body clock completely out of whack didn't stop me from taking a quick walk about the streets of its Old Quarter.

As the oldest continuously developed area of Vietnam, Hà Nội's Old Quarter has a history that spans 2,000 years and represents the eternal soul of the city, and walking along some of its more than 36 streets, I remembered their names: Hang Gai, Hang Quat, Hang Bac and Hang Ma.

A majority of the street names in the Old Quarter start with the word hang, which means merchandise or shop. Hang Gai, where my hotel The Golden Silk Boutique is, offers silk clothing ready-made and tailored, embroidery, and silver products.

One of the assignments given to the group participants was Hà Nội Noir; a series of monochrome street photographs depicting the teeming life found in the small streets of this capital city. Over the course of the few days I spent in Hà Nội, I walked its 36 streets (well, almost all of them) and shot mostly from the hip as is my custom to capture impromptu scenes and candid expressions.

Most of the photographs were made with my new favorite combo: Fuji X-T1/Zeiss 12mm f2.8. Others were made with a Leica M9 and the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4.

Monday, 29 September 2014

A Life With Leica | Thorsten von Overgaard

ZITE has introduced me to a multitude of interesting articles on photography and otherwise, including this short documentary featuring a Danish photographer named Thorsten von Overgaard.

As a preamble, let me say that although I own a Leica M9 and have the utmost regard for its capabilities as a tool, I'm far from being a Leica fanboy, realizing (and grudgingly accepting) its shortcomings, and periodically ranting at Leica's blatant ostentatious marketing and pricing.

Nonetheless, I have just returned from leading a photographic expedition-workshop to Viet Nam where I used the M9 (with a Voigtlander 40mm) on a number of occasions during street photography jaunts in Ha Noi and Hoi An, and readily confirm that (1) its images (whether monochrome or color) have a distinct 'feel' to them, and (2) its ergonomics are just right.

This is a lovely documentary filmed in Rome with Thorsten who shares his photographic 'philosphy' with us. I found myself in full agreement with him on most of his points of view...which ranged from "there's always stuff happening" in the streets, that each one of us has a unique visual viewpoint, that cameras (whether Leica or otherwise) are just tools and that he never photographs people unless to show them off in the best of lights. The latter also echos Sebastião Salgado's philosophy.

A minor point: I was surprised to see Thorsten resting his Leicas on their lenses instead of on their bottom plates. I do that as well. Weird.

Friday, 26 September 2014

30,000 Feet In The Air | Thoughts

At just over 8000 miles, the Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to New York is one of the longest direct flights, and it gave me ample opportunity to use my jet-lag addled brain to toss over ideas about The People of Tay Bac Photo Expedition-Workshop.

In between in-flight movies and meals...and possibly over the polar cap, I concluded that one of the most enjoyable segments of the photo expedition (for me) was the so-called "fashion" photo shoots that either happened serendipitously or by design in Hoi An and in Ha Noi.

I enjoyed these so much that I am seriously giving thought to dedicate a few days during in a forthcoming trip to Vietnam to such "fashion" shoots....fusing travel photography to ethnic fashion photography. The style can be posed...with static portraits, or can be pseudo environmental-street portraits such as the one above.

It's a totally different change of pace. It takes a combination of various skills...some of which I have, and others that I still don't...but that are more or less easy to acquire. To really do a professional job, I'd need the support of models, local photographers (many such photographers are available in Da Nang, Hoi An and Ha Noi), as well as make-up artists....and finding a handful of attractive local dresses.

In Hoi An, I was fortunate to have had the generous support of the adorable Hiền Trang, and of professional photographer Minh Nhat Nguyen. I also stumbled on Mai Đoàn, who could provide the make-up support if required.

Scouting for attractive backdrops is not difficult in Hoi An. The little town is replete with those, including the interiors of the Chinese Assembly halls. Many stores have ancient fronts that offer superb backgrounds, along with mustard yellow textured walls for which the town is famous for.

If these thoughts come to fruition, I'd have to acquire the proper accessories such as reflectors and strobes, which I haven't used much before. However, these accessories would have to be minimal so as not to require photography permits, and to avoid red tape.

