Another recent photography walk in Da Nang where I have decided to stay longer than I planned. 🙂

How Vietnamese Men React to Stranger with Camera

When I saw this group of men playing Xiangqi, I knew I couldn't pass by without taking an image. I approached them and, using gestures and facial expressions, asked everybody (and no one particular) if I could take an image. I was noticed, and a couple of men smiled and nodded to me. Soon, they forgot about me and the camera, and continued living as if I weren’t there. ❤️ Vietnamese men have this habit when they are being photographed, and I love that. They almost always say yes if I ask permission, and they are friendly when I am taking images of them without asking. Just perfect street photography models! 🥇

I set aperture f/5.0 on my 50mm, lifted the camera over my head, framed the scene with the camera's rotating screen, and took several shots.

Men's Barbershop

This was a type of a shop you can look inside from the street. I noticed these men interacting and, without trying to analyze, hurried to push the button. It was f/5.0 again, and, again, I took several shots since people's emotions, written on the faces, change much when they are photoed by a stranger.

Second Hand Clothes Market

A picturesque view:

This is not my first time in Da Nang, I've been here in the 2010s several times, usually on the way from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok and back. So I know some places. I had nice shots from this area (Chợ Cồn market). So, this time, I only photographed the general view of that salad made from human bodies and left to keep exploring the city.

How Vietnamese Women React to Stranger with Camera

Taking images of Vietnamese women on the streets is harder.

Young girls are the easiest. They usually laugh and get super shy. They can run away choking on laughter. 🙂

Women aged around 30, young moms in the Southeast Asian reality, usually strictly don't want to be models for a stranger but some of them stop me from time to time asking to take an image of them. For fun, obviously.

Old Vietnamese women are the worst. They usually hate being photographed; they can show their irritation or anger. One of them even shouted at me recently. 😁 She yelled something as a mad person, and, in response, I jokingly waved my hands like if I was saying tough words to her without the help of the mouth. 😁

I have a kind of reverent respect for the Thais; a sharp reaction would have upset me greatly in Thailand. In Vietnam it’s easier for me in this regard. 😄

I've read on Reddit that Vietnamese men are terribly sexist. I don’t know how things really are but Vietnamese women doesn't look the enslaved woman of the East, and many of them behave like Amazons on motorbikes... I am afraid of them! 😀 But street photography mission is bigger than this fear so I am not going to give up 😀

Well Done, Bro!

Let this picture illustrate my determination to take images of Vietnamese female strangers despite my fear to them. 😁

That was just a guy on the street. He noticed me and asked me to take an image of him. 🙂

Big thanks to him and all other street models of mine for their friendliness and generosity! 😊

But Not Every Vietnamese Man is an Ally, Alas

I noticed this security person, quickly fluttering a large magenta fan (in his hands in the image). I decided to ask permission, and the man agreed but stopped fanning. I asked him to open the fan again but he refused. He probably felt it was too feminine, and decided to hide his pink paper friend from history. 😒

Adorable Riders

As I told above, women strangers sometimes ask to take images of them. Young girls don't, old ladies never do. Only "young moms" do. 🙂

These women appeared from the street traffic 😀 and started posing. 🙂

This is very special to Vietnam. For example, I can hardly imagine that this could happen in a post-Soviet country or in Thailand. And I am grateful to Vietnam for this feature.

Lady Suffering Losses

The Vietnamese probably have no national complexes - they gratefully borrowed many things from the French colonialists. For example, the Latin script.

French bread is another big one. Nowadays, it's traditional food for the Vietnamese and is ubiquitously sold on the streets; a spectacle that is in complete contrast to Thailand. Even oftener, baguettes are served as bánh mì, Vietnamese sandwiches, most popular street food here.

A scene: a street vendor in that conical hat, an old lady, is suffering losses. Why? That parked white car was blocking the view for passing motorbikes which are main customers of the lady. She had approached the car and explained them that but the car didn't leave. Being upset and anxious, she came back to her classic red chair and kept asking with gestures the driver to leave...

At last, the car left and so did I: the sunlight faded and I realized it was time to eat and went back to the hostel.

Hope you liked the pictures! 😎 More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal Pinmapple map.

I took the images with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on a full frame Nikon D750 on October 19, 2023 in Da Nang, Vietnam.