Not only has Da Nang's photography movement led Central Viet Nam and Central Highlands for many years in a row but it has also recently expanded to a national and international scale. The city's photography artists are continuing to create new milestones to affirm the potential and position of the Da Nang photography.

Da Nang photography artists make many long field trips to create photos. Photo: Q.H

Don't stop moving

The Da Nang Art Photography Association currently has nearly 80 members. Among them, older, experienced photographers accounts for two- thirds of the total number of members and the rest are talented young ones.

Although most of the members are older, many artists over 60 years old still have persistent creativity, constantly appearing in photo exhibitions and competitions. Older artists such as Than Nguyen, Ong Van Sinh and Ho Xuan Bon often go on long field trips to many different areas inside and outside the city to create photos by themselves.

Thanks to diligently researching, hunting for images and exploring real life, they have strange frames, new works, diverse in topics. In an effort to narrow a gap with older photographers, in recent years, young artists in Da Nang such as Pham Dang Khiem, Le Quang Thien and Huynh Van Truyen also often create long-term photos in remote areas.

If you follow these talented photographers on social networks, it will not be surprising that they travel so much as one day someone took photos in the Central Highlands, and the next day went photo hunting in the northern provinces. Thanks to their ceaseless effort, Da Nang's young artists have many beautiful, groundbreaking works, breaking out of the rut in creating artistic photos.

As one of the young photographers who travels a lot and far, Artist Huynh Van Truyen said that he and some other artists from Da Nang usually take long trips during which they capture valuable moments in many places both to satisfy their passion for creativity and to gain more opportunities to exchange and improve their professional skills. Recently, he experimented and had initial success in the portrait and landscape flycam genres partly thanks to such photography trips and “apprenticeships”.

At the same time, in the role of Chairman of the the Da Nang Photography Club, from the beginning of the year until now, artist Huynh Van Truyen has organised 14 creative field trips from Quang Tri to Quang Ngai central provinces for the club’s members. During each trip, the club donated a large number of photos to localities and achieves certain successes.

Among them, the biggest success was the collection of a significant number of photos that can compete  at competitions with a high chance of winning prizes. In 2023 alone, the club’s members brought home more than 100 domestic, national and international photography awards.

“What is more important and meaningful is that, through these games, we can contribute a small part in promoting the image of our homeland.”, said Mr. Truyen.

Ready for big playgrounds

Not to mention winning awards, just participating in most large and small photo contests shows the remarkable engagement made by Da Nang's photography force. In the new regional photo festival held in Quang Ngai Province in July, the organisers displayed 150 photos taken by artists from 10 provinces and cities nationwide, of which 50 were from Da Nang.

Thanks to that, Da Nang absolutely made its mark at the festival with the team prize and many individual prizes. However, to achieve high achievements, it is clear that it is not only thanks to local photographers’ participation in lots of competitions and creation trips, but also that they show off strong movement, good expertise and skills.

According to artist Quang Nguyen, member of the Executive Committee of the Da Nang Art Photography Association, since the beginning of 2023, the Association has organised two professional training courses and photography skills for members. Among them, there were classes on data management and image file digitization; art photography composition.

Through such training classes, members equipped themselves with in-depth knowledge and access to world photography trends to increase their chances of winning high prizes at international competitions. The Association also encourages members, after being trained, to proactively develop specialised topics and projects on artistic photography, increasing the scale and value of their works.

In 2024, Da Nang will host the 29th regional art photo festival of the South Central and Central Highlands regions to celebrate Da Nang’s Liberation Day (March 29). According to the Vice President of the Artistic Photography Association Quang Hai, as the home team, Da Nang aims to maintain its ranking and position in the regional photography movement.

This is no small challenge because photography is always moving forward, and neigbouring cities and provinces also have many talented artists. Therefore, Da Nang artists are eager to enter such a big playground. First of all, there is practice for photographers through a city-level photo contest, held from November 2023 to the end of February 2024.

It is expected that in December 2023, the Association will organise a creative trip to the Central Coast for for its members artists to create more art works. In addition, this agency will also work with the People's Committees of Ngu Hanh Son and Hoa Vang districts to organize a contest to create beautiful photos about these two districts.

“The works created in the aforementioned competitions and creative trips will certainly help Da Nang Artists gain more experience to confidently enter the regional photo festival, maintaining the position of the Da Nang photography.”, said artist Quang Hai.

Reporting by KHOI NGUYEN - Translating by A.THU