Photographer Nguyen Truong Sinh: I took photos of red-crowned cranes for love

Taking photos since 1990 and having spent a long time focusing on television work, photographer Nguyen Truong Sinh has dedicated himself to photography since 2014 with a special choice of wild birds. He has painstakingly taken hundreds of thousands of photos of the life, survival behavior and ecosystem of the rare red-crowned crane - a symbol of love, peace and hope in Eastern culture.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Sinh (left) and researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu at the photo exhibition Waiting for... The day the cranes return (October 22).

Photographer Nguyen Truong Sinh founded the Vietnam Nature Photography Club and took photos in wild natural areas in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Australia... The photo book Red-crowned Crane is an elaborate, scientific photographic work consisting of more than 400 photos by Mr. Truong Sinh, published by Thong Tan Publishing House in October 2025.

“I took and introduced my photographic work Red-crowned Crane with gratitude and responsibility to Vietnam’s nature. Through that, I call on the community to join hands to care for and protect the fragile beauty of the wild environment, preserve the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature, and arouse awareness of nature conservation in an era of changing and vulnerable environments,” said Mr. Truong Sinh.

Observe nature with all your heart

* After many years of taking photos, do you think you get better at taking photos like the old saying goes, "The older the ginger, the spicier it is"?

- Actually, I don’t think I’ve “improved” in a technical sense, but rather the more I shoot, the more I understand myself. Experience comes from many failures: beautiful moments lost, times when the light comes and goes, arduous photo hunting trips. Through experience, I learned to adjust, listen to nature and observe with my heart, not just with my lens.

If you choose a clear path for yourself, persistently cultivate knowledge, and diligently experience reality, the profession will "repay" you with soulful photos. But if you only focus on form, no matter how many years you take photos, your vision will still fade.

A pair of red-crowned cranes playing a duet at Tram Chim National Park (Dong Thap) - a work in the publication and photo exhibition on red-crowned cranes in October 2025. Photo: Photographer Nguyen Truong Sinh

A pair of red-crowned cranes playing a duet at Tram Chim National Park ( Dong Thap ) - a work in the publication and photo exhibition about red-crowned cranes in October 2025. Photo: Photographer Nguyen Truong Sinh

* What do you change to avoid "wearing out" or to renew yourself through other photography genres that you want to explore and discover?

- Technically, photography is still a story of aperture, speed, light, composition… nothing has changed. The biggest change is the photographer – the way we perceive the world. Before, I used to take portraits, landscapes, daily life, all kinds of genres. But it was time to stop and ask myself: “Who am I in photography?”.

I realized that only when I was in nature could I truly be my true self. From then on, I chose to pursue the genre of wildlife - a very difficult genre, but the most authentic. There, I could not arrange anything, but could only wait, be patient and humble.

Currently, there are still many “lands” that the Vietnamese photography community has not yet explored, not because of a lack of photographers but because no one dares to go to the end of their own style. Many people still take photos according to trends, forgetting that images only have real value when they speak the voice of the person holding the camera.

Photography opens the mind

* Looking back on your career, is there anything you are proud of or regret?

- I don't think about pride or regret. For me, photography is a journey, not a race to get something. I choose to photograph wild nature simply because of love. Photography has helped me expand my soul, understand more deeply about life, about people and about myself.

If there is anything I want to improve, it is to continue learning how to be friends with nature - not just to take beautiful photos, but to tell a story that is useful for life, for the community and for conservation. For example, I discovered that planting new cajuput trees on the traditional feeding grounds of red-crowned cranes has somewhat reduced the area of the cranes' habitat, affecting their natural food sources... which is one of the reasons why cranes have moved away and no longer return to Tram Chim National Park (Dong Thap).

Red-crowned cranes in the field of A4 area of Tram Chim National Park (Dong Thap) - work of photographer Nguyen Truong Sinh.

* The photography community is very developed nowadays because everyone has a camera phone in their hand. How can young people who want to become professional photographers stand out and be different from the majority, sir?

- This is a big and interesting question so it is difficult to answer in just a few lines. Nowadays, everyone can take photos with their phones, easily buy cameras, use AI (artificial intelligence) to create beautiful photos..., but the important thing is: what do you take photos for? Photography is not a race of equipment but a journey to find light - outside and inside the photographer himself.

To rise above the majority, young people need more than skills, a foundation of knowledge, culture and a clear artistic ideal. There can be no true photography without a guiding theoretical foundation. So in Vietnam, I always hope to have a modern photographic theoretical system to help photographers escape from ruts and prejudices, to know how to see, how to think and understand images as a language of the soul.

* Thank you very much!

Loyalty

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202510/nhiep-anh-gia-nguyen-truong-sinh-toi-chup-seu-dau-do-vi-tinh-yeu-25b4121/