Theoretical and critical activities of Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association for the term 2020-2025

(NADS) - The 2020-2025 term of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association can be said to be one of the terms with a distinct mark, very noteworthy in many aspects, including theoretical and critical work (LLPB).

Some features of LLPB physics activities

During its term, the LLPB Board consisted of three members, but the number of members actually participating in activities was often lacking, never enough. In the last year of its term, the Board was supplemented with more members, but the quality of activities was not consistent. However, despite the shortage, the Board still operated actively and regularly. In addition to the LLPB work of the Association, Board members also wrote articles for the Central Council of Literature and Art Theory and Criticism, the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists, and the Theory and Criticism Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Literature and Art Associations. Board members' articles were used regularly, published in prestigious magazines as well as used in scientific seminars at all levels. Board members were invited by the Central Propaganda Department, the Propaganda Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Literature and Art Associations, and several provinces and cities such as Ha Giang, Thai Nguyen, Binh Dinh, and Thua Thien Hue to write papers for scientific seminars from the national to the grassroots level. In the literary and art criticism community, the LLPB Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association is known as a positive and reliable address, especially for the Central Council of the LLPB of Literature and Art.

To explore the theoretical topics that are the subject of the critical essay, the LLPB Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association has focused on issues that have impacted and affected photography activities in the country in general and the city in particular. Right from the beginning of the term, an impact that has had a huge impact on photography activities in general is the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has passed but left behind, on the one hand , a great sacrifice and loss, but on the other hand, it has forever preserved the love and mutual support of those who work in photography; on the other hand, the spirit of overcoming all dangers, actively creating and preserving historical images of the days when the whole country steadfastly fought the pandemic. City photography has done things that other art forms cannot easily do in times of danger and hardship for the country.

During the 5-year term, it can be seen that there are sources of influence that evoke the main topics for photography criticism theory as follows:

The impact of science and technology on photography

Like cinema, photography is based on a technical technology platform. The changes and advances in science and technology in this field have had a profound and fundamental impact on photography. In the past five years, the fourth industrial revolution, directly digital technology, has clearly demonstrated this. Specifically, the emergence of modern generations of digital cameras, image processing software, flycams and now artificial intelligence (AI) shows how photography has changed when influenced and guided by technical equipment. On a macro level, the state is currently investing heavily in technical technology infrastructure, creating an environment, and building a domestic and foreign photography market. These sources of influence create changes, both favorable and difficult, both those that change the nature and create a source of creativity for photography, and build an ecosystem and market for photography. The impact of science and technology has paved the way for photography to become a cultural industry. On this topic, the LLPB Board has published articles in magazines or in papers used in conferences, including 5 main articles as follows:

The impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the exhibition industry. LLPB VHNT Magazine 11/2020.

Video clip - a genre of moving images in photography. LLPB VHNT Magazine 07/2021

Photography under the influence of the fourth industrial revolution. LLPB VHNT Magazine 04/2022

Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Photography. LLPB Book “Photography: Impacts, Challenges and Opportunities” 09/2023

Orientation for the development of Vietnamese photography in the digital age. LLPB VHNT Magazine 06/2024

Impact of the Party and State's socio-political policies

That is the policy of socializing literary and artistic activities in general, including photography, towards building a cultural industry, specifically and directly the photography industry. These are major policies of the state that have a comprehensive impact on photography activities, both in terms of the role and purpose of photography activities in the economy, social culture, art as well as the spiritual life and human emotions in life, including 06 main articles as follows:

The impact of socialization on the development of photography

Socialization - The inevitable step of photography

Master and creatively apply the "Three principles of movement" of the Vietnamese cultural outline in photography . Ha Giang Literature and Arts Magazine No. 11/2023.

Orientation for the development of Vietnamese photography in the digital age. Seminar of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists 03/2024.

Industrialization and the task of building a photography industry . Article for the President of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists. November 2024

The problem of industrialization in the field of photography. LLPB VHNT Magazine 02/2025

Photography Life

Life is movement, transformation within activities, within the team of photographers as well as in creative movements, photo contests, and exhibitions. Including 21 articles as follows:

Working culture of photographers in photography . LLPB VHNT Magazine 12/2020 and Photography and Life Magazine 10-11/2020.

Practical value of photography and issues raised . Scientific workshop of the Central Council of Literature and Arts 12/2020.

What we see through the creative camp "Land and People of the Central Highlands" Photography and Life Magazine 06/2021

Ho Chi Minh City Regional Art Photography Festival 2021 and feelings . Photography and Life Magazine 07/2021 and LLPB VHNT Magazine 09/2021

Photographer as a cultural warrior. LLPB VHNT Magazine 11/2021

Looking back at 40 years of LLPB work of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association . Photography and Life Magazine 11/2021 and LLPB VHNT Magazine 12/2021

Preserving, inheriting and promoting traditional values in photography . LLPB VHNT Magazine 01/2022.

Lam Tan Tai - the personality of an artist - soldier . LLPB VHNT Magazine 07/2022

Create photographic works with content and artistic value that meet social needs. LLPB VHNT Magazine 02/2023

Looking back at Ho Chi Minh City photography since liberation until now . Photography and Life Magazine 03-04/2023

Current LLPB photography team, status and development orientation, Scientific discussion of LLPB Literature and Arts Council 05/2023.

Binh Dinh photography flourishes and grows with the pace of life. Binh Dinh Literature and Arts Magazine 03/2023 and LLPB VHNT Magazine 07/2023.

Changing people - a "soft power" of photography, LLPB VHNT Magazine 10/2023.

Functions and performing talents of the photographer. Literature and Arts Times November 2, 2023.

Enhancing artistic values to meet the requirements of the cultural industry. LLPB VHNT Magazine 02/2024.

Photography with the theme of military and revolutionary war . LLPB VHNT Magazine 04/2024

Visual language in the works of musician Nguyen Dinh Thi - seen from a photographic perspective. National scientific conference. Central Council of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association 12/2024.

The image of the soldier in photography. LLPB VHNT Magazine 12/2024.

Ho Chi Minh City: 50 years of civilization, modernity, and humanity - Through the lens of photography. Ho Chi Minh City Scientific Conference March 25, 2025

Issues and directions for the development of photography 50 years after the country's reunification. Presentation at the national scientific conference organized by the Central Propaganda Department, April 2025.

Vietnamese Photography: 50 years accompanying the nation. Presentation at the Scientific Conference of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations. Hanoi, April 2025.

During the 2020-2025 term, in the LLPB Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association, the LLPB Photography researcher. NSNA Tran Quoc Dung, Head of the Board, wrote 32 articles published in newspapers, magazines, and presented at scientific seminars at all levels. Of which, 21 articles were published in the LLPB VHNT magazine of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts. In particular, the LLPB book by author Tran Quoc Dung "Photography: Impacts, Challenges and Opportunities" was awarded the C prize by the Central LLPB VHNT Council in the term, 2024. This is the next honor after the A prize was awarded to the author in 2020 for the work "Photographic Culture - a Perspective".

Although the LLPB Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association has few members, in the past term, it has worked continuously and tirelessly, writing and publishing in magazines; writing papers, participating in speeches/presentations at many scientific seminars/conferences at all levels. However, even at the Ho Chi Minh City Photography Association, the Board's activities are not really clear to the members. Although it has mentioned the Association's issues, in general, the LLPB work in the Association is not deep; the Board's articles have not been regularly posted on the Association's website; the Board has not organized seminars in the Association but has focused mainly on major issues of photography in society and photography in general in the whole country. This is a problem that needs to be overcome in the LLPB work of the Association in the next term.

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