Two of Saigon's top photographers have created their own guidebook for "amateur photographers" visiting this city.
The Voyages
Saigon is 300 km from Dalat, but for Saigon photographers before 1975, the road to the highlands was a journey between two worlds : from the hot and humid capital to the cool and peaceful cold land, from the bustling city to the deep, wild forest.
Nguyen Cao Dam and Tran Cao Linh, in a book considered a handbook for photographers, titled The Beginnings of Artistic Photography (Man Anh Publishing, 1966), compared Saigon photographers going to Da Lat to take photos during the peach blossom season every year as going to a "festival".
The mountains and forests of the Da Lat plateau have truly created an irresistible intoxication for lowland photographers. That is the reason why these two photographers have dedicated a section called Highlands in the above book to convey their experiences.
What attracts Saigon photographers, according to Mr. Tran Cao Linh, is first of all the local culture. He sees the Montagnards in the city in the early morning, met on the way back to Dran or the exit of Ngoan Muc Pass, instantly becoming "mountain models" like "precious gifts falling from the sky": "These models are extremely valuable for artistic photography works because they have a strange photogenic power, just a dark brown skin with very dynamic eyes, sometimes glaring with fear, sometimes squinting silently, is enough to be the soul for beautiful portraits. The model used as the subject is already in the right context of wild mountains and hills, so the person carrying the camera, no matter how careless, cannot let the camera lie still in the leather case".
He shared his experience on how to make them agree to pose for natural photos (when they have no concept of acting in front of the camera). Giving them a cigarette, a lighter, and chatting in a friendly manner is a way to "win their hearts" that the locals really like. So at that time, when going to Da Lat to take photos, photographers, even if they are not addicted to cigarettes, had to prepare a pack of cigarettes in their pocket for unscheduled meetings.
 Double PHOTO: TRAN CAO LINH |
Old mist
Tran Cao Linh (1925 - 1989) was known as a professor teaching photography at Van Hanh University and the Vietnam-US Association before 1975. His works were exhibited and won major awards in England, Canada, America...; he was considered a pioneer photographer of Vietnamese photography.
His co-author in many photography books - Nguyen Cao Dam (born 1916, Ha Dong - died 2001, Australia) is also an important photographer in the South. At one time, Mr. Dam's works appeared in photo exhibitions in Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain... and was honored in photography awards in Germany, India, Italy... He was also a Vietnamese photographer invited to be a judge in international photo competitions in Singapore, Spain and in Saigon from 1950 - 1975. The Association of Southeast Asian Photographers (Hon SEAPS) and the Belgian Photographic Society (Hon F. Kortrijk) invited him to be an honorary member. In addition, Mr. Dam is also an official member of the Royal Photographic Society of England (ARPS).
Through their photos, the two men convey to viewers a poetic, unreal and nostalgic atmosphere: “There are mornings when the fog covers the entire street, and the valley is thick. If you want to take close-up shots, you find some winding roads around the lake, the road to Cam Ly, some white bridges leading to the market, choose the best angle, set up the camera and wait for people to pass by, and you can freely take pictures. Horse-drawn carriages, people carrying burdens, female students going to school, nuns going to church, highlanders going to the market, each species has its own character in the early morning fog” (excerpt from Beginnings of Artistic Photography).
The two men brought the misty beauty of Dalat, and the excitement of the majestic and poetic beauty of the cold land to many people.
In addition to the photography handbook mentioned above, Nguyen Cao Dam and Tran Cao Linh also have a photo collection Highlands - Beloved Homeland Vietnam (Gam Hoa, 1969) with more than 85 artistic black and white photos, mostly taken during trips to the Da Lat highlands.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/da-lat-mot-lich-su-hoai-niem-trong-ong-kinh-hai-dai-thu-nhiep-anh-sai-gon-185990457.htm
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