We scheduled a photo shoot with Hiền Trang at the Fujian Assembly Hall. This landmark was built around 1690 for the Chinese ethnic group from Fujian to socialise, but later it was transformed into a temple dedicated to the Fujian deity named Thien Hau, the goddess of the sea.

Source: Heritage (Vietnam Airlines Flight Magazine)

The inspiration for Hiền Trang's photograph at the Fujian Assembly Hall was from images featured in Vietnam Airlines Flight Magazine. One of our group members, Maria Dikeos, spotted the resemblance in the setting, and suggested we held a photo shoot in that particular corner.

Another project to plan for, and to look forward to during 2015.

And yes. All these photographs were made with the new Fuji X-T1, and a Zeiss 12mm f2.8

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Ha Noi | Report 11 | The People of Tay Bac

All good things come to an end. Sort of.

The People of Tay Bac Photo Expedition ended at breakfast this morning (Ha Noi time), where it has become noticeably cooler and less humid.

Seizing on the opportunity to shoot in the streets without exuding a ton of sweat, I worked the small streets of Hanoi and its tiny alleys, where impromptu small pho establishments suddenly appear out of nowhere. I've been encouraging the group to look for layers in their street photographs, and I practiced what I taught.

Ha Noi's Old Quarter is rife with such opportunities, but one has to pick an interesting spot and wait...or lucky enough to stumble on one or more of such scenes. I normally shoot from the hip in such instances; not because I don't want to appear sneaky but because I don't want the subjects to freeze, or wave, or proffer the V sign that's very popular in Asia.

Mostly working with my new Fuji X-T1, (and occasionally with a Leica M9), during the past couple of weeks convinced me that the era of DSLRs for me is over. The X-T1's capabilities, performance, ergonomics as well as image quality, are very impressive. It has a few quirks and irritants, but these are easily either ignored or worked around.

In a few days, I'll write up a review about the Fuji X-T1, and feature it here on this blog.

Sunday, 21 September 2014

Hội An | Report 10 | The People of Tay Bac

Undoubtedly, Hội An is now a tourist haven but it still is a wonderful little town, with a myriad of photo opportunities whether candid, serendipitous, posed or set up. Its ancient town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its yellow textured mustard walls are an ideal backdrop for photographs, and some of us took advantage of that feature. Even its plentiful restaurants seem to have an interesting ancient history to them.

The group's assignment in the streets of Hội An was to try to emulate the chiaroscuro style of Alex Webb...but unfortunately, while it was sunny (and humid), the sun's angle didn't cooperate. There was however, alternatives that occupied us the too few days here.

Our day started at 4:00 am, when we boated to the mouth of the Thu Bon River to photograph the large fishing nets (reminiscent of the Chinese nets in Cochin). These large contraptions are lowered into the water to catch fish during the night. They are slowly raised and lowered by the fishermen using foot-powered winches.

I had booked a morning boat through Dang Ke Cuong, a talented local photographer who I had met on my previous stay in Hội An two years ago, and whose images of similar fishermen are wonderful. The setting was just splendid, and the sunrise happened on cue and cooperated fully. Most of us either ran out of batteries or storage space in their cameras during this outing, which included time at the fishing wharf a few miles from Hội An itself. There the activity was frenetic, and the buyers of fish (that ended on the restaurants tables) were relentless arguers and hagglers.

As I wrote above, the streets of Hội An are rife with photo opportunities; some contrived and others not. Elderly ladies are largely ambivalent about being photographed, and some require some coaxing to allow it. This elderly lady was quite happy to be photographed in front of what I thought was her restaurant. She must've been quite a beauty in her days, and I could easily imagine her in an ao dai, being courted by eager young men.

Speaking of which, I am extremely fortunate to have finally met with the adorable Ms Hiền Trang (top photograph), who was willing to pose for our group in various interesting places in Hội An. Accompanied by her friend, photographer Minh Nhat Nguyen, who acted as photo shoot director, we spent two hours emulating fashion photographers in the field. Not perhaps the purview of travel photographers per se, but a worthwhile exercise fusing exotic location photography, fashion photography with travel photography.

