ENLIGHTEN
VIETNAM
A FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
BY CARYN ESPLIN FOR BYU–IDAHO
SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
Mekong Cruise
Taking a river cruise here in Vietnam to experience life along the Mekong River Delta is absolutely one of the most fascinating things i have ever done!
I traveled down the delta on the BESSAC, a classic teak wood boat with an incredible crew of 12 and near beautiful accommodations. We are served three meals a day with 4 – 5 courses prepared by a gourmet chef who uses fresh local produce and exotic fruit, meats and seafood. Our tour guide is a darling Vietnamese girl who speaks fluently and shows us all great locations in the best villages along the Mekong River Delta.
We have 18 photographers in our group from all over the US and even China. We have two shore excursions a day when we transfer in a smaller long boat and take a ride up a small tributary or canal to a hidden village. Some only have dirt paths with motorbikes and bicycles. One fellow drove by us with his scooter pulling a full-size mattress on the back. They come up with all kinds of ingenious racks and little traliers to haul an amazing amount of supplies and goods on a motorcycle!
Women of the Water
The most moving part of the Enlighten Tour Part 2 – SE Asia… by far… was the beautiful people. As I look through my images, I can’t hold back the tears, because I see such happy, humble, open, colorful people. I want to share their stories with you, one at a time, so you can see how they live and get a feeling for who they are.
This river delta culture revolves around the life-giving waters that surround each village. They take their goods to floating markets to exchange and sell with the people of neighboring villages. You can see how they pull their boat up alongside a boat that is filled with the produce they are looking for. Then I loved to watch the fascinating exchange between boats. Don’t you just love their mix and match colors? The people of Vietnam were an absolute delight. They are happy and friendly and joyful!
The Pineapple Carver: To capture this sweet lady in the floating market who was carving pineapples for us, I bracketed the image. I wanted to include the sky and the details in her boat. If I had only shot one normal exposure, you can see the sky below would have been blown out (too bright – details are gone)… and I would have had to raise the shadows, which can lower the quality and cause noise.
Tire Pull: Timing is everything… I love watching for moments like this that tell a story and freeze a moment in time. The first key is to practice so you can nail the camera settings and composition. Then learn the post processing skills to add a style. This took 30 seconds to desaturate and add a sepia tone. It is an effective and simple skill that adds a creative style. I love all genres of photography and use a variety of skills to tell a story. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Telling a story with our photos, our art, our videos?
She-Navigator: I was fascinated by the people in the floating market and was pleasantly surprised with how many capable, industrious, strong women I found, such as this gal, I dubbed “she-navigator.” She was carefully calculating when to make her move and weave between the chaotic boat traffic during the morning rush at the floating market. I loved seeing how precise she could navigate with her motorized prop at the end of her long pole!
It Takes A Village
What beautiful and friendly people! Each day is a new adventure… from picking fresh produce on a farm… to cooking and eating excellent food, to cruising the river on a classes wooden boat and exploring floating markets and charming villages hidden up a side tributary.
This is a fascinating tour that I would recommend to anyone who likes to learn about different cultures. The river cruise is the way to see how people really live outside the cities. It is toasty warm and so humid… over 100 heat index. Woohoo…
Pottery Factories: The rich light and shadow features of this large warehouse along the Mekong River were fabulous. I could have stayed all day! It is facinating to watch each stage of how these pots are formed. I love it when they come out of the kiln with a new light orange color. Once again, I used what I call “Texture Dodge & Burn” to deepen the shadows and lighten the highlights. This is the opposite of HDR, which is when the shadows are lightened and highlights darkened to give a higher dynamic range. I love the contrast and texture that’s inherent with this type of creative post processing.
Ho Chi Minh City
This is one of my favorite photography genres and we lucked out to have a live model so it was a double delight: Environmental Portrait / Light Painting!
We finished our river cruise yesterday and traveled to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Siagon). So this was my chance to do a light painting to show the night culture! After talking to our hotel concierge, I decided the best way to find a spot was on a Vietnamese man-powered taxi!
I saw this old motor-cart on the sidewalk so we pulled over to photograph it with my lights. Our Ciclo drivers were fascinated to watch our process and keep us safe from curious strangers at the same time. Halfway through our light painting effort.. the owner arrived and graciously consented to let us finish while he crouched down with our drivers on their haunches to watch. Then he hopped on and modeled for us the last few shots! Voila’ this is the result!
