Why does Paris and Dubai have titanic photos, but Hanoi doesn’t? That question came to Duong Vi Khoa’s mind and he became determined to make similar photos for his city.

Why does Paris and Dubai have titanic photos, but Hanoi doesn’t? That question came to Duong Vi Khoa’s mind and he became determined to make similar photos for his city.

Duong Vi Khoa (white) and Trung Dung.

Not only the State and organizations have arranged festivals or cultural and art activities to celebrate Hanoi’s 1000^th birthdaym but also many young people have created interesting works to make it more lively and impressive.

A week ago the online community was stirred up by a rap song entitled “Welcome to Vietnam” by a student from the Hanoi-based Institute for International Relations, and now they are impressed by two gigantic photos of Hanoi by Duong Vi Khoa, an IT expert, and his co-worker Trung Dung.

To feel the monumental nature of these pictures, visit www.hanoi1000.vn. You will see two photos of Hanoi, one in the day and one at night. At first sight, they are a wide-angle photo from above of the Hoan Kiem Lake (daytime) and the West Lake and Truc Back Lake (at night). However, you will experience a big surprise when you zoom in the photo.

For example, in the photo of the Hoan Kiem Lake on the daytime, the turtle tower looks as small as a match at first sight but when zoomed in maximally, you will see even the lights arranged on the grassplot around the tower. In the photo of Hanoi at night, when zoomed in maximally, you will see the faces of people in restaurants around Truc Bach Lake.

Khoa explained the daytime photo is made from 1000 photos taken in the panorama format while the night-time picture was created from 90 photos. Panorama format allows photographers to join many photos to make a detailed broad one.

Khoa and his co-worker – Nguyen Huy Trung Dung – spent two hours taking 1000 photos by Canon EOS 1D Mark IV camera, using tele lens Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L and other specialized devices from the roof of the BIDV building. They then spent 24 hours to process and join these photos together to create two gigantic photos. If the two photos are printed, they will be around 800 sq.m each.

These are the largest digital photos in Vietnam at present.

“When I saw gigapixel pictures about Paris and Dubai, I was determined to make a panorama gigapixel in Vietnam, which is made from 1000 photos to celebrate Hanoi’s 1000^th anniversary,” Khoa noted.

Khoa plans other gigantic photos of Hanoi. “I’m interested in a particular place to photograph the Red River. It is the 40-story building of the Electricity of Vietnam Group,” Khoa disclosed.

“We want to take photo of all landscapes in Vietnam to introduce to international friends,” he said.

PV