For the last blog post on 2021, I've chosen to feature an all-too short fashion film originating in Hanoi very well produced by 50 Film Vietnam, and photographed by the talented Minh Nhon (Le Nguyen Tuan Minh). The fashion film is titled GIÓ MÙA VỀ (When Monsoon returns) and features the gorgeous model Ánh Ngoc.
Some of the stills of this project can be found on Minh Nhon's Behance website.
With international travel still extremely impractical (at least to those countries that I'm photographically interested in), I've started revisiting my photographs made in some of these countries, and started to work on a street fashion photo session in Hanoi's old section.
Using ON1 post processing software and a modified LUT present to achieve a cinematic effect, I worked on the photographs of Zhang Mansi, a Chinese student from Dali in Yunnan. I had met her and her friends in one of the streets bordering Hoan Kiem Lake, and asked if she would pose for my camera (a Fuji XT-1 at that time) in the old section of the Vietnamese capital. She was studying Vietnamese and political science, and has since returned to her home town. I was in Hanoi in connection with the launch of my photo book "Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam", and had taken to the streets for some respite from the local TV appearances and photo talks at various venues in the capital.
From my cursory viewing of Twitter accounts, I gather Japanese photographers are especially fond of color grading their images in the blue-orange tone that emits a cinematic "feel". I also found from experimentation that this color grading looks best on blacks and dark photographs.
Here is an interesting cultural -and possibly - less known art form which still exists in Vietnam, albeit on its last legs.
Hát Tuồng is one of the oldest art forms in Vietnam, and is said to have existed since the late 12th century. It’s believed to be influenced by Chinese opera performance techniques, but subsequently evolved and changed into a new form embodying Vietnamese characteristics and nature.
Per Wikipedia, the origin of tuồng is still unclear but is believed to have been imported from China around the 13th century when Vietnam was warring against the Mongol Dynasty. It was initially adopted by the Vietnamese imperial court, then trickled down to the peasantry through traveling troupes.
The Glorious Pain is a documentary film which tracks the journey of a small classical Vietnamese opera (tuồng) troupe and one of the very few still surviving, as it travels and performs through the Vietnam countryside. The characters who -in contrast to their royal roles behind the closed curtains, are commoners and peasants who struggle to make ends meet. The troupe is on the verge of disbandment with the main artists are facing penury. The future appears very bleak and will this art form disappear as many other traditional art forms have?
Having devoted a significant amount of time in documenting Chinese opera in its various forms and producing the photo book Chinese Opera of the Diaspora, it's almost a certainty that classical Vietnamese opera will not survive unless the Vietnamese government provides much need assistance in terms of funding, subsidy and providing its artists with employment. This is what the Chinese government has done, and its opera has - in most of its forms - survived and even flourished.
I came across Hát Tuồng for the first time in Hanoi (2012) during a photo expedition. The performance was held in an elegant theater near Hoàn Kiếm Lake, but the audience was embarrassingly sparse, and consisted of foreign tourists.
The Glorious Pain is produced by the Vietnamese Department of Entertainment Program and is part of a prominent documentary series of the Vietnam Television aired monthly during prime-time on VTV1 Channel. The Glorious Pain is also among the projects covering traditional culture of Vietnam which receive funding from the Film, Archive and Music Lab (FAMLAB).
I was alerted to this documentary by Nguyễn Thị Hồng Ngọc; a friend and a freelance photographer based in Hanoi.
It's been 4 years -almost to the day- when I was traveling to Hanoi on my Hau Dong: Spirit Mediums of Vietnam photo book tour, and memories of these wonderful two weeks are unexpectedly flooding in.
Perhaps it's because of the imminent US Presidential Election that reignited these memories, since I was there in 2016 when the current White House occupant was elected. I recall having breakfast at the Golden Silk hotel that morning when CNN announced the news much to the stunned shock of all those present.
However, setting aside politics, I think it's the passage of 4 years compounded by the current travel impossibility due to COVID19 that is the cause for this nostalgia.
