US photo display highlights Vietnam’s beauty

 Award-winning photographer Tran Minh Dung, whose works have made their mark at several international contests, has exhibited his collection in the U.S. to raise money for Covid victims.

Dung, 32, took eight stunning captures of Vietnamese landscapes, both rural and urban, to a photo exhibition held at the Hamon Hall Center in Texas. The show was organized by the Vietnam Youth and Students Association in the U.S. from November 27 to December 18. It raised more than $3,000 to support Vietnamese children orphaned by the Covid crisis.

One of the pictures on show was that of a man fishing at dawn during the annual flooding in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, famous for its rice fields lined by date palms.

"These landscape photos are part of my photographical journey, some of which have recorded high achievements at international photo awards in recent years. I would like to show off the beauty of famous tourist destinations in Vietnam to the world," Dung said.

In 2016, while traveling in Mu Cang Chai, a remote rural district in the northern province of Yen Bai, he photographed a Hmong woman with a rattan basket on her back walking towards terraced rice fields during the harvest season, when they sport a golden green look.

This photo won third prize at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2017 and other prizes at the EPSON International Pano Awards 2018, Chromatic Photography Awards 2018 and EPSON International Pano Awards 2019.

Another spectacular dawn shot shows the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral in downtown HCMC bathed in the first rays of the morning. The photo was taken in 2017 before the cathedral was closed to undergo a massive restoration scheduled for completion in 2023.

Located in a tourist precinct that includes the historic Central Post Office in District 1, the 140-year-old cathedral is popular among both foreign and local visitors, especially during holiday seasons.

This sparkling aerial capture of the ancient town of Hoi An in central Vietnam earned Dung a silver at the EPSON International Pano Awards 2019.

Around 30 kilometers south of Da Nang, Hoi An grew from a small rural village to the busiest trading port in Southeast Asia in the 16th century, famed for its ceramics and high-grade silk.

Today, the 400-year-old town is popular for its slow pace of life and pedestrian-friendly streets.

This picture of the Hang En Waterfall, a natural wonder in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, was taken in 2019.

Dung visited the waterfall for the first time on March 1, 2019. It was raining then and some of his equipment was damaged. A month later, he returned to the waterfall twice on April 10 and April 19, 2019, and managed to be in the right spots at the right times to capture the majestic waterfall from above and below.

The journey to conquer Hang En Waterfall in K'bang District is a challenging one for outsiders since the path can be dangerous to navigate on their own. Snakes and leeches are a common sight on the way, but the views make up for the hardship. The waterfall is 50 meters high. During the dry season, it has a width of about 20-30 meters. Behind the waterfall surrounded by primeval forests lies a large cave, home to thousands of swifts.

Another aerial shot captures tourists on a coracle tour through a nipa palm forest in Cam Thanh Commune, Hoi An Town.

Coracle tours through nipa palm forests planted about 200 years ago have become a popular tourism activity in recent years.

The photo fetched Dung first prize in the Travel Category at the Chromatic Photography Awards 2019.

A brilliant tapestry of light and colors in which cherry trees bloom pink at K’Long K’Lanh Village in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong was taken in 2019.