The day ended with dinner at a local restaurant (not a tourist trap by any means) where cau lay and squid dishes...and La Rue beer, of course.

Friday, 19 September 2014

Ha Noi | Report 9 | The People of Tay Bac

The group's morning assignment was ostensibly a simple one; during a single photo shoot, and in 15-20 photographs, show Hanoi's teeming life in its streets.

However, the assignment was to be in monochrome. Not as simple as initially thought, eh? Especially with Ha Noi's Old Quarter vivid colors and textures, and particularly galling because of the wondrous light that appeared after every thundershower.

The other objective of the assignment was to encourage the participants to see and capture "layers"...the fundamental attribute to successful street photography...and to record ambient street noise/sound to accompany the photographs. It was up to them whether to shoot from the hip or otherwise.

I chose to feature the above photograph in monochrome and color...to provide a contrasting view of the same image, and leave it to the viewers as to which they prefer. Both have different aesthetic merits, and both are faithful in their depiction to what I saw. The photograph was made by shooting from the hip so as not to disturb the woman.

By the way, she is playing Candy Crush on her Apple iPad.

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Lào Cai-Ha Noi | Report 8 | The People of Tay Bac

The itinerary has us today returning from Lào Cai city, the capital of Lào Cai Province. It borders the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China, and the Chinese influence is quite pervasive. The beautifully appointed Swiss-Bel hotel was virtually empty of guests, except for a handful of local Vietnamese, and us being the only non-Asians. Our Ha Noi minder Huyen rode an overnight train to take us back, and to solve any issues if we had any during our return trip.

The journey back to Ha Noi took us from 09:30 am to about 5 pm, door to door. A middle section of the highway is still blocked off due to last minute repairs, but the toll gates are open and we drove on this new highway for quite a while. The back roads were in bad condition due to the rain caused by the typhoon, but I've seen much worse.

On the way, we stopped to photograph the rice harvest in the gorgeous paddies, and chanced on a small house where these elders were tending to their grandchild. There was some reticense after this photograph was made because traditional Vietnamese normally do not like to be photographed in threes (and/or other odd numbers).

Ha Noi felt like home. The chaos, the commotion, the noise...and naturally the lip-licking Pho Bo at Pho 10 on Lý Quốc Su street. A bowl of pho bo and a bottle of Hanoi beer set each one of us 60,000 dongs or just under $3.00. It really can't be beat.

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Coc Ly | Report Seven | The People of Tay Bac

I had not been to Coc Ly market before, so yesterday's morning's excursion was somewhat of a novelty. Coc Ly Market is held weekly on Tuesdays, and is predominantly frequented by the Flower H’mong. While only 35 kilometers from Bac Ha, it took us about 3 hours to drive from Sa Pa. It's smaller than the Bac Ha market that's held on Sundays, and doesn't have its 'charisma'.

Returning to Sa Pa, after a quick lunch of Pho Ga and Bun Cha in Lao Cai, we were out for an afternoon of street photography. A drizzle was starting to develop; auguring heavier downpour in the evening. Unknown to me at the time, but Typhoon Kalmaegi would soon arrive to the north of Viet Nam, drenching the north.

In contrast to the ambulatory photography style I adopt while at the markets, I spent the afternoon in the Sa Pa market in one or two locations. I chose a spot where I thought there'd be interesting foot traffic...adjust my settings, pre-focus my camera (I used the Leica M9) and wait patiently for some interesting scene to develop.

Note: Typhoon Kalmaegi did indeed hit the region and I had to cancel our trip to Xin Cheng market due to reported landslides, heavy downpours and muddy terrain which could have made the trip unfeasible for our van. Currently in Lao Cai at the Swiss Bel hotel...a new, modern and posh hotel, where we probably are the only residents.

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Sa Pa & Ta Phin | Report Six | The People of Tay Bac

Yesterday included a morning of street photography in the small town of Sa Pa. Being such a small place, it was not too difficult to grab an interesting street scene, provided the Black Hmong vendors left us in peace.