So as an antidote, I write this post about Linh Trần (whom I often call Lotus); one of the very best Hầu Đồng spirit mediums in Vietnam and who added to her popularity by being featured in Morgan Freeman's The Story of God Netflix series. She also figures prominently in my photo book, in which she was interviewed at length as to her path within the Đạo Mẫu religious faith and practices.
Extremely photogenic and with considerable presence, Linh Trần's incarnations as the various deities that populate the Đạo Mẫu religion during her ceremonies were always charismatic and understandably very popular, which led to her having many faithful and loyal followers. I recall her willingness in being photographed following our one-on-one interviews in a studio near her home, and my telling her -despite her scoffing- she ought to have a parallel career as an urban fashion model.
We naturally kept in contact throughout the intervening years, and it's only recently that I saw photographs of her modeling her own colorful and idiosyncratic clothes in various parts of Hanoi. I am certain she isn't doing it professionally, but I'm glad she possibly heeded my (and others?) advice, even though it took her much of these 4 years to get there. In the above photograph by Nguyen Tra Mi, Lotus is holding her Tây Bắc jacket; indigenous to the region in the north of Vietnam.
Perhaps her next step would be to become an influencer on the youth-oriented social platforms such as Tik-Tok and Instagram? Her being schooled as a graphic designer certainly gives her an edge, and she should pursue that path if it appeals to her.
It's always a genuine pleasure to view the work of a photographer who shares many of one's own aesthetic, as well as geographic affinities. Through a mutual Facebook contact, I discovered the lovely work of Sung Kwan Ma, a photographer born in Seoul and now based in New York City. He has a number of galleries on his website, that include work from various cities in India, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Viet Nam. His work includes portraits and street photography, as well as wedding photography...both in color and monochrome.
It's his Viet Nam photographs that I loved the most, especially those of his street portrait sessions of Thu Thuy, a Hanoi-based model. He has chosen to photograph her amongst the bustle of the old quarter in Hanoi, known as Pho Co; one of my favorite areas for street photography because of its ambiance and exotic back walls that are often inscribed with mobile telephone numbers as adverts...and where the beauty of the Vietnamese model in her traditional red and white ao dai is amply displayed.
Interestingly, he has also used the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio in his framing for a selection of his portraiture work, such as in Shanghai and in NYC. He preceded me in that style, as I am preparing to do the same in a forthcoming project with Lise Liu (see my previous post).
As per his website, Sung's extensive spiritual journeys in India and humanitarian activities throughout Asia over the past two decades have been the soul and defining framework of his work. He specifically mentions his affinity to the various cultural diversities of India and the Indian people. His images seek to capture the emotional depth of traditional sentiments and the joys of festivity.
My interest in "photo films", merging Asian fashion and storytelling based on Asian history and legends, has continued unabated despite the downtime (also known as 'isolation') forced upon us all by the Covid19 pandemic. I had made travel plans to spend two weeks or so in Tokyo in early January, cancelled them in favor of Taipei a couple of weeks later...only to cancel them a few days later. I haven't come across similar 'photo films' yet, but I was recently directed to the work of the Vietnamese visual artist Dzung Yoko (real name is Trần Hoàng Dũng), and I was stunned by his photography which was made into the aesthetically delicate Miss Saigon short video above by The Red Team based in Hanoi. The very short video is an advert for Miss Saigon, a perfume bottled in the shape of a Vietnamese woman wearing the traditional Ao dai and a non la, the eponymous conical leaf hat.
Trần Hoàng Dũng is considered to be one of Vietnam’s top visual artists. He graduated from University of Architecture in 1998, and has been known as one of the leading visual creators in Vietnam with award-winning music album cover designs for the country’s top artists. He has held the position of Creative Director of international fashion titles in Vietnam such as ELLE and L’OFFICIEL magazines.
In late January, I was planning a two weeks trip first to Japan but when it registered a large number of Covid19 cases, I switched to Taiwan as it had managed to prevent an outbreak, only to find that my hometown of New York City had started to witness some cases.
