Photographer Hoang The Nhiem, fourty eight year-old, one of the most
renown Vietnamese photographer, has released early September his first photo
album “Spring” out of the series “The call of the Four Seasons”. With his soft
voice, he explains to me the “making of” of this album. “Every picture
collected in the album has a story”, he says. “A bitter sweet story of emotion,
fragile beauty and sometimes danger. And the atmosphere is there all along…”
For the last ten years and more, when Tet celebration is
approaching, Nhiem feels most compelled to go out searching for pictures of
Spring. Thousands of photos are thus stored in his archives. One of his favorite
photograph is the "Clouds of Sapa". “Sapa is my "first
love" in my career as a photographer”, he says. “The clouds of Sapa appear
almost unreal, mesmerizing and mysterious, just like in a bedtime story from my
childhood. One day in 2005, after a day waiting in the wind and the cold, the
night was falling rapidly. My hope was fading away, but suddenly, tiny sun rays
pierced miraculously through the mountains, illuminating the milky fog
suspended on the top of secular pine trees as clouds like cotton were caressing
the rocks… Deeply moved by the scene, I took these fortunate pictures with undescribable
happiness”. As he says, he will never forget this ecstatic emotion he felt at
that time.
Nhiem knows a lot of spots for Tet thanks to his many years
wandering around Vietnam. For example, Ha Giang and what he calls
"tropical snow" landscapes, when all the plum trees of Bach Ha glow
with an immaculate white at spring. Nhiem tells me: "To catch this
immaculate white color on film, you must watch for soft sunbeams which rarely
heat up the first days of spring in the highlands. At times, I have to leave
the place full of regrets, only hoping for a better luck next year.” Nhiem cannot stay more than five
days in this dreamlike landscape as he cannot miss the first days of the Lunar
New Year ; all the family members must gather to celebrate together the
midnight supper.
Nhiem knows that he’s doing the job that he dreamt about. And it all
happened almost by chance. He worked as a telecommunication specialist for ten
years, on ships out on the sea. In 1993, his friends form the Club of Young
Photographers in Saigon invited him on a trip throughout Vietnam. This trip
triggered his career. “My love for nature , which was dormant was suddenly
revived”, he says. “After hesitating and thinking about it for two years, I
decided to take on the challenge, and left behind me my job and the routine to
take on a new adventure.” Since then, thanks to Madam Phuong, the owner of the Lotus
Gallery - acting as the Publishing House as well - , Nhiem’s photos were
exhibited in many countries like France, Belgium, the USA, Singapore and
Switzerland. The “Spring” album can be found overseas (France, USA). The Lotus
Gallery opened in 1991 by Madam Phuong, with the aim to promote traditional and
contemporary Vietnamese art overseas. Madam Phuong assisted Nhiem in many of
his shootings so the text she wrote reflects perfectly the photos. “I went
shooting with him during all these years. I am so happy that we can now release
to the public his magnificent photos. Sometimes, it was diffuclt and exhausting
as I don’t have his stamina”, she smiles. “And I hope people around the world
will enjoy the beauty of Vietnamese landscapes, thanks to Nhiem’s photographs.”