Since much of the pedestrian action really occurs on a couple of small streets, as well as on the steps leading to and from the central market, it was easier to station myself at a specific point on these steps, and wait for something or someone interesting and exotic to happen by. Using the Leica M9, I pre-focused and chose the most appropriate settings...and just waited.

A word about the Hmong vendors. They have (for the most part) a sense of humor, and very willing to exchange banter with tourists. They are rather persistent in trying to buy some of their handicraft, but once they realize there's no way, they either walk away to look for another prey...or exchange pleasantries with anyone who'll give them the time of day.

Whilst waiting for interesting scenes to develop, I noticed an attractive store vendor watching me, and who seemed to understand the purpose of my being there. Expecting nothing much of importance to develop over the next few minutes, I asked if I could photograph her. Thuy Linh (her name) readily accepted, and naturally asked me to send her images when I was done.

The reason I mention this is that this exchange between two people who don't speak each others' language couldn't have occurred a few years ago.

Using Google Translate app on my iPhone, I asked her if I could photograph her, and if she had an email. She asked me to send the images to her Facebook account, and became my Facebook friend on the spot (using an iPhone no less)...enabling me to accept her invitation and eventually send her the images.

In the afternoon, we drove to the village of Ta Phin, a picturesque thirty minute drive north of Sapa. It's about 17 kilometers to the west of Sapa, and is principally a Red Dao village, where these can be seen embroidering their wares for sale to tourist groups.

On the way to Ta Phin, we stopped at the abandoned French nunnery/monastery. It was built in 1942, but was promptly evacuated and deserted by 1947. Its walls are in ruins but are covered by mustard-color moss (or lichen), giving it a wonderful textured look.

Photographing a bunch of Red Dao women in the village itself was not too difficult...despite their relentless efforts to make us buy anything from their inventory. It would not have been possible to persuade a couple of them to accompany us back to the French monastery where they could've been photographed against the interesting walls.

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Bac Ha | Report Five | The People of Tay Bac

Rather than rising pre-dawn to drive from Sapa to Bac Ha in order to reach its famous Sunday market early, I structured the itinerary in such a way that we spent the night at the Sao Mai Hotel. Naturally, Bac Ha being a weekend destination for most tourists, the Sao Mai Hotel is the best there is in the small town...which doesn't mean much. That's said, its location is extremely convenient as it's only a couple of hundred meters from the Bac Ha market.

Once again, I took a walk along the streets of Bac Ha late afternoon Saturday, and wafts of religious chants emanated from a small temple. Asking around, I was told it was a hầu đồng ceremony, but I couldn't get firm information as to when it'd be over or how long it was to be performed.

Rushing back to the Sao Mai, I gathered the rest of the group and we photographed the ceremony until late at night. Before describing what hầu đồng is, I must express my utter amazement and gratitude to the local Vietnamese congregants at this temple who welcomed us with open arms, and showered us with their tolerance.

Hầu đồng, also known as lên đồng, is a ritual of spirit mediumship practiced in Vietnamese indigenous religion and Đạo Mẫu, a Vietnamese mother goddess religion, in which followers become mediums for various deities. The main ritual, which may last from two to seven hours, begins with petitions to Buddha and to the deities for permission to carry out the ritual, after which the medium seats him or herself (both men and women may act as mediums) in the middle of four assistants, whose job it is to facilitate the medium's incarnation of different deities and spirits. (Wikipedia).

Although we were restricted by the temple's small space, I managed to photograph at will until I ran out of SD card space. I also recorded the live performance by the musicians; music that accompanied the medium as she went through the various incarnations. The live recording was badly affected by the small space of the temple and the resultant reverberation of the percussion and the gong.

It was a pre-breakfast short walk to the Bac Ha market early morning Sunday, where the villagers had already arrived and spread their products to sell. It looked somewhat different than how I remembered it, and May Lan (our H'mong minder) agreed. The local authority had moved the eateries down to the entrance of the market.