I cancelled my flights and my hotel stay...and with all my contacts in both Tokyo and Taipei understanding the circumstances, I resolved to stay put, but naturally very disappointed at the unavoidable turn of events.
I had planned to produce a number of photo films (like this one) with the participation of friends and models. The one I was anticipating the most is based on Marguerite Duras' 1984 autobiography "L'Amant" which was set in 1929 French Indochina.
In my photo-film, I intended to switch the roles around by having the role of the nameless girl (Ms Duras herself) played by -depending on where I had been- either a Japanese or Taiwanese model and the role of her lover, a Western expatriate who would remain invisible. I had a handful of different plots for the 3-1/2 minute photo-film, but the one I leaned into the most would center on an clandestine romance between the Asian girl from a financially strapped family and an infatuated Western photographer. Unfortunately, the virus' rapid spread all over the world puts a stop to such plans for the foreseeable future, but it's only a matter of time when normalcy will return. The in-flight Vietnam Airlines magazine is probably one of the most attractive I've seen in all my travels.
I'm very pleased that Google Doodle; the special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's home pages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures, has featured the ancient art of Ca Trù on February 23, 2020 which coincided with its day in Viet Nam. The 'doodle" is by Xuan Le, an artist in Ho Chi Minh City.
The illustration depicts a typical Ca Trù performance, with a female singer playing the phach (a bamboo bar beaten with small wooden sticks), accompanied by a man playing the dan day, a long-necked, three-string lute used exclusively for this art form. It also features a judge (left) who strikes a drum in praise or disapproval of the singer’s performance, usually done after every passage of the song.
Google tells us that Ca Trù fits somewhere in between the geisha ceremonies of Japan and the dramatic performances of opera. Its unique sound has roots that stretch back to the 11th century. First gaining popularity as entertainment for the aristocracy of Vietnam’s royal palaces, it later made its way into the inns and communal spaces of what is now modern-day Hanoi.
In 2015, I attended a number of these Ca Trù performances in an old house in the center of Hanoi's Old Quarter. I was granted permission to photograph at will from various corners of the 'stage', which resulted in The Ancient Art of Ca-Tru galley.
One of my favorite movie directors is Wong Kar-wai; the Chinese film director whose art films are characterized by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colors as seen in the evocative 'In The Mood For Love' starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, about an unconsummated romantic relationship. So here is a short movie titled 'Fall With Me' by Hon Hoang, a Vietnamese-American photographer and film maker currently based in Los Angeles. This short movie is about leaving a life one has made, and follows the story of a couple, moments before they go their own separate way. It's reminiscent of Wong Kar-wei's work in terms of saturated colors, dark and moody scenes and the unconsummated, or cut short, relationship. How many of us would disagree with " In life, in love, you either end up resenting or regretting" uttered by the sultry actress Lyena Kang.
Hon Hoang is a freelance photographer and videographer, and is involved in various photography projects such as EnFlight.Design and Asia Photo Review. EnFlight.Design is a web site devoted to the production, publication, and education in photography, design and cinema.
Asia Photo Review is a community to showcase the best photography being produced from Asia and Asian photographers around the world, whose goals are to promote honest reflections of these countries and the stories the inhabitants have to tell.
Continuing the featuring of creative work by impressive photographers who specialize in ethnic fashion-portraiture, I bring to the pages of The Travel Photographer blog the artistry of Tengku Azari, a well known Malaysian photographer. I was amazed by his work which he describes as the "tram anh thế oligarchy"; which I suppose involves a model dressed up in the most stunning costume against the magical backdrop of Huế architectural wonder of its imperial citadel. Huế is a city in central Vietnam that was the capital of Đàng Trong Kingdom from 1738 to 1775 and of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The 19th-century citadel encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the Emperor's home; and a replica of the Royal Theater. He produced a "behind the scene" video (below) which shows him and his team at work in the photo shoot which resulted in the Huế images.
