Telling stories through pictures

Photography changes lives.
A breath of fresh air in Ca Mau photography.
A person who preserves time through sketching and photography.

Journalist Vo Cong Danh Viet.

As the Head of the Security and Defense Department of the online magazine "Human Resources and Talents of Vietnam" (the official publication of the Central Association for the Development of Human Resources and Talents of Vietnam), he has had many opportunities to travel and write about the armed forces: naval soldiers on remote islands; the DK1 offshore platforms in the middle of the ocean; border guards in deep forests with steep slopes and muddy roads; teachers and doctors in military uniforms who trek through forests and cross streams to reach people in mountainous areas...

Born in 1973 in Quang Nam province, now part of Da Nang city, journalist Vo Cong Danh Viet grew up during a time of great hardship in the country. He belongs to a generation where cameras were a luxury dream for civil servant families during the subsidy period. Although he never received any formal photography training, his experience in a collective environment from a young age and his simple everyday memories instilled in him the seed of observation – the core quality of a photographer.

His real opportunity came in 2012 when he participated in the "Green Journey Vietnam" program, traveling through many provinces and cities to raise awareness about environmental protection. In an environment with many professional photojournalists and photographers, he witnessed how they viewed, anticipated, and told stories through images. From then on, his passion for photography gradually developed. When he had the means to invest in his first camera, he traveled extensively across Vietnam, capturing the beauty of nature, people, cultural life, and landmarks... but his greatest passion was the subject of soldiers.

For journalist Vo Cong Danh Viet, each photograph is a slice of social life, a still film preserving time. In the eyes of soldiers, the sweat on the training ground, the smiles at border schools..., he finds stories of ideals, responsibility, and silent sacrifice. For him, photography is about telling authentic stories rich in human values.

According to him, the value of genuine photography lies in the depth of its message. A good photograph is not only beautiful in composition and lighting, but must also contain the spirit of the times, reflect the pulse of life, move and inspire thought, and may even become historical evidence.

Vo Cong Danh Viet came to photography through self-taught passion and a humble willingness to learn from those who came before him. He understands that a photographer must constantly improve, live deeply, travel widely, and listen more so that each image is a crystallization of experience and emotion.

As a journalist, he writes with words; as a photographer, he tells stories through images. In both of these journeys, what he pursues remains a common value: preserving the authentic moments of the country and its people today so that in the future, when we look back, we can see how we lived, contributed, and loved.

Patrol.