Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

Comanche · **Viet Nam Leftovers -** 04-20-2010, 05:12 AM

I’ve been in Viet Nam for a month, shooting for two NGOs. I have been annoying the folks in the Photojournalism section with some of my stories and photos, but now I’m on the way home – where a lot of editing awaits and I have two audio slideshows to build.

Not all of the decent photos got used in the stories. Either they were unplanned grab shots or just didn’t fit into a story. Such photos are a little bit like orphans, and like an orphan, they need to be loved too. So here you are – some photos that didn’t make it into a story. Because these are “leftover” photos, they’re not photojournalism, hence posting them here.

I love faces. There is a window into the soul through a person’s face. I usually ask permission to take a photo – I just raise the camera to face level, smile, and say “Okay?” The vast majority of the time, I get a positive reply. Then I busy myself with my camera, pretending to fiddle with buttons and settings and the subject soon gets bored and ignores me. That’s when I can get the shot – when the person has forgotten me and is not thinking about a camera being pointed at him. This man’s job is to care for the water buffalo – there are at least thirteen of them in the picture. Soon the rice planting season will begin and both buffalo and man will be working hard.

But you can’t always ask permission – and why would you bother to ask two little boys on a bicycle? I don’t normally like to take “sneaky shots” of people – I feel like I am invading their privacy – but in this case, I just grabbed the camera when I saw the shot coming up. The boys? They could’ve cared less that I didn’t ask permission, as long as they got to see their picture on the LCD screen on my camera. After many giggles and punching each other on the shoulder, they rode on home.

Generally, I don’t pose people for photos – I want to get them doing what comes naturally – but sometimes I may direct them, at least a little bit. This man was busy stacking rice seedlings on a cart. While other folks pulled the young plants out of the ground, he carried the bunches to the wagon. The seedlings will soon be replanted in a bigger rice field or paddy. The first few shots of him “acting naturally” were great, but the backgrounds were ugly buildings. I just motioned him to move a little to his left – and I got my shot.

Sometimes, patience is required. This little girl was as cute as a button. She probably had never seen a westerner before and was both shy and curious. But during most of the time I watched her, she had a finger in her nose – not a very appealing photo. I waited – and waited – and waited. I think Mom saw what was going on (that’s her on the left) and said something to the child. The finger was removed, and I got the look on her face I had hoped for.

And sometimes, I just plain get lucky. No skill – no great planning – just pure unadulterated luck. I was standing next to the railroad tracks when a train came by. I raised the camera, found a window to focus on, zoomed in tight and panned as the train swooshed by. The camera was already in AI Servo focus mode and shooting at 3 fps, so I didn’t have to reset anything. I really wonder what was going through this young person’s mind. Was life as painful as the face seems to indicate?

I don’t normally take landscapes – I don’t have the artistic eye for composition that is required of a good landscape shooter. However, while out looking for faces, I went by this bucolic view – and I had to stop and take a few shots. I do wish the sun had been out so the colors would be brighter, but any day taking pictures is a good day.

I also seldom take pictures of buildings and such - - what I derisively call “postcard pix.” But on this trip, thinking I may not be back in the city of Hue (say “whey”) again, I wanted to get shots of some of the local famous landmarks. This is the Ngo Mon Gate, the king’s entrance into the imperial headquarters inside The Citadel. The costumed men in the shot were preparing for a festival and parade that night.

A different kind of photo. This one is actually a failure. Shooting at dawn at a fishing village, there was such strong contrast in most photos that I thought I would bracket three shots at one stop each way, and then process them in HDR. But, as you can see, the sky is some sort of weird grey – not early morning blue. I’m working on an older laptop with a crummy monitor – I’ll play with this a bit more when I get home and have a calibrated monitor to work with.

Finally, sunset on the beautiful Perfume River of Hue, taken near the end of the trip. My Vietnamese partner had a good time teasing me. I’d forgotten the tripod collar for my 70-200 f2.8, so the ball head was mounted to the camera, not the lens. Tsk tsk – the technique was bad, but the view from the top of the hill was great.

Tam biet, Viet Nam.

DigitalScape · 04-20-2010, 09:51 AM

These images and the stories behind them are great, Doug (and I have been viewing the other threads you started).

pcdeatherage · 04-20-2010, 10:50 PM

thank you...i totally enjoyed that...brought back sites, smells, sounds...wonderful photos...

ngoduyviet · 04-21-2010, 01:36 AM

Wow, that last shot is phenomenal. That should be a big print right there.

ldelacruz · 04-21-2010, 01:42 AM

Yeah!

Comanche · 04-21-2010, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngoduyviet

Wow, that last shot is phenomenal. That should be a big print right there.

Thanx - coming from you, that is quite a compliment.

I mentioned my partner,a Vietnamese photographer named Phan Cu. He took much the same shot with his 5D Mk II, except he framed it with some overhanging branches. He made a huge print of it - and there it was on display this morning when I met him at his business.

The colors and lighting in this photo masquerade the fact that the nearest boat making the beautiful waves is an ugly gravel barge - you just can't tell it in the shot. The hill where we stood is well known to locals as a place to get great sunset shots. A kid with a P&S can get great sunset images on Vong Canh.