Tengku Azri is a portrait and wedding photographer based in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. He is a founder and art director of the Dloven Group. He was recognized with multiple awards from different international competitions such as Wedding Portrait Photography International (WPPI) & Professional Photographer Asia Community (PPAC). He also conducted a number of photography workshops Malaysia & Singapore. He is a Malaysia Fuji X-photographer.
Here's an exceptionally well done short movie from Luan Nguyễn , a Vietnamese videographer, which through a recreation, depicts daily life scenes of the aristocracy in Vietnam under Nguyễn dynasty (1802-1945). It shows us a young woman being dressed and made up by an attendant girl to meet (presumably) a suitor. Using ambient light and slow deliberate movements, it captures very well what I imagine was the demeanor and appearance of such aristocrats. History tells us that the Nguyễn dynasty was the last imperial family of Vietnam. Although its ancestral line can be traced back millennia, it was only by the mid-sixteenth century that its most ambitious family branch, rose to conquer, control and establish feudal rule over a large territory.
The Empire of Vietnam under its 13th and final Emperor was a nominally independent Japanese puppet state during the last months of World War II. It ended with his abdication following the surrender of Japan and the communist revolution by the anti-colonial Việt Minh in August 1945. This ended the 143 year rule of the Nguyễn dynasty.
Nguyễn is the most common Vietnamese family name. By some estimates forty percent of Vietnamese people bear this surname. The Nguyễn Dynasty awarded many people the surname Nguyễn during their rule, and many criminals also changed their surname to Nguyễn to avoid prosecution. As with other common surnames, people having this surname are not necessarily related.
After many weeks of silence on this blog; due partly to the need to take a time off to focus on photographic projects, travel...and just for a summer break, I'm back with an interesting article and images of a Vietnamese ancient art form called hát tuồng or hát bội.
The origin of this art form is truly fascinating. I had learned from scouring the internet that this classic opera is the Vietnamese adaptation of the Chinese opera that has been enjoyed by kings and provincial mandarins, and performed as a court art (as well as for popular audiences) especially in central Vietnam. The introduction of Chinese opera is attributed to the capture of a troupe of performers attached to the Mongol army that invaded northern Vietnam in 1285, and the actors’ lives were spared in return for teaching their art to the Vietnamese.
As in Chinese opera, makeup color and dress indicate the character type of each character: black for boldness and bravery, red for anger or rashness, white for treachery, and gold as the color of the gods.
And also as with its "parent" art form, hát bội is kept alive by poor artists afraid it will die with them. While the Vietnamese government is anxious in promoting its indigenous culture such as Hầu đồng and Ca trù, I suspect that hát bội will not receive the same governmental push, but who knows?
The article that appeared in the VNExpress newspaper introduces us to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, a hát bội actress, who lives in a small rented apartment in My Tho, capital of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.
At 67, she is the senior actress of the Ngoc Khanh troupe, one of the best knownhtroupes in the south of Vietnam (by the way, the art form is called hát tuồng in the north of Vietnam, and hát bội in the south.
My interest in the Vietnamese form of Chinese Opera started in 2012 whilst leading a photo-expedition-workshop to Vietnam in 2012. It was there in Hanoi that I took my group to a theater near Hoan Kiem Lake to photograph a hát tuồng show. Aside from us, there were less than handful of tourists in the audience. I had a limited time to photograph backstage, but it was enough to upload a few images unto a gallery.