That early, we were the only non-local people around....but I knew it wouldn't last long when tourist buses would arrive. There were mostly Flower H'mong, and a few Black Dzao, and Tay. The animal market was especially busy, with buffalos being bought and sold (one sells for about 30 million dongs or $1500...not much). A few local tribespeople were selling puppies and small dogs....whether for pets or otherwise.

Engaging the women vendors without buying any of their wares is not too difficult. Many of them have a very keen sense of humor, and are willing to have fun and be teased. A few are dour, and don't respond to bantering, and a few genuinely don't like to be photographed. Older women cover their faces, not because they don't want to be photographed for cultural reasons, but because -as they told May Lan- they were too old and had lost their beauty.

Just at the entrance to the market, there's a small restaurant where we had breakfast. It seemed its Pho Ga was the best some of my group had ever had.

Friday, 12 September 2014

Sa Pa | Report Four | The People of Tay Bac

It took us far longer than expected to drive from Hanoi to Sa Pa, the famous hill station in the north of Viet Nam. The brand new highway is supposed to cut the journey time from approximately 10-12 hours to a mere 4 or so, but because a section was closed for repairs, we had to take the back roads, and reconnect into it not too far from Lao Cai....so we did it in about 8 hours.

Sa Pa is still humid (in comparison to two years ago, when it was really cool at the same time of the year), but it's tolerable. Accompanied by our Hanoi minder Huyen, and now Lan...our new Hmong guide in Sa Pa (and beyond), we explored the market area. The vendors have quieted down from what I recall, and there are less of them hassling the newcomers.

At one point, I heard unmistakable religious music emanating from a nondescript building, and asking around, I was told it was a temple. I walked in and encountered a handful of women dressed in red traditional clothes who, through sign language, told me that a ceremony would start at 9:00 am.

Religious music and ceremonies are like catnip to me...and I decided to forgo the street photography morning in its favor.

Rustling up the rest of the group wasn't an easy matter as they had dispersed around the area, but we finally found ourselves welcomed to the temple by around 15-18 women wearing these red outfits.

It appeared that it was a rehearsal for a much larger ceremony which was to occur tomorrow. Naturally, we will be on our way to Bac Ha by that time, so we thanked our stars to be able to catch it.

Despite our being occasionally in the way, the congregants were extremely gracious and didn't seem to mind us at all...quite the opposite. In short, this photo shoot (once again, serendipitous) was an enormous success for all of us.

Technical porn snippet: The Fuji X-T1 performed flawlessly. The X Pro-1 showed its age.

In contrast, our afternoon photo shoot to the village of Cat Cat, described as an age-old village of H’Mong ethnic group, was an immense flop of monumental proportions. If you fancy walking (actually quite an arduous trek) in the company of busloads of tourists, then go....but this was an epic fail. I'm not going to waste one sentence on it.

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Hanoi | Report Three | The People of Tay Bac

The current high humidity prompted me to set aside our Hanoi street photography program, and flee with the group to the equally humid (but less crowded) village of Tho Ha village, about 45 kilometers from the capital city. Tha Ho village's claim to relative fame is in it's specialization of producing rice paper, used for spring rolls and other Vietnamese culinary dishes.

Serendipity played its role in us passing by a row of old houses, and meeting Việt. Our minder, Huyen, asked permission to enter his house where he welcomed us with remarkable hospitality, offering us rice wine in small goblets... quite potent at this time of the day.

Seeing a collection of traditional instruments on his living room's walls, I asked if he played them...and he said yes. Being encouraged to play, he grabbed one these stringed instruments and started singing a number of traditional Vietnamese songs, and entertained us for over an hour. Naturally, we whipped out our cameras and audio recorders.

As soon as I realized Việt's talents, I thought I'd suggest him as being the subject of the group's first multimedia assignment. Ten photographs and a snippet of his music playing in a short multimedia project would be the group's initial homework.

What other news? Well, I was asked by the owner of the Golden Silk Boutique Hotel (a lovely hotel perfectly located in Hang Gai) to make some photographs of her at the hotel...a request that I jumped at. I didn't expect any, but she gifted me a lovely scarf in return. She probably realized my affinity to scarves, and chose one that is really luxurious. It'll certainly not be used during my photographic travels.

