When the "moment" is sought after

(Baonghean)Truong Bon (My Son - Do Luong) has become a legendary place. The fierceness of the war, the brave fighting spirit, sacrifice and victory of the young volunteers in Truong Bon are remembered as an immortal epic. On the occasion of the 44th anniversary of Truong Bon Victory last October, the whole country turned to Truong Bon, converging and vibrating in a common sentiment of sharing emotions with the witnesses, generations, and relics...

There was a person who was suddenly overwhelmed by his own emotions; suddenly confused when he was longing to find a beautiful image to capture in that important event. And just like that, he fell into a situation where he was hunted by the "moment" itself... That was journalist Huu Nghia (Nghe An Newspaper), author of the photo "Meeting the benefactor again", which was awarded First Prize in the "Golden Moment" Press Photo Contest (Nghe An Newspaper in coordination with Nghe An News - Arts Photo Club). Huu Nghia has a passion for photography, although he was not able to pursue that passion due to his professional work (in charge of the News - Politics section of Nghe An Newspaper); but, it was this "restrained" passion that gave him moments of successful "breakthroughs", with his photo works being awarded prizes in a number of professional photo contests.

The moment of meeting the benefactor again

A little hesitant before the appointment in an afternoon of leisurely coffee, Huu Nghia shared: "On the morning of October 28, 2012, during the ceremony to celebrate the 44th anniversary of Truong Bon Victory, the Provincial People's Committee also organized the groundbreaking ceremony for a number of items at this historical relic site. Like many others, I was present at the ceremony very early. Holding a camera in hand, I wished to capture a meaningful "Truong Bon moment". From the day before, after receiving the assignment from the Editorial Board, which included a note about the photo section, I had envisioned and imagined beautiful moments of meetings between former Youth Volunteers with each other, meetings between former Youth Volunteers and the families who had taken care of them. As soon as I arrived at the relic site, I proactively invited Ms. Tran Thi Thong - a former Youth Volunteer, the only survivor after the fierce bombing that day, to the grave to burn incense in memory of my fallen comrades. I tried to concentrate on pressing the button ... but was completely disappointed because the pictures did not meet the requirements. When the guests and colleagues were gradually gathering around Uncle Thong to discuss and chat, suddenly a man hugged him, tears streaming down his face. I was stunned, and before I could understand the reason, I just raised my camera and kept taking pictures. In that moment of surprise, I had no idea that the man was the one who saved Uncle Thong's life 44 years ago. That was Uncle Le Tien Vinh, 67 years old, former Youth Volunteer Company 307 (the Company was stationed at Truong Bang, Truong Hen, Giang Son commune, and was sent down to support Uncle Thong's Company 317). Uncle Vinh was the one who dug, found and brought Uncle Thong out when he was buried under rocks and soil...".

So Huu Nghia was "captured" by that emotional, precious moment, controlled and "commanded" to press the shutter, going beyond all conventional photographic techniques to create a unique photojournalistic work. It must be said that the passion for pressing the shutter, the "professional instinct" brought Huu Nghia a unique moment in a worthy way. He also proved his "cameraman" with "Gập lại thần nhân" when pressing the shutter at a backlit angle, which is a difficult technique usually only used to capture nature in artistic photography... But perhaps what Huu Nghia and the audience cherish the most is still the photo situation in which the characters - two old men with gray hair, wearing former Youth Volunteers' uniforms - are naturally depicted down to every expression, every image detail; an extremely simple composition but highly compressed emotions, reaching the level of a stroke depicting the tragic nature throughout the legendary Truong Bon space and time.

It was a moment of choosing the photographer!

Sam Temple