I made an appointment to meet photographer Nguyen Huu Thanh before Tet, but his schedule was packed with photo shoots and clips for regular customers. At the beginning of the year, Mr. Thanh called me to have coffee.
Here, the story he told about himself reminded me of the vivid days at the Saigon University of Letters, where he studied. And especially, his sincere sharing helped me understand more about the life of a talented, lovely but full of ups and downs person.
The difficult life of the multi-talented "photographer"
Without asking, few people would have thought that Mr. Thanh was in his seventies this year. He wore a shirt, cargo pants, and carried all sorts of cameras, riding a motorbike to have coffee with me. Only his white hair was floating, but his face, body, and relaxed demeanor made him look like a well-off and very stylish retired intellectual.
"Looks like that, but my life is very difficult," the 71-year-old photographer confided.
- At the age of 71, Mr. Thanh still works hard taking photos to make a living. PHOTO: QUANG VIEN
Telling me about his life, I found out that he was a multi-talented and multi-artistic person but had a difficult fate. He was a student at the Saigon University of Literature and also participated in the student movement in the city of Saigon - Cho Lon before 1975.
In 1976, Mr. Thanh worked at the News Department, Ho Chi Minh City Television Station. After that, he worked as an officer and employee in many places such as the Chemical Construction Company, Ho Chi Minh City Post Office, and even jumped into the business world.
"There is no shortage of jobs, but my life is still full of hardships," Mr. Thanh confided.
Mr. Thanh is both a singer and a photographer at an art event.
PHOTO: QUANG VIEN
Business was the most bitter experience of Mr. Thanh’s life. He will never forget the time he raised capital to invest in manufacturing cigarette and beverage trucks for big companies. At first, this job brought him and his friend more profit than expected, but then the business encountered difficulties, pushing him to the brink.
"I had to sell my house to pay off my debt, rent a house to live in, and now I live with my son because I can't afford to buy a house," he confided.
Although he is multi-talented, Mr. Thanh's "talented arts" are singing and photography. During his years working in a state agency, in most of the city-level worker-civil servant art performances, Mr. Thanh won gold medals. Mr. Thanh still keeps 5 solo gold medal certificates from his glorious days.
Mr. Thanh (second from right) participated in the performance Don't Say I'm Old with People's Artist Tran Hieu and a male choir. PHOTO: QUANG VIEN
Later, he had to "retire early" due to fatigue, but Mr. Thanh was still very active in singing. He joined the Arts Club of the Ho Chi Minh City Veterans Association, the Military Artists Club... This singing also helped him earn a little extra money.
"I join this or that band mainly for fun. The remuneration for my performance is only a few hundred thousand dong. Perhaps the place with the best remuneration is the Khuc ban chieu art troupe of People's Artist Tran Hieu," he shared.
However, singing is mainly to satisfy his "artistic blood". In the situation where both husband and wife do not have a monthly pension, Mr. Thanh has to find another job to make a living. The job he chose is photography and filming.
"The cutest photographer in Saigon"
On the morning of the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, Mr. Thanh invited me to accompany him to take photos for customers. His customers were a group of nearly ten women in their prime. "This group is a regular customer. Every year at the beginning of spring, the "ladies" ask me to take photos for them," he said.
These women admire the photography skills of "old Thanh" not only because he can take beautiful, "old" photos for them, but also because he works hard to serve all their nuances.
According to this veteran photographer, each age group has its own style of posing for photos, but women in their teens have many different styles, so you have to be patient with them so they don't get… annoyed.
He also had to direct their performance, even knowing how to joke around to create a cheerful atmosphere in order to take lively photos. "This is the cutest photographer in Saigon", a woman in the photography group commented.
Mr. Thanh's photo of a group of women who are regular customers
PHOTO: NGUYEN HUU THANH
Starting from 9am to 12pm, Mr. Thanh took more than 200 photos for this group of women. After 3 hours of "pampering" the ladies, the old man also pocketed 1 million VND. Another "cute" thing about this old photographer is that he does not set a price for taking photos because he takes photos for most of his friends and regular customers. Therefore, he takes whatever they give him. Even if he only accepts a cup of coffee, he is still happy.
However, Mr. Thanh still sees photography as a "fishing rod" for old age. "Since Tet, I have earned more than ten million dong. That's enough," he confided.
People's Artist Tran Hieu and his wife through Mr. Thanh's lens
PHOTO: NGUYEN HUU THANH
Mr. Thanh said that he is almost certain that every photo he takes is perfect, so there are very few photos that are not good enough. Mr. Thanh's photos are almost natural, without much editing. Notably, he not only takes photos but also combines filming to make clips for customers.
"The photos Mr. Thanh took are naturally beautiful. He also filmed the footage to make a clip, so we are very satisfied," said Ms. Thanh Nhan (a regular customer of Mr. Thanh).
The job of a photographer and cameraman helps Mr. Thanh earn a little money for his old age, but his tools are only old, cheap goods.
"I use the Canon 5D Mark III for photography and the Canon M50 Mark II for filming. In addition, there is the 'little guy' Canon SX730, the type for tourists. This is a super zoom camera so I also use it for secondary filming. All three of these cameras cost more than 20 million VND," said Mr. Thanh.
With cheap old cameras, Mr. Thanh still takes beautiful portrait photos.
PHOTO: NGUYEN HUU THANH
Mr. Thanh also learned to film and edit clips for customers by himself. Taking me to his son's apartment, he confided: "I used to have a decent house, but I fell into trouble so now I live in my son's house. He also has a difficult business so I have to work hard to make a living."
Video clip editing room of Mr. Nguyen Huu Thanh
PHOTO: QUANG VIEN
In the small apartment, Mr. Thanh is also provided with a film editing room with 2 computers and 1 laptop to support his work.
"It looks like it has a lot of multimedia, but apart from the new, modern computer that my friends pooled their money to buy for this Tet holiday, the laptop and the other computers are all old and have very low configurations," he confided.
Before his friends bought him a new computer, Mr. Thanh had to work hard to make video clips. Now that he has a new computer, this talented and cute photographer is more passionate about his job.
Introducing two event video clips that he had just finished making on a new computer with a powerful configuration, Mr. Thanh excitedly said: "With high-class toys, I work so hard that I forget to eat. But I also have to learn more to make better clips."
On his personal Facebook page, Thanh Huu Nguyen, Thanh has stored nearly 18,000 photos taken by him from 2015 to present, mostly portraits. Among them are many photos of everyday life of famous artists such as People's Artist Tran Hieu, musician Pham Dang Khuong, musician and anti-war singer Mien Duc Thang (member of the movement Sing for my compatriots)...
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