It can be said that 2021 is a glorious year for Da Nang artistic photographers with the grasping of many high prizes at international and domestic photo contests.  These encouraging achievements firmly demonstrated photographers’ great dedication and devotion to this art form, thereby affirming their talents and fames.

Recently, the 11^th International Photo Contest’s organisers received a total of 16,924 entries made by 1,518 contestants from 53 countries and territories around the world. Notably, the Da Nang photography has won big at this  prestigious event .

A total of 22 members from the Da Nang Artistic Photographers’ Association had their entries selected for an exhibition within the framework of the event.

Outstandingly, photographer Nguyen Cong Hung won a silver medal for his photo entitled ‘Spring of youth in the COVID-19 stricken area’ in the portrait category.

The photo was taken by Hung at the end of August 2020 when medical staff were racing against time to take samples for COVID-19 testing from Da Nang residents.  What makes it stand out from many entries on the topic of COVID-19 prevention and control is that this photo, instead of featuring the difficulties and hardships facing the frontline forces, conveys their optimistic spirit through the image of a voluntary medical worker who is a female student from the Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy with strong belief in a potential win over the pandemic.

According to Mr Hung, winning an international competition is a great encouragement for him to pursue his passion for art photography. At the same time, he also hoped the message of optimism and willingness contributing to the fight against the pandemic can be spread widely to the community through his photo.

This year, in addition to the above-mentioned contest, Da Nang photographers also participated and won high prizes at the 26^th South-Central Coast - Central Highlands region Fine Art Exhibition on July 2021. In particular, among 10 provinces and cities participating in the festival, Da Nang was honoured to win a team prize with a host of quality entries selected for display.

Moreover, the photo album " Precious breaks" by talented lensman Huynh Van Truyen bring the second gold medal for him at the contest. It is no exaggeration to say that Mr Truyen is an award hunter due to his over 70 domestic and international awards in photography from the beginning of 2021 until now.

During his work, he always tries to convey the true rhythm as well as the breath of life into his photos by taking the camera to embark on the journey of life. Because he understands that, apart from artistic elements, the communicativeness presented via photos always plays an important role in the process of touching viewers’ emotions.

According to Mr Than Nguyen, the Chairman of Da Nang Artistic Photographers’ Association, due to the complicated pandemic setting this year, members of the association have had to stay at home.

However, taking advantage of the time without COVID-19 before May, the association promptly created conditions for members to go on field trips in the Central Highlands provinces to capture a large number of photos for participating in domestic and international photography contests, leading to many outstanding results.

This is a remarkable and commendable effort of Da Nang photographers on the art photography playground. In particular, in addition to familiar members of Da Nang Artistic photographers’ Association, the contests also witnessed the submission of elite entries made by many other local lensmen, and many of which advanced to the final round and exhibitions. These are outstanding newcomers and a backup force for Da Nang's photography in the future.

The Da Nang Artistic photographers’ Association is slated to organize another field trips to the Central Coast - Central Highlands provinces later this year to open up more opportunities for its photography members to create remarkable photos.

Reporting by XUAN DUNG- Translating by T.VY