Most Americans are familiar with the Chinese New Year festivities that usher in the lunar new year in late January or early February, but most are not as aware of the Vietnamese cultural celebration of the start of the lunar year. Called Tet, the Vietnamese new year’s festival has its own distinctive, bright, and colorful symbols and traditions. By far the biggest Vietnamese community in the USA is in San Jose, California, which not coincidentally also hosts the largest Tet Festival each year in the US. I’m fortunate to live quite near San Jose, and yesterday I was already collaborating with a favorite model in a studio one city north of there, so I decided to drop by and shoot the Tet Festival. I’m very glad I did. Today’s post presents some of my favorite images from the festival in the form of a simple photo essay. I’ve included some discussion about how the images were made.
Welcome to the Tet Festival! When shooting symbolic items, always check your background and find a point-of-view that is clean and compelling. Buy this photo
An unusual cultural juxtaposition: Vietnamese belly dancing. Here I used a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion and a relatively wide aperture to soften the background. Capturing the right moment in the dance pattern is important, but it’s equally essential to capture the right facial gesture and eye contact. Buy this photo
What’s scarier than a clown? A drunken clown. This fellow came out on stage with a bottle of beer and a bottle of whiskey, both of which he proceeded to drink onstage. My wife and I suspect that this was an object lesson for the children in the audience, but we’re not certain. Buy this photo
The fashion show of people watching the fashion show on stage. Whether shooting landscapes, people, wildlife, or urban scenes, always remember to look in all directions. Sometimes the most interesting subject lies in the opposite direction from the one you thought you were shooting. Buy this photo
To capture this candid moment of young kids trying out the Vietnamese drums, I used a medium telephoto lens. Most of the time I prefer to approach subjects before photographing them, but occasionally it’s preferable to shoot first and ask questions later, so as to capture the subject without self-awareness. Buy this photo
Wearing many hats! Buy this photo
This traditional Vietnamese dance troupe performed a series of dances, each representing one of the seasons of the year. This was their Spring Dance. The vibrant colors of the costumes and props contribute greatly to this portrait. It’s also important to compose and crop the image carefully to achieve a pleasing result. Buy this photo
Summer dance. Buy this photo
I love this portrait thanks to the dancer’s look of contemplation and concentration. To make an effective portrait in spite of the cluttered background, I used a medium telephoto lens set to a wide aperture to set the subject off from the background. I also cropped the image in post-processing to remove extraneous background objects. Buy this photo
Parting shot: A favorite portrait of a traditional Vietnamese dancer. Buy this photo
What are your favorite cultural events and celebrations? Please share your thoughts on how to successfully photograph them.
Want to read more posts about what to shoot while traveling or near home? Find them all here: Posts on What to Shoot.