I am just back in Saigon this week from a month of traveling and shooting in Europe and I was THRILLED to finally get my hands on a copy of my fourth book, Vibrant Vietnam, which was released while I was away. Below is an image of the full set of product from this 18 month project, two 150 page hard cover books and five bound post card sets of images from my travels for the books. Many thanks to ART Director Paolo Maling and the team at Artbook Vietnam for their hard work, patience and support.
On Waiting
As photographers we often think that the key to great photo's is to travel to exotic locations. We sometimes overlook the fact that there are always photo's to be made and stories to be told wherever we are. The sequence of photos below were all shot within 10 minutes and 50 metres of each other in Saigon a few days ago in a location that is not particularly interesting or exotic. The images tell different stories of what was happening on a steamy Saigon Sunday afternoon in this place. Often as not all you have to do is get off the sofa, go somewhere with your camera, and wait.
Graduation portrait.
Across the street a girl makes a selfie. Her hair is lit beautifully by the setting sun, her face full of gesture.
20 metres from the selfie image children find a way to cool off in a fountain.
In love and in lock step. The children had just exited stage right.
I turned around from the lovebirds. Crashing a photoshoot, again :)
One More Week!!!
My fourth, and most ambitious Vietnam photo book, Vibrant Vietnam, will be available in bookshops throughout Vietnam in ONE MORE WEEK!!!
One More Week!!!
My third Vietnam photo book, Hanoi Panorama, will be in bookshops throughout Vietnam in ONE MORE WEEK!!!
Coming Soon!
I was thrilled this week to travel to Hanoi for the printing of my two new Vietnam photo books, Hanoi Panorama and Vibrant Vietnam. Both are hard cover books of 150 pages the shooting for which took place over the last 18 months.
Hanoi Panorama is a collection of panoramic images of the national capital while Vibrant Vietnam covers the country from north to south covering the main tourist destinations.
Both books as well as five bound postcard sets will join my first two books Hoi An Panorama and Saigon Ca Phe and will be in Artbook and Tribook bookshops, as well as other good bookstores throughout Vietnam by the end of April.
First test pages
The mountain of paper begins to form.
Negatives
Adjusting the ink recipe
Getting a close up.
Tow books by 2,000 copies is a lot of paper and ink. This is a fraction.
Running the cover of Vibrant Vietnam.
Adjusting the color of the cover of Hanoi Panorama.
On ending where you started
Almost exactly a year ago I began a project to concurrently shoot two new photo books on Vietnam. One, a book of panoramic images in Hanoi, the other a travel book covering Vietnam from North to South.
I began shooting in Hanoi last summer in 44 degree heat, then travelled to Halong Bay and the mountains around Sapa before heading south in a succession of trips to cover the main tourist hotspots.
I returned to Hanoi last week to finish shooting for both books with a series of photo's on Tet in Hanoi. Thankfully the temperatures were more pleasing, around 15 degrees.
When shooting a lengthy project like this it's is always nice to end on a high note and the Tet (Lunar New Year) Fireworks over Hanoi's iconic Hoan Kiem Lake provided the setting. The lake was packed with thousands of people eager to see in the new year and the atmosphere was electric.
This was my first time shooting fireworks and I needed a good shot to close out the Hanoi section of the book. The first frame that I made that night is below. I made the photograph, looked on the LCD screen on the back of the camera and breathed a sigh of relief.
Hopefully both books, Hanoi Panorama and Vibrant Vietnam, together with a number of bound postcard sets from my travels, will be on bookshelves by the end of March.
Tet fireworks over Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi.