No room, no time… no problem.
Yesterday Vinacapital held their annual investor’s conference at the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi. I’ve worked on several assignments with them in the past, and am always happy to get a phone call from them. My assignment this time was to setup a studio on-location and make portraits of the staff and investors during their coffee [...]
Joe McNally – doing a photography blog, the right way
I doubt there’s a photographer out there who is more generous with sharing his creative vision and wisdom than Joe McNally (or maybe its a tie with David Alan Harvey). Between assignments for National Geographic and jam-packed lighting workshops, Joe somehow finds time to blog – extensively – about photography. Joe’s at a point in [...]
And just when you thought you’ve shot something original….
The image on the left of Major Shove Gilby was taken by Charles McQuillan, and recently awarded with a selection in the British Press Photographers Year 2009. The image on the right of Rafael Nadal is by Paolo Pellegrin, Magnum photographer extraordinaire. Although I’m certain neither photographer knew of the other’s image, its amazing to [...]
The lawyers and the law
Last week, Hanoi lawyer Cu Huy Ha Vu launched a lawsuit against the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung. It’s not every day a citizen sues the leader of his country. In fact, according to Vu, it’s never been done before in Vietnam. Go figure. The lawsuit is over controversial bauxite mining projects in [...]
TIME Magazine Hero of the Environment 2008: Vo Quy
I had a really fun portrait assignment with TIME Magazine last week. They were doing their environmental heroes issue, and Hannah Beech had written about Vo Quy, a gentle, good-humoured 79 year-old ornithologist and a strong voice for environmental awareness in a country that has seen incredible urban and industrial growth in the past two [...]
The state of the working photographer today
Here’s a fascinating article written by Vincent Laforet, a former staff photographer with the NYTimes. He talks about the general hard times in the media industry at the moment, and in particular how this affects photographers. There’s a lot of doom and gloom in the air these days, and for good reason. Assignment rates have [...]
Portraits: Hanoi International Music Festival
This past weekend was the first ever Hanoi International Music Festival, organized to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Minsk Club, the venerated Belarussian motorcycle appreciation society. Bands and DJs from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, England and, of course, Vietnam played all day long at the American Club, and all night long at various [...]