I don't recall writing a blog post about an article that appeared on The New York Times' Lens feature, but I could not let the wonderful photography of William E. Crawford on Hanoi Streets go without giving it its due merit on the pages of this blog. One of the photographs that I couldn't stop looking at is of this Vietnamese general. I have no idea who he is or what his history may have been...but I've met Vietnamese men (and women) of his age with similar facial expressions, whose astounding gentleness and courtesy to me -as a visitor to their country- are the most rewarding experiences I took away from my travels in Vietnam. In the Lens article, Mr. Crawford is quoted as saying "despite the embargo and the wounds of the American War there was no obvious anti-American hostility ... the lack of hostility towards Americans, at least in the North, was a relief to me." This is so true! Everywhere I went in Hanoi and elsewhere in Vietnam, I was received with open arms even though I was seen as an American (the difference between being American-born or naturalized seemed irrelevant to them). Even Vietnamese men who told me were Vietcong during the American War were friendly and extremely cordial...and shared meals and many cups of rice wine (and ribald jokes) with me.
William E. Crawford is a documentary photographer who spent three decades documenting Vietnam, and in particular Hanoi, its people and the surrounding countryside. As one of the very first Western photographers to work in post-war North Vietnam, he was drawn back to the country numerous times at regular intervals between 1985 and 2015 to record this fascinating country's culture, people, and society with beautiful, compelling and intimate photographs, concentrating on colonial and indigenous architecture, urban details, portraits, and landscapes.
While he used a large format camera an tripod, he -as I did, but not with the same gear- wandered Hanoi’s busy streets returning to the same places, especially in the 36 streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
I could not find Mr Crawford's website, but he is publishing a book Hanoi Streets 1985-2015 which has close to 200 color photographs.
The H'mong, estimated at about 1 million people, constitute one of the largest ethnic group in Vietnam and one of its tribal group, known as the Black Hmong, are reputed for their handicraft and indigo blue clothes made of hemp. The women wear long blouses over short trousers, and wrap long scarves around their legs. They wrap their long hair around their head covered by a turban.
The H'mong came to Vietnam from South China some 300 years ago, during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The majority live in northern Vietnam's Lao Cai province. Their spoken language belongs to the H’mong–Dao language family, and although their writing was Romanized in 1961, it is not widely used.
The back story on the top photograph: I was walking in a Black H'mong village (I don't recall its name, but it was at a short drive from Sapa), and chanced upon a woman sweeping her porch. She was used to tourists, and didn't seem perturbed when I asked to take photographs of her.
At one point, she unhooked a birdcage to clean it and started whistling to get the bird's attention. Naturally, the bird was more alarmed by my clicking camera shutter, and started to furiously chirp at me...it was at that moment* that I captured the woman's incredulous expression at the bird's "lack of manners". You'll note the circular discoloration on her forehead. This is the result of medicinal cupping. According to traditional Asian medicine, cupping creates a vacuum on the skin to improve qi (life energy) flow...in this case, the woman probably suffered from headaches. * I will be using this photograph -among others- to illustrate "The Moment" in photography during my forthcoming photo talk on The Passion For Travel Photography in Shanghai.
At another village, I met a H'mong mother and her young daughter who gladly posed for photographs in front of their home. If they can afford it, H'mong women wear silver jewelry in the form of heavy necklaces and earrings. The woman seems to be well-off (note the two gold teeth), and is wearing lock shaped pendants on her necklace. These ‘soul lock pendants' are presented during ‘curing ceremonies' to lock the restless soul to the body until the appropriate time to die arrives. She also bears pinching abrasions on her neck. Pinching the skin is also an ancient Asian treatment to increase blood flow, and by extension to increase life energy. For more of my photography on the tribes of North West Vietnam, don't miss my Hill Tribes In The Mist gallery of monochrome photographs. The technical details for the top photograph are: Canon 5D MKII+ 17-40mm. 1/25th sec Hand Held. f6.0. iso400. Pattern Metering. Date: 2012-09-21 at 09:56:39 (Hanoi time). Post Processed Using Color Efex and Iridient Developer 3.
The technical details for the lower photograph are: Canon 5DMKII +17-40mm. 1/400th sec Hand Held. f6.0. iso 400. Pattern Metering. Date: 2012-09-21 at 11:36:39 (Hanoi time). Post Processed Using Color Efex and Iridient Developer 3.
