Photographer Tran Tuan Viet often has the habit of “summarizing” his year of work on the last days of the old year. In addition to his main job as an architect and working in information technology, his yearly journey is often associated with trips to all parts of the country to record images of the country, homeland, landscapes, and people.
In 2022, Tran Tuan Viet's trips were "thicker" because he had to carry out a photo book project in the field of diplomacy. Although he has not shared much about the results, like many previous projects, Tran Tuan Viet said that he is happy to once again use his photos to tell the story of Vietnam to the world. In the last month of the old year, he is also participating as a judge for a photo contest for amateur photographers. In this new role, although he is not the one holding the camera, being able to judge the photos, seeing the "peaceful, meaningful moments, conveying interesting stories about life" always brings him unforgettable emotions.
Tran Tuan Viet is an amateur photographer, having graduated from the University of Construction. Later, he started his career in the field of information technology, so he did not consider photography as his main profession. However, when talking about photography, Tran Tuan Viet said that he has a “fate” for the profession, so even though he has only been really involved in photography for the past 10 years, he has quickly made his mark with many outstanding achievements.
His first foray into photography was in 2017 when his work “Making Incense” appeared in the Visions of Earth section, in the global edition and more than 40 languages of the prestigious National Geographic magazine (NatGeo). In December 2017, he once again made his name as one of four Vietnamese authors to win the Gold Medal at the 9th International Art Photography Contest, with the work “Thien Nga”. Over the past two years, he has contributed more than 1,000 photos to the Google Arts & Culture project – Wonders of Vietnam. This is part of Google’s support program for the Vietnamese tourism industry during the Covid-19 pandemic to help promote the beauty of the country and Vietnamese people to international visitors.
Sharing about his photos, photographer Tran Tuan Viet said that he respects the authenticity in each work. Therefore, after many years of working with photography and experiencing many different genres, his “own style” is ultimately storytelling. His inspiration for this genre is the themes of landscapes, countries, people, customs and working people.
Looking at Tran Tuan Viet's photos, viewers can also see the photographer's humane, emotional, and touching views. He also brings peace and a positive outlook on life to his photos, even though the topics he conveys are very simple and ordinary.
Tran Tuan Viet was born in 1983 and grew up in Vinh City. Later, he went to university and started a career in Hanoi for more than 20 years, but he still retains his Nghe accent and the simplicity and honesty of a native Nghe person. He also said that due to the influence of the “Nghe personality”, which is somewhat conservative, perfectionist and… local; therefore, in his current life, his friends are still mainly Nghe people.
As for perfectionism, it is most evident in photography. Tran Tuan Viet talked about his fourth return to Son Doong in Quang Binh, although he had many famous photos taken in this famous cave. The reason is simple, because there were many moments that were recorded by some safety assistants on previous trips but he was not lucky enough to catch them. His willingness to spend time, passion and even hard work to "hunt" for this special moment is also a simple philosophy when he came to the profession, which is to respect the truth, respect real values instead of photos, arrangements.
Attached to his homeland, Tran Tuan Viet is planning trips back to his hometown to take special photos of the land "with so many memories, so many scenic spots, love of the land, love of the people". Having lived away from home for a long time, but every time he returns home, by road or train, he still keeps intact the emotions of a child returning from far away. Far from home, he always feels nostalgic for Vinh city, whether it is his family's old apartment building in Truong Thi ward, or the primary and secondary schools in Trung Do ward where he studied when he was young. It is also the specialized Math school, where his dream of becoming a future architect was "nurtured".
Tran Tuan Viet also said that he wanted to soon take a photo series of the Lam River, connecting the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh. On that route, there was once a student who studied in Vinh city but still cycled back to his mother’s hometown in Nghi Xuan every day and began to dream, feeling moved by the sunset, the dawn, the rows of reeds, the boatman on the river…
One day very soon, Tran Tuan Viet will continue to tell the story of Vietnam, of Nghe An in his own way...