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Photographing Vietnam with Christine



Personal tastes are various. Even if they are couple or friends, taste or interest are independent of their intimacy. So it might be another affection to set free the partner who has totally different taste to you.


What I want to put here is about photo as usual. I met Christine at Ninh Binh, Vietnam. She was German photographer. One day we decided to go photographing together. We visited small villages by bicycles. And I got to know that it's not so easy to take photos with a photographer.
In the situation we can chose the object freely, the direction of lens which we aimed at was diverse. Christine liked landscape with rice paddy. So she tend to go into the nature. To the contrary, I prefer the people. So I took Christine to a village. It's like we drew different end of the lope each other.
I well understood she was European so she was attracted by the scenery of rice-planting. She regarded the hard work of farming in the rice paddies as holy work. However for me, it's a familiar scene in Japan. So it's not so attractive. I waited while she photographed in the rice paddies. She waited while I photographed in the village. Maybe I didn't have to, but some how I hastened to photograph in the situation.


In the little restriction, we'd photographed all the day and were going back to Ninh Binh. The sun already set behind the mountain and it's raining under the gray sky. We could get rain shower unless we were hurry up.


On the narrow road in countryside, Christine found the little girl playing with Nintendo under the dim street lamp. She aimed the lens at her. In the same moment, I saw a man was coming up from opposite direction with bicycle putting the big bread in the front basket. I asked him to take a portrait.
In the twilight on the country road in Vietnam, we two photographers put the backs together and photographed each object as if two solders supporting each other. It must be good idea if our photo works put together on the back like a A and B side of record.


We were not photographing together again. It didn't mean we disliked each other. People has the part which cannot give way. Weather of Vietnam was unstable especially in early spring. But I gradually got accustomed to the cold weather. But Christine didn't like the cold weather. I knew her feeling. Few days later, she left for Bangkok to catch the sun.


Apr. 2007



Today's piece
" Bread in the front basket " Tam Coc , Vietnam 2004




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