Ca Trù (pronounced “ka tchoo”) is a complex form of sung poetry found in the north of Viet Nam using lyrics written in traditional Vietnamese poetic forms. It flourished in the 15th century when it was popular with the royal palace, and was a favorite activity of aristocrats and scholars. It was later performed in communal houses, inns and private homes. In 2009 Ca trù singing was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage “Urgent Safeguarding List.”
Its performances involve at least three people: a female singer (đào nương) who both sings and plays the clappers (known as the phách), an instrumentalist (kép) who plays the đàn đáy (three-stringed lute), and a “praise drummer“ known as quan viên who beats the trống chầu.
Historically, when spectators (usually male) entered a Ca Trù performance, they purchased bamboo tally cards. In Chinese, Trù means card, while Ca means song in Vietnamese, and thus Ca Trù means tally card songs. The tallies were given to the singers in appreciation for their performance. After the performance, each singer received payment in proportion to the number of cards received.
This ancient art was frowned upon during the Ho Chi Minh era and beyond, but was reinstated as a national treasure since then. In fact, as a result of the UNESCO inscription, some Hanoi venues have booked Ca Trù performances (thought mostly for tourists) in the city’s historic quarter.
The venue for the three performances I attended were held at an ancient venue on 28 Hang Buom Street, whose atmospheric ambiance was just perfect for this art form. It was a sort of reenactment of what would be experienced in the 15th century, with the musicians and singers wearing silk salmon-pink ao dais and headbands. The performances usually last for 45 minutes.
I chose to use my brace of Fuji X-T1 cameras; one fitted with a 18mm and the other with the absolutely delightful 56mm. Since the venue was so dark, the lenses were wide open.
The singer-musician seen in my photographs is Ms. Đặng Thị Hường who plays the traditional Vietnamese three-stringed lute, amongst other instruments. She (wearing the dress and headband typical to the royal Vietnamese court) is also featured in my photo essay The Ca Tru Musician; the result of a photo shoot at Hanoi's Ngoc Son Temple.
The technical details for the top photograph are: Fuji XT-1+ 56mm. 1/200th sec Hand Held. f2.0. iso 1600. Spot Metering. Date: 2014-04-02 at 20:16:00 (Hanoi time). Post Processed Using Color Efex and Iridient Developer 3.
The technical details for the lower photograph are: Fuji XT-1+ 18mm. 1/350th sec Hand Held. f2.0. iso 1600. Spot Metering. Date: 2014-04-02 at 20:36:00 (Hanoi time). Post Processed Using Color Efex and Iridient Developer 3.
Here's a short clip of one of the songs I recorded during one of the performances.
I was rummaging through my archives to pull photographs suitable for my forthcoming photo talk in Shanghai, and picked this one of a Vietnamese mourner at a roadside funeral. I thought it was be appropriate to feature in this Beyond The Frame post since it will soon be Tết (or Tết Nguyên Đán as the Vietnamese Lunar New Year is called) during which families visit their ancestors’ tombs and clean grave sites. Unsurprisingly, the Chinese also have an identical tradition known as Qingming or Ching Ming Festival (Tomb-Sweeping Day) which is regularly observed as a statutory public holiday in China. In fact, the timing of my photo talk in Shanghai was brought forward to avoid the festival as many people would be traveling to cemeteries at that time. This photograph was made at a roadside funeral while I (and other photographers on my Vietnam: North of the 16th Parallel Photo Expedition/Workshop) was returning from Halong Bay on our way to Hanoi. Cooped in a boat cabin for more hours than I cared for during the Halong cruise, I was itching to go photograph on dry land, and when I noticed the funeral tent, crowd and sound system half way into our journey, I just had our vehicle stop to let my friend Maika Elan and I solicit permission to photograph the rites. Permission from the head of the family was readily granted, and I lit an incense stick to my respects to the memory of the deceased. The deceased was born in 1925, and his name was Cu Pham Van Bao.
I was invited to drink green tea, and sat amongst the head table along with our host. The funeral rite is called le dua tang, and many of the mourning relatives wore coarse veils of gauze.
