The exceptional strength of photography lies in the art of capturing moments. A beautiful photograph touches the hearts and minds of the public, thereby creating a social impact, and contributing to the promotion of the cultural beauty, humanity, and landscape of Da Nang to tourists both domestically and internationally.

Da Nang boasts numerous beautiful landscapes and diverse activities in the people’s lives, inspiring the creative endeavors of photographers. Photo: DANG TU

Returning from the Whale Worshiping Festival in Son Tra District, photography artist Nguyen Xuan Tu (Da Nang Art Photography Association) observed that compared to landscape photos, cultural festival photos, with human activities, are particularly vibrant. Therefore, capturing these moments requires attention to composition, lighting, and angles.

Journalists often liken a newspaper photograph to "a picture worth a thousand words." A true journalistic photograph allows readers to understand the entire story. While news photographs excel in conveying information, artistic photographs must evoke emotions. Photographers must have the mindset and perspective to convey the message creatively. Therefore, photographers constantly explore new angles and beautiful, innovative moments to spread goodness and beauty to the community.

From being a journalist specializing in illustrative photography for articles, photography artist Nguyen Xuan Tu shifted to artistic photography. Especially later, he focused on capturing various topics such as tourism, landscapes, beautiful architectural structures, and cultural festivals like the Whale Worshiping Festival, and the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival.

"To spread and promote the city's image, the first requirement is that the photo must be beautiful and of high quality. Recently, the city has organized many art photography competitions and exhibitions from the district-based to the city-based level. Especially, the Da Nang Art Photography Association has a highly professional art council to judge the works, selecting and promoting beautiful artworks. An article may have few readers, but a beautiful photograph will be viewed and shared by many. Therefore, the city's image is widely disseminated to the public," photography artist Nguyen Xuan Tu said.

2.Present at the 29th South Central and Central Highlands Art Photography Festival held in Da Nang, photography artist Pham Phung (Da Nang Art Photography Association) shared with us that he has a passion for capturing landscapes and wildlife. Fortunately, this is also an area where the city has advantages for him and other photographers to create.

One of the most memorable experiences was when he photographed the red-shanked douc langurs on Son Tra Peninsula. "To capture beautiful moments of the douc langur, I spent the whole day at Suoi Om to catch rare moments that no one else could capture. In the cluster of photos of the douc langur sent to the 2020 Biological Diversity Photo Contest organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the judges selected a photo of a red-shanked douc langur resting calmly on a tree trunk to award first prize because the photo showed the undisturbed living space of the douc langur," photography artist Pham Phung recalled.

Besides, photography artist Pham Hung often goes to Ba Na to hunt for photos, especially in the spring because this is the time when cherry blossoms bloom, nature is full of life, and many birds come to suck nectar from flowers. Da Nang possesses many beautiful and diverse scenic spots such as rivers, mountains, and the sea for photographic creativity. Therefore, even though he has been involved in artistic photography for over 10 years, he has never felt short of topics. Besides participating in competitions, he also collaborates with some central and local newspapers, especially Heritage magazine, to promote the city's beautiful images to readers both domestically and internationally.

Photography artist Le Van (Quang Nam Provincial Photography Association), who just received the State Prize with the work "Homecoming," also believes that Da Nang's artists have an advantage when living in a city worth living in, where there are numerous beautiful scenic spots, inspiring creativity. This year, in the South Central and Central Highlands Art Photography Festival, many works about Da Nang won prizes. Da Nang also leads in the number of photos selected for exhibition and award consideration with 35 works by 25 authors.

Nowadays, the development of science and technology has facilitated modern photographic equipment for photographers, especially aerial photography using drones. Along with many cultural and sports events, Da Nang is not only beautiful during the day but also at night when the city lights up. This is a source of inspiration for photographers capturing the city's night scenes from above. When beautiful moments of Da Nang are fully captured by photographers, they create emotions for viewers and leave beautiful impressions.

It could be the friendly smiles of street vendors, the gentle eyes of Buddhist followers at the Quan The Am (Avalokiteśvara) festival, the radiant faces of tourists at the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival, or the mischievous faces of monkeys, red-shanked douc langurs on Son Tra Peninsula, and hundreds of other beautiful photos of cherry blossoms, and a wide range of flowers sparkling in the early morning sun or as dusk falls behind the mountain peaks. Those images touch the hearts of visitors, making them secretly wish to visit Da Nang once to witness and experience it for themselves.

Reporting by DOAN HAO LUONG - Translating by T.VY