Ten years ago, anyone could make a decent living as a “street photographer” at popular sightseeing sites. The boom in digital cameras and cell-phones has sounded the death knell for freelancers.

A ”street photographer” in HCM City.

Tran Ngoc Dung, who has worked as a street photographer for 15 years in the city’s District 8, says customers are dropping dramatically.

“Almost all the tourists have their own cameras and there’s hardly any chance for us to make living. We are able to get a few shots only during the Tet Holiday. It’s totally different from the past when people could live well on this job.”

Lan and Tran are street photographers who came to the city from An Giang Province’s famous tourism site of Sam Mountain, hoping to earn higher incomes during the festival season. Now they find that customers in the city are even lesser than at home.

“Every year, we go to HCM City’s downtown to work during New Year Celebrations, as it isn’t tourism season at our hometown. But things are even tougher here,” says Lan.

Worse, they have to pay a fee for working at any sightseeing spot in the city. In order to work at the Our Lady Basilica, the couple have to pay a fee of VND 150,000 ($9). For Dung, the ticket to work at Tao Dan Park during New Year celebrations cost VND 1.75 million ($102).

As both the number of customers and street photographers dwindle, there are many people who still cling to the job.

“Most of us are over 50 years old. We are too old to find another job. And another important thing is the fact that we love the job, which makes us artists in some ways,” says Dung.

VietNamNet/VNS