The mourning dress is made of a very low-grade white gauze and is very loosely-fit on the person wearing it. The women mourners wear a sort of peaked gauze head dress wrapped around the head held with straw crowns. Some of the mourners use bamboo sticks for support as if they had difficulty walking.The carelessness of dress and the hesitant walk are to show how overwrought the mourners are. The atmosphere was very subdued. There were expressions of sorrow, but no wailing or any such outward manifestations. There were wreaths with pictures of the deceased outside the erected tent while inside in a room, was a group of women relatives praying.
The technical details are: Canon 5D Mark II + 17-40mm. 1/25th sec Hand Held. f4.0. iso 160. Pattern Metering. Date: 2012-09-23 at 14:14:00 (Hanoi time). Post Processing using Color Efex Pro.
I thought I'd feature an audio file as well as an image for this post of Beyond The Frame; both which were produced during my The People of Tay Bac Photo Expedition-Workshop in September 2014; a trip which planted the seed for my two years book project Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Vietnam (now on Amazon). Thổ Hà village is about 40 kilometers from Hanoi, and is reachable across the narrow Cau River which we crossed on a rusty ferry. The village is known for making rice paper and banh da (rice crackers); its two main exports since 1990.
We passed a a row of old houses, and met Việt in one of the courtyards. He welcomed us into his house, offering us rice wine in small goblets. 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 of the stringed instruments and started singing a number of traditional Vietnamese songs, and entertained us for over an hour.
His favorite instrument was the đàn nhị Vietnamese, also called đàn cò; a Vietnamese bowed string instrument with two strings. The word nhị means "two" in Vietnamese. Việt was a civil servant (and possibly served in the army when younger) and had recently retired on a pension. He intended to teach his young son to play a musical instrument.
Technical Details: Fuji X-T1+ 18-135mm. 1/20 Hand Held. f4.0. iso 1600. Aperture Priority. 10:30 AM (Vietnam Time). Post Processing with Color Efex Pro.
I'm not sure why I used the Fujinon 18-135mm lens in this instance...it's my least favorite lens, I had just bought it before the trip to use for a specific photo shoot in Hoi An and it was ill-suited for this indoor low-light ambiance. I had the X-Pro1 and the 18mm f2.0 lens, so I'm puzzled as to the reason.
I recorded Việt songs on a Tascam DR-40 4-Track Mobile Digital Recorder.
One of my favorite photographs was made in the market town of Bac Ha of northern Vietnam, known as Tây Bắc (literally "Northwest"). It consists of six provinces, which include the province of Lào Cai.
Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups, giving it the richest and most complex ethnic makeup of Southeast Asia. The majority of the ethnic minorities live in the hilly regions of the Northwest. The region is home to the Hmong, Zao, Nung, San Chay, Cao Lan, Giay, and Lolo, as well as the Tay, and Muong.
The photograph was made at the Sunday market in Bac Ha, which hosts around 10 of these ethnic tribes who come to sell or barter their produce and products. Bac Ha itself is a sleepy town that comes alive during the weekend, and when the bartering, buying and selling is done and the tourist buses from Sapa have left, it goes back to bed for the rest of the week.
In common with markets all over the world, "pop-up" eateries spring to life on Sundays to feed the hordes of vendors and visitors who descend on Bac Ha for the day or even for a few hours.
Aside from photographing the colorful Flower Hmong women who were busy selling their handicrafts, eating ice cream and haggling over bolts of cloths, I chanced upon a group of Black Hmong men eating in silence under a tarp at one of the rickety folding tables. I stood there motionless for a few minutes, and none of them as much as looked up at me from their bowls of pho. I realized that their conical hats (non la) were obscuring their peripheral vision, so they could not see me.
I took the opportunity to hover over one of the men, and snapped a couple of quick shots. They heard the shutter, looked at me for a few seconds....then returned to their bowls of soup.
