Photo book to capture beauty of Hoan Kiem Lake
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A coffee-table book featuring photos of Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake shot by photographer Quang Phung will be published this month in Vietnamese and English.
“Around Hoan Kiem Lake and beyond” will have 112 pages and around 100 photos taken since 2000.
It will be in three parts.
The first, “Su tinh lang va ve dep troi cho” (The God given quietness and beauty), will depict the natural beauty of the lake.
“Nhung cau chuyen xa hoi” (Social stories) will showcase the lake as a small society with ups and downs in the lives of people living around it.
The last part, “Tu duong thien tam” (For the human soul’s self – improvement), will be a comprehensive introduction to the process of making traditional lotus tea at the Phung Thanh Pagoda on Kham Thien Street.
The book will also have portraits of Vietnamese personalities such as the legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap, composer Van Cao, painter Tran Van Can, and writer Nguyen Tuan from the 1970s.
It will be published by the Hanoi –based Cultural and Information Publishing House and sponsored by the Netherlands-based Prince Claus Fund and the East West Foundation.
Phung was born in 1932 in what was then Ha Dong District in Hanoi. He began shooting photos in 1954 and released his first collection on the capital city’s liberation in 1955.
Since 1970 he has only shot pictures of Hanoi.
In 1990 his “Cloudy Hair” won the first prize at the National Artistic Photography Contest.
