The person who brought the image of the village to the world

For more than three decades, Ninh Ton has been diligently capturing moments of villages, pouring his heart into each frame to tell simple yet profound stories about the people and land of Dak Lak plateau.

Ninh Ton came to the Central Highlands with the curiosity of his twenties. “Birds of a feather flock together”, he chose to stay in Lak district to pursue a career in tailoring. But the turning point in his life came in 1997, when he bought his first Canon camera and began learning the craft under the guidance of NSNA Pham Huynh.

From a simple wedding photographer, who only needed to “take bright photos to make money”, Ninh Ton gradually learned composition, lighting, and techniques for pressing the shutter at the right moment. When artists such as Dang Ba Tien, Huong Vuong, Dao Tho, Bao Hung, etc. came to Lak district to work, he also learned more experience. In 2013, when his family’s economy was temporarily stable, he spent more time creating art. “I don’t go hunting for photos like other people. I only bring my camera when I ride a bike, walk, or wander around. When I see something beautiful and emotional, I press the shutter,” he shared.

Photographer Ninh Ton.

Not only pursuing the theme of landscapes and working life, Ninh Ton also recorded touching images of hard-working lives: Mothers with baskets on their backs go to catch crabs and snails in the water; Hmong students have to go to school at 4am, when they get to school they scoop up well water to mix instant noodles for breakfast. Those photos were shared by him on social networks, moving the community and attracting many benefactors to come and help.

Ninh Ton's trips around villages, streams, and fields were not only for taking photos but also to help him understand and share the lives of ethnic minorities. Once, while wandering around Krong No commune, he brought two banh tet loaves as dry food; he met a M'nong family leading cows over the pass to work in the fields with nothing to eat, he took a few photos and then shared his portion of banh tet with them for lunch. On the same trip, he stopped to help an ethnic minority woman push a cart carrying bamboo across the stream, which was also the time when he shared the last of his banh tet. "That day I didn't take any photos, but I felt happy and joyful inside," he confided.

In 2014, for the first time, he participated in the Photo Contest “Dak Lak on the Road of Integration and Development”, 3 out of 5 of his works were selected for exhibition. The work “On the Way Home” captured the moment of an ethnic minority couple returning home from work on a bicycle, leaving a deep impression, that moment was “captured” by him while on the way to take wedding photos.

The work “Afternoon on the Serepok River” was awarded the Gold Medal in the special topic “Homeland Rivers” at the 20th Art Photography Festival of the South Central Coast and Central Highlands in 2015. To get this photo, Ninh Ton spent more than a week “ambushing” on the riverbank in the late afternoon, despite passersby laughing and saying: “A crazy guy taking pictures of buffaloes”. The photo was again selected for exhibition in the VN-17 International Art Photography Contest in 2017 hosted by Vietnam.

Many other works by Ninh Ton have been selected for exhibitions in many countries around the world , contributing to introducing the images and lives of the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands to international friends.

The work “Afternoon” captures the scene of a large herd of cows crossing the river to return to the village, mixed in with the red dust created by the herd of cows are the images of children working hard to herd cows. If you have not lived along the Serepok River, have not witnessed the scene of giant herds of buffalo and cows crossing the river in those years, it is easy to mistake it for the scene of thousands of African antelopes crossing the river in the migration season. The work won the Gold Medal at the 5th International Digital Photography Contest in Spain in 2016.

Elephants and gongs.

Following that, a series of works by Ninh Ton capturing moments of the village helped him continuously reap success: "Handing over the scepter" won the Third Prize of the Dak Lak Provincial Art Photography Competition and Exhibition in 2017; "The Vitality of the Jungle" won the First Prize of the Art Photography Competition on the theme of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee and the Central Highlands Gong Cultural Space in 2017; the photo series "Elephants - the pride of Dak Lak people" won the First Prize of February 2018 in the 2nd "Enjoy Vietnamese Identity" Contest; "Friendly" won the Bronze Medal of the 9th National Tourism Art Photography Competition in 2020...

In March 2025, NSNA Ninh Ton won the first prize with the photo series "Dak Lak durian reaches out to the world" in the Photo Contest celebrating the 120th anniversary of the establishment and development of Buon Ma Thuot City. The photo series recounts the process from harvesting, packaging until the local durian is loaded into the export container. A proud story of Vietnamese agricultural products on the journey of integration. And most recently, at the VN-25 International Art Photography Contest with 13,835 works by 1,369 authors from 38 countries and territories participating, Ninh Ton had 3 works selected for the exhibition round.

Ninh Ton's photos not only appear in art competitions but are also used in events promoting culture, tourism, and local festivals. Lak district, where many of his works are kept, is also becoming a key tourist destination and the changes through Ninh Ton's lens are like a visual chronicle, recording each step of change of Jun village, of the regulating dam, of the dry seasons...

For Ninh Ton, each photo is a story, a true piece of life, not embellished, not arranged, simply a vibration before the beauty of people and nature. And there, the Central Highlands appears majestic, simple, harsh but also full of love...

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202506/nguoi-dua-hinh-anh-buon-lang-ra-the-gioi-4f30164/