Duong Thanh Phong

Born in 1940 in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa. Having been a photographer serving the resistance since 1955.Having participated in many domestic and international photographic competitions and received several awards like the NGuyen Dinh Chieu Literature and Arts Award in 1960-1965, the International ACCU Award in 1985 and the National and Ho Chi Minh City Awards. 

Duong Thanh Phong has published the book "The document album of Cu Chi". Inside the book are numerous photos made by him. You can see some of the pictures in the book here.

Vo An Ninh, has devoted his whole life to the art of photography. He began taking pictures at the age of 20 and has compiled a huge body of work depicting nature and the life of the nation. His pictures bear witness to the upheavals of two great anti-imperialist wars over the past 50 years. In recognition of his great contribution to his art, The Vietnamese State has awarded him with many medals and orders, and recently the Ho Chi Minh Award, the highest honour for work in the fields of literature and art.

Vo An Ninh was born in 1907. In 1932, he received his first taste of recognition when one of his pictures was displayed at a public exhibition. Since then, through the many ups and downs of the nation's history, he has remained devoted to his art.

After three years as a photographer, Vo An Ninh took the photo 'The Morning on the Red River Dike' which was awarded the top prize by the Vietnam Art and Techniques Association. In 1938, his photo 'Rowing Boat Offshore' was given the top prize at a photo exhibition in Paris. This carefully constructed picture authentically conveys the working spirit of the fishermen. The same year, he was awarded a commendation at an international photo exhibition in Portugal for his work 'The Market of Terracotta Pots' and a gold medal for his individual photo exhibition ancient in Hue city. With his love for nature and passion for photography, he had taken photos of daily life in the early years of his profession. When he joined the staff of the Agriculture and Forestry Department of Indochina, he began to use his camera as a weapon, in service of the revolution.

The collection of photos he took of the famine of 1945 brought him instant acclaim. His pictures objectively reported the suffering of the Vietnamese people at this time. When the Japanese army, having driven out the French colonialists, forced the Vietnamese peasants to uproot their rice plants to grow jute trees, they caused a terrible famine across the Red River Delta. One of the most memorable photos showed two children sitting by milestone No. 2 in Thai Binh waiting for their death. The photos are a powerful denunciation of the Japanese military at that time, and have become priceless historical documents.

Vo An Ninh’s photos of President Ho Chi Minh are also of immeasurable value. History was recorded through his camera. That his photos are still appreciated today is attributable to their great historical and artistic value.

Vo An Ninh’s work depicts many stages in the development of the country, and the value of his artistic works confirm his position in Vietnam’s photographic history. He lived a life full of creativeness. From his youth to his old age, he was active and dynamic in his work, going to every corner of the country to take pictures, and was particularly gifted at depicting landscapes. In 1960, he won the bronze medal at a photo exhibition held in the former Soviet Union with his work 'Ebb Tide on Tra Co Beach'. In 1965 he was presented with a commendation at the BIFOTA international photo exhibition for his work 'A Sketch of Sapa'. Vo An Ninh spent years returning again and again to Sapa, until he was utterly familiar with every aspect of the place; the clouds, the mountains, the mist.

During 1972, American B-52 bombers relentlessly pounded Hanoi in an effort to break the spirit of the capital. Hanoians called this time the 'sleepless nights'. Despite government orders that people were not allowed to walk the streets during the air raids, all the photographers present at that time were very enthusiastic, braving danger to take the photos. Among them was Vo An Ninh. He was very calm, riding a bicycle at a leisurely pace as if he was just taking the air, with a helmet hanging from one handle bar and a canvas saddle bag on the other, holding an obsolete ZET ICONG camera. He has used such a camera almost all his life.

Two of his most memorable exhibitions took place in July 1981 in Ho Chi Minh City and in Hanoi in 1983. These were almost retrospectives of his creative achievements through the many eventful years of his life. Perhaps the most profound impressions were made in his portraits of Hanoi. Such photos as 'The Guom Lake (The Sword Lake) in the Morning', 'The Guom Lake in Four Seasons'. Or possibly his photos depicting vague memories of the past, such as 'The Return of Autumn' or 'In Memory of the Past'; or the photos about the girls like 'The Hanoi Young Girls', 'In the Fiscus Garden of Voi Phuc Temple', 'An Outline of Homeland' or 'The Fragrance of Rice Plants'. Other landscape photos of his that won the admiration of viewers were 'The Ban Gico Waterfall', 'The Fanxipan Peak', 'Spring Comes on Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range', 'Drying Fishing Net in the Cam River', 'Silver Sea', 'The Stream of Sun Light in the Pine Forest' and 'The Saint Mary Cathedral'. Vo An Ninh’s photos are full of poetic spirit, and permeated with the national identity.

In 1991, Vo An Ninh collected some of his best photos and published them in a book named 'Vo An Ninh’s Photos'. The book has become a treasure for the art lovers the world over. Although it only contains a fraction of the tens of thousands of films taken by Vo An Ninh throughout his long career, the book gives an adequate overview of his creative life.

For his contributions to photography in Vietnam, Vo An Ninh has been awarded the Anti-US Order, Second Class; the Labour Order, Second Class; the Independence Order, Third Class and most recently, the coveted Ho Chi Minh Award.