Oh, and by the way...the best Pho Bo I've ever had (and this is shared by the rest of my group) is at a modern restaurant on Ly Quoc Su...a short walk from the hotel.

Tomorrow, we travel to Sa Pa and it was with considerable relief that we received confirmation that there's a newly constructed road linking Hanoi to Sa Pa. No trucks are allowed so the travel time has been cut from 10-12 hours to a mere 5.

Monday, 8 September 2014

Hanoi | Report Two: The People of Tay Bac

The humidity is just staggering in Hanoi, and it's certainly affecting the group and I. Timing the photo shoots in the early morning, as we did today, doesn't really make a measurable difference.

That said, the dawn-early morning walk about on the Hoàn Kiếm Lake shore was interesting, both culturally and photographically. Apart from the placid tai chi being performed by Hanoi's senior citizenry, the group and I came across a more energetic display of the form using large fans, couples dancing to the tune of Delilah probably performed by a Vietnamese Tom Jones, groups of women of all ages doing aerobics to the bear of disco music...and school children waiting for their buses.

Later, we went for another walk about on Hang Ma...the epicenter of the Tết Trung Thu festival; the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the country's second most important holiday, after Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.

It's a combination of Christmas, Halloween and a block party of sorts during which young women (known as 'the pretty young things' in my parlance) wear Minnie Mouse ears and huge eyeglasses (fake), and flash the ubiquitous Asian 'V' sign at whoever looks at them.

It's a surfeit of sensory overload, with incredibly colorful decorations and lanterns...as well as incessant traffic noise caused by an endless stream of motorbikes and scooters.

I anticipate that Hang Ma will really be incredibly crowded this evening when we return for another dose of the Mid-Autumn Festival...hopefully this time, there'll be dragon dances!

By the way, the technological improvement of the X-T1 over the X Pro-1 are really staggering. The latter is really showing its age...however, I'm still using both.

Saturday, 6 September 2014

Hanoi: The People of Tay Bac Photo Expedition

Relaxing & Tai Chi On Hoàn Kiếm Lake (Hanoi)

Despite the long grueling flight from New York City to Hanoi via Hong Kong, the inevitable accompanying jet lag made it not too difficult for me to walk around Hanoi's Hoàn Kiếm Lake for an early morning spot of photography.

It's here and at this early hour that the older generation of Hanoians come to exercise individually or in groups, and to play badminton or do tai chi. Some bring their boom boxes and dance to the tune of Vietnamese love songs. Others just practice the ancient art of people watching, and gossip about the latest news, read newspapers or have their morning bowl of pho.

If the humidity in Hanoi isn't 100%, it sure feels like it. Walking a few hundred feet, and I was drenched in sweat...a reminder that I needed to take it slowly during the first few days.

For the above photograph, I used my new Fuji X-T1 fitted with the 18-135mm lens, and it was made by shooting from the hip so as not to disturb the scene unfolding in front of me. I haven't used a zoom lens for quite a while, and while it felt a little sluggish compared to my other prime lenses, I reckon (or hope) this will improve once I get used to it.

In the afternoon, after a long walk in the Old Quarter, Huyen (my interpreter and minder in Hanoi, and I walked to the lakeshore, where I saw a number of pre-wedding photo shoots as well as aspiring models posing for their friends, usually sporting the enormous Canon DSLRs and the ubiquitous 70-200 lenses.

The one who caught my attention with her beauty and grace was Tu. She and her photographer happily agreed that I poach a few photographs of her, and this short opportunity made my day. I suspect that many of the men reading this post will agree that it was an unmissable opportunity.

If I tried to do the same in New York's West Village photo shoots, I doubt I'd be treated with such generous alacrity. Tu also agreed to pose for my group of photographers the following day should we wish to do so.

Returning to the haven of the Golden Silk Boutique hotel, its air conditioning was particularly welcome after Hanoi's humidity. Although the weather forecast called for thunderstorms, I have yet to see a drop of rain since arriving.