Sigh, Gone – Shooting in Ho Chi Minh City

These photographs were made on a recent trip to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam’s economic metropolis and home to more than 8 million people.

I first visited the city in 2003, and it had morphed into a very different beast in only two decades; somewhat of a late bloomer in the rapid development of Asian cities, I was taken aback by the gargantuan skyscrapers and apartment buildings that lined the urban horizon.

The city’s 20th century history of French and US colonisation – which had once been so prominent in the architecture – had been largely masked over with billboards and modernisation; the bar where burnt-out Vietnam veterans once gathered to drink and tell war stories was now an H&M shopping mall; the building from which the final US helicopter had lifted from the roof after the communist takeover in 1975 now housed an insurance company; young skaters were being reprimanded by security on the steps of the Museum and the shanty towns that had lined the river had been replaced by a pleasant promenade.

This short photographic series was an attempt to document these changes in Saigon’s city streets that greeted me upon my return after two decades. Some of these images were made in the city’s oldest apartment block, Nguyen Thien Thuat. Built in 1968 it originally housed US servicemen but was now home to low-income families and street markets.

Other photographs depict some of the brand-new apartments and office towers that had shot up in the last few years, mostly made from the back of motorbikes as I was ferried through the horde of Honda’s that zoomed their way across brand new freeways like a hornet swarm.

On this trip I also randomly met Pho and Jun outside the old presidential palace. They were taking photos of each other on their phones while sitting on an old Russian tank and I could tell by the way they instinctively posed that they must be professional models.

I approached them and we got talking; I liked their style and the fact that, as a couple, they looked great together and had the old late-70’s punk vibe about them, with the dyed hair and black clothing.

I had some rolls of Kodak Tri X and my Ricoh GR1V (one of my favourite cameras) and asked if they’d be interested in doing a shoot, so we met a couple of days later in the trendy neighbourhood of Binh Thanh to find some urban backdrops that would suit the style.

For this shoot I pushed the Kodak Tri X to 1600 iso in order to accentuate the contrast and amplify Pho and Jun’s black and blonde aesthetic.

However, according to lab, my rolls of film were damaged by the x-ray at Melbourne Airport (who assured me the x-ray machines were safe!) so these photos are a little bit more washed out than what I would prefer them to be.

This also answers some of the questions that were raised in a previous article I wrote with regard to the new CT Scanners – which I have now encountered first-hand and can confidently say YES THEY DO RUIN FILM EVEN IF THE AIRPORT STAFF TELL YOU THEY DON’T!

Despite this minor disappointment, I still think the photos work well to capture that 70’s punk feel, with the high contrast and obvious grain, and I really enjoyed working with Pho and June, who come to the camera with both a bad-ass attitude and also a sweet teenage tenderness.

Their youth and style also spoke to me about the rapid modernisation of Vietnam and the new generation of Instagram and Tiktok, and the rapidly receding of the American War that seems to preoccupy the western imagination.

This was not to say the past had been forgotten; far from it, I realised, after a conversation with some young Saigonese locals over drinks in a trendy venue who spoke of their families experience and were prepared to share their thoughts on the matter.

Yet while the past may have not been forgotten, there was a future to be claimed and this may mean disposing with the visual and architectural nostalgia of the older generations and defining the 21st century with a punk style and some grainy black and white photographs.

Sigh, gone.

Thankyou to fellow 35mmc contributor Martin Misiak and my guide Kimmy for assisting with transport and translation to make these photos happen.

See more: www.alimc.com.au @alimcphotos

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