I guess they were used to tourists, and were unconcerned about another one taking their picture. Two years later when I returned to Bac Ha, I saw first-hand how the continuing influx of tourists negatively impacted this sleepy little town. Even though there are no faces in the photograph, it's unmistakably 'Vietnam'...the conical hat, the bowl of soup, the chopsticks all point to Vietnam.
For my audio slideshow of the Tây Bắc region which includes ambient audio recorded at the Bac Ha market, visit Hill Tribes In The Mist.
Technical details are: LEICA M9 + 28mm. 1/25 Hand Held. f2.8. iso 200. Pattern Metering. Date: 2012-09-22 at 11:49:00 (Vietnam time). Post Processing using Color Efex Pro.
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) previously known as Saigon, has a population of about 8.5 million people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam. The city's population is expected to grow to 13.9 million by 2025. Its French-influenced buildings earned it the nickname of “the Pearl of the Orient”, especially because of its tree-lined boulevards flanked by grand hotels with wide verandas.
Saigon's old buildings also formed the backdrop for “The Quiet American,” the Graham Greene novel set during Vietnam’s war for independence from France in the early 1950s, and for indelible images of the Vietnam War. The city was full old apartment buildings; built in the 1950s or 1960s while others dating back to French colonial times.
As an aside: Although I've been to Vietnam many times, I've only been to Saigon once back in 2004, and I distinctly recall the Rex Hotel; the old and famed hotel where the United States military would hold its delusional briefings during the American (or Vietnam) war, and its roof top bar (where I had an excellent seafood meal), and which was the favorite watering hole for journalists, spies and military people.
These old buildings (as those in Hanoi and elsewhere in many Asian cities) have been, and still are, inhabited by generations of families. Some of the buildings contain living quarters, small shops, markets, and restaurants. However, more and more of these structures are being demolished due to safety reasons and to make way for new (and expensive) real estate projects. There has been much loss in Saigon's urban heritage which rips the city's social and historical fabric.
Christian Berg's The Old Onesis agallery of photographs made of some of Saigon's heritage buildings.
Christian is a Ho Chi Minh City based documentary photographer, available for freelance work in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He holds a degree in Southeast Asian studies, and is fluent in Vietnamese.is work was published in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Elle, Forbes, National Geographic Traveler, The Telegraph, DKSH, Atlas Industries, Strategic Marine, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Goethe Institute, Medicins du Monde and others.
In March 2015 I had just started researching and photographing the cult of Mother Goddesses in Hanoi, and was introduced once again to the ancient art of Ca Trù. I had attended one of its performances already during one of my photo expeditions in 2012. The performances were held in a small, but very atmospheric, old Vietnamese house on Hanoi's Hang Buom Street.
It is during these performances that I met Ms. Đặng Thị Hường, a Ca Trù singer and musician, who played the traditional Vietnamese three-stringed lute, amongst other instruments. She was keen to be photographed in a traditional Vietnamese dress at a different venue such, and we chose Đền Ngọc Sơn, the Temple of the Jade Mountain, on Lake Hoan Kiem.
Ca Trù (pronounced “ka tchoo”) is a complex form of sung poetry found in the north of Viet Nam using lyrics written in traditional Vietnamese poetic forms. It flourished in the 15th century when it was popular with the royal palace, and was a favorite activity of aristocrats and scholars. It was later performed in communal houses, inns and private homes.
Ca Trù performances involve at least three people: a female singer (đào nương) who both sings and plays the clappers (known as the phách), an instrumentalist (kép) who plays the đàn đáy (three-stringed lute), and a “praise drummer“ known as quan viên who beats the trống chầu. When spectators (usually male) entered a Ca Trù performance, they purchased bamboo tally cards. In Chinese, Trù means card, while Ca means song in Vietnamese, and thus Ca Trù means tally card songs. The tallies were given to the singers in appreciation for their performance. After the performance, each singer received payment in proportion to the number of cards received.
I used the Fuji X-T1 and the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 for most of the photographs made in this gallery.
