Photographer Nguyen The Duc, 38, from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, has recently won silver medals at the Hong Kong and Macau international photo contests.

“Young Girl with ruou can” by Nguyen The Duc. (ruou can is a special wine of the highlanders).

Duc’s “Old woman and her grandchild” (featuring a Bana ethnic minority old woman in Kon H’ra village, Gia Lai province) surpassed thousands of entrants from all over the world to win an FIAP silver medal in Macau, while his photo entitled “Cry” took another silver medal at the Hong Kong International Photo Competition 2009. In addition, he has received four certificates of honour from photo contests in South Korea, Italy and Cyprus.

Duc was born and grew up in Pleiku city, Gia Lai. He currently lives in Kon Tum and runs a photo shop. He primarily travels from village to village in the Central Highlands to capture interesting moments, but he also takes photos in the south and the north.

“Eyes” by Nguyen The Duc.

“In the Central Highlands, Kontum is the most beautiful place. The romantic Dak Bla River runs to the west. It is wonderful to see the river in the sunset,” Duc described.

In 2006, Duc sent photos to a photo contest in Binh Dinh province for the first time and his two photos – Steel Flowers and Friends — were chosen for display at the contest’s final exhibition. In recent years, Duc photos such as Story of Sand, Hoi An Night and Harvest Festival have been introduced at many exhibitions in the Central Highlands.

Duc said he is trying to live on photography. “I hope that Kontum will have an exhibition room to serve tourists. I could sell photos there to fund my business trips,” Duc said.

VietNamNet/TT