VietNamNet Bridge – Award-winning photographer Tam Thai has compiled a book of black-and-white photos taken from 1973 to 2006 in memory of his native land.

Waterproof: Ao Toi (Raincoat) (1991) shows a farmer in Quang Tri Province wearing a traditional coat of palm leaves to protect himself from the elements.

The 55-year-old Thai, winner of major awards from the International Federation of Art Photographers, says he published the book to respect traditional heritage.

“Luxury conveniences are less necessary than our ability to breathe fresh air every day,” Thai says. “So sometimes we should forget what we are about to have and think of what we will soon lose.”

While a high-rise building can be built in a few years, a heritage is created over hundreds of years, he says.

“Simple literature is easy to write, but products of true cultural value are less common,” he adds.

In his book, Memory of My Native Land, each photo is accompanied by Thai’s descriptions and explanations, which are translated in English and Japanese.

“I long to see the remnants of former beauty and find the hidden traces of the past,” he says.

The photographs were all taken with film and do not include digital images.

The book’s final pages contain descriptions of Thai’s photographic techniques.

The renowned writer Son Nam recommends that the public “read the book slowly to find new sources of inspiration”.

Thai’s skills are respected by many of his peers, including American photographer Harvay Morrison.

“The aesthetic of Tam Thai is equaled by his lucid sense of meaning within image: the moment in time, the still point of the churning world. When ideology and the urge to acquire and consume wither and subside, what remains is landscape, memory and art,” says Morrison.

Thai works as a freelance photographer for Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Khoa Hoc Pho Thong (Universal Science) magazine, and teaches fulltime at an education and training centre in HCM City.

Thai is collecting photos for two more books, Goc Nho Sai Gon (Small Corner of Sai Gon) and Sai Gon Dang Xua va Nay (Sai Gon Past and Present)

(Source: Viet Nam News)