Hidden Scenery

Flipping through old photos, I was struck by the poetic scene of the photo exhibition “Splendid Dust” - held in 2010 in Hoi An. The photo exhibition is about the landscape and people of Vietnam, mainly the peaceful life in the suburbs of Hoi An, through the lens of French photographer Etienne Bossot.

What is more special, these photos are memorable because all the captions use Trinh Cong Son's music lyrics. A photo of a woman in a field in the afternoon, the sunset casts a shadow, Etienne Bossot named it "On the field of peace" with the introduction of Trinh's music: "On this field of peace, the sun rises happily, red, red in people's hearts".

It was this exhibition that sparked the relationship that led Etienne to choose to live in Hoi An more than 15 years ago. After all these years, witnessing the push of time on heritage, Etienne said: “After many years of capturing images of a bustling old town, I have discovered a different beauty and soul of Hoi An in recent years.

I wanted to walk around Hoi An ancient town and capture these moments because they reminded me of Hoi An when I first arrived. The quiet streets, the few people walking around and the wonderful architecture make Hoi An truly magical.”

Now, Etienne is very familiar with foreign tourists and photographers when they want to explore Vietnam. From his relationship with Hoi An, and right in Hoi An, he "started his business" with Hoi An photo tour.

Continuing after that, Etienne is the founder of the organization “Pics of Asia” - specializing in providing small group photography tours, even teaching photography in the countries of Myanmar, Bangladesh, Iran, Sri Lanka, India and of course Vietnam.

“We are living our dream: to travel and photograph people, and to help you do the same. Travel with Pics of Asia and you will receive dedicated, professional guidance on personal skills. We work hard to find new angles and we love what we do” - Pics of Asia's message.

Ageless beauty

When talking about foreign photographers who have a “fateful relationship” with Quang Nam, Réhahn is indispensable. Since 2011, Réhahn has chosen Hoi An as his place of residence. In the concept of this French man, heritage is people. People are also the origin of heritage.

And that is the reason why Réhahn’s photographic collection located in Hoi An is called “Priceless Heritage”, with most of the frames being people with deep eyes and gentle smiles. The portraits are closely associated with each land, making Réhahn’s works have their own mark. “Priceless Heritage” for this French man is what happens around people, with traditional costumes, handicrafts or long-standing lifestyles.

When mentioning Réhahn, the world remembers the “hidden smile” of a woman from Hoi An. From this photo, the “hidden smile” project initiated by Réhahn with portraits given to the subject, spread everywhere. In the journey of his footsteps around the world, Hoi An became a destination like the hometown of the man from Normandy.

In the Vietnamese photography community, the heritage spaces of Quang Nam, including Hoi An, My Son, Cu Lao Cham or the western border areas, are always special addresses. They stay there, spend a few months contemplating, or some choose to stay for a few years like Duong Minh Long, to find the scenes hidden behind the mist of time, or even the crowds.

With special camera angles, they preserve the heritage's "ageless beauty".