saigon | Without an H

Posts tagged ‘saigon’

Up with the sun

Vietnam is a nation of early risers. In the cities and countryside alike, people are up with the sun. It’s not uncommon for dissolute expats to make it home in the early hours, just as their Vietnamese neighbours are going out to face the new day. When I lived in Hanoi, my alley turned itself into a small fresh food market every morning; I knew I’d had a long night when I came home to find market traders setting up outside my front door.

Saigon’s parks are often at their busiest in the early mornings, when the sun is low in the sky. People of all ages gather to take all kinds of exercise – jogging, walking, badminton, aerobics, martial arts, ballroom dancing – before the working days begins. I’m not naturally an early riser myself, but back in January I made a few early morning visits to my local park to take a few pictures.

I don’t take that many black and white pictures, but with these I wanted to see if I could capture the feel of the early morning sun without the benefit of colour.

Fruit market portrait (potw #22)

I haven’t taken that many pictures in Saigon recently, but I’m hoping that moving to a new neighbourhood will inspire me. This was taken outside Tan Dinh market on Hai Ba Trung, which I’m expecting will become a regular destination for me in the coming months.

This blog has gained a lot of new followers over the last couple of days, thanks to my ‘Mekong Delta portraits’ post being featured on Freshly Pressed. Welcome everybody and thanks for the support – I hope that you’ll continue enjoying the blog.

The Sandwich Lady and other pictures

Late December and early January in Saigon. Looking at these pictures again, I wish – not for the first time – that my Vietnamese was better, so that I could write a little about these people and their stories.

Twinkle

The number 8

Cafe culture

…

The boys in blue

Driving lessons

Cigarette break

Dapper gent

Sandwich lady

Afternoon sun

A bit of a blur

Saigon skyline (potw #20)

Sunday evening was my first time out shooting with a tripod, and my first attempt at long-exposure photography. I mostly shoot on the streets and in markets, often in quite tight spaces where a tripod would weigh me down and get in the way. I like to be able to react quickly and be mobile when I’m out with my camera, so I normally just carry a small shoulder bag containing a DSLR, one or two lenses and a good book. For the kind of shots I usually take, if there is not much available light, I’ll crank up the ISO and/or use my 50mm or 85mm prime lens at a wide aperture, so that I can still hand-hold the camera.

I like to think that I can be spontaneous when I’m taking pictures, but I also recognise that there are times when I need to be more considered, think more and shoot less. And this is why using a tripod was great practice for me. It made me slow down and really think about composition and camera settings for each shot. I didn’t always get it right, but the thinking part was important. Thinking is good.

Overall, I’m quite happy with my first attempts at night-time shooting, though I still have a lot to learn, particularly about getting my focus right. I’m fairly sure that people pictures will remain my favourite kind of photography, and I certainly won’t be taking my tripod with me everywhere I go, but it’s always good to try something new. It’s got me thinking about photography in a slightly different way, so I think it was 800,000 dong well-spent.

The shot above was a 30 second exposure, taken at 6.30, about half an hour after sunset.

Many thanks to my student and new photography buddy Son for his local knowledge and his wheels.

Sugar and spice (potw #19)

Binh Tay market, Cholon, Saigon.

I’ve not taken many pictures lately – I’ve been lacking inspiration since coming back from my Mekong / Cambodia trip in January. I felt like I was on a roll while I was away, but I seem to have hit a slump since getting back to Saigon. Consequently, I’m a bit behind with my Pictures of the Week – this one’s from the week before last.

Sunflowers (potw #17)

Sunflowers in front of Notre Dame cathedral in central Saigon.

Parklife (POTW #13)

Exercising in the early morning sun.

This is one of a number of shots from a few recent early morning park visits. I’ll be posting a longer series of shots soon.

In the meantime, I’m away for a couple of weeks over the Tet holiday, traveling through the Mekong Delta and into Cambodia. I’m currently in Vinh Long. I have my camera with me, of course, but not my laptop, so no more pictures of the week until I get back, when I hope I’ll have plenty of Mekong shots to share.

Chuc mung nam moi!

Dumb redheads (POTW #12)

I could post a whole series of shots of shop window dummies from Vietnam. They’re always willing subjects for a portrait, though it’s hard to get a smile out of them. Perhaps my Vietnamese isn’t good enough. These two redheads were just standing around doing nothing outside their friend’s clothes shop in District 3 last weekend.

Life in the slow lane (POTW #11)

I spent a lot of the New Year weekend wandering around in District 3 in Saigon. In between the busy main roads that stretch across the centre of the city, joining one district to another, there’s a network of increasingly narrow sidestreets, backstreets, alleys, lanes and… what’s narrower than a lane? I promised myself I wasn’t going to use the word “labyrinth” in this post, but it’s a real labyrinth. Houses and shops open directly onto the street, and food markets squeeze themselves into any available space.

Away from the chaotic main roads, people were busy with their shopping and cooking, but no one was rushing. It was starting to get dark and I was thinking of going home when I took a right down this alley and saw the lady in brown leaning on her fence and chatting to her friends across the way (just out of shot). Two curious boys stopped playing football for a moment to watch the tall, clumsy foreigner take pictures of their slightly bemused neighbour.

Saigon Street Portraits

I like taking people pictures more than any other kind of photography. I’m always on the lookout for an interesting face or a striking attitude. These pictures might not be street photography in the strictest sense, since I tend to ask permission before taking a shot, but they’re portraits of people I encountered on the street, so I’ll call them street portraits. I try not to get too caught up with labels and genres.

To take people pictures that I’m happy with, I have to be in the right mood. I try to establish some kind of connection with a person when I’m taking their picture, even if it’s just through nodding and smiling. Sometimes, everything clicks, and I can’t wait to get home and look at the pictures on the laptop. Sometimes, it just doesn’t happen, and I feel like throwing away my camera. I generally find that the pictures I most enjoy taking are the ones that turn out the best.

These portraits were all taken in Saigon over the last couple of months.

This tailor was hard at work outside, near the bus station in Cholon.

This man runs a shoe shop in Cholon. I showed him his picture and he smiled a little sadly and said, “I’m very thin.” I couldn’t really argue with him.