Hello we are finding a ...
An Giang receives floods from upstream of the Mekong River. Flood water brings fishes and shrimps to live in the fields, which is an ideal time for people to go fishing.
Photographer Huynh Phuc Hau is a lover of An Giang in every flood season with simple pictures like a countryside painting.
Huynh Phuc Hau, born in 1966, is a photographer born and grown up in Chau Doc, An Giang. In addition to his passion for photography, he also works at the Department of Diagnostic Imaging, An Giang General Hospital. He received the title of Vietnamese photographic artist in 2009. In 2016, he held a solo exhibition in An Giang in the flood season.
A boy goes fishing in the brilliant sunset at Tha La, Vinh Te, Chau Doc.
The series of photos below have been taken by him for many years, introducing readers to the beauty of vast fields of water, mainly in Chau Doc and Tinh Bien areas of An Giang province which is the border with Cambodia. Maybe there may not be many more in the future.
The cows go back on the bank of Tha La canal, Chau Doc. At this time, Tha La dam has not released flood, so the water is only flooded to the foot of the field. An Giang also has a very famous Bay Nui bull racing festival which usually takes place from August 29 to September 1 of the lunar calendar.
Herding ducks in the flood field in Nhon Hung, Tinh Bien. Floods accumulate alluvium, wash away the acid soil layer, while the remaining rice grains in the field after the harvest and snails are a rich source of food for ducks, so people save food for them.
The author shared that each photo is a story and leaves a lot of emotions. In the photo is a couple picking ghost water lily in Vinh Te, Chau Doc, bordering Cambodia. From early in the morning, they travel by motorboat to a far away fields to pick flowers until the boat is full and sell more than 100,000 VND/day (about 5 USD)
Ghost water lily or rice water lily are gifts of nature bestowed on poor Khmer people in An Giang. This type of water lily only grows in perennial wetlands, usually with 2-5 m long stalks and white and purple flowers.
Wild vegetables in the field are considered a specialty of Mekong Delta, including water lily, Sesban-River Bean, water chives and spinach (in the picture) contributing to the income of the people. The photo was taken on a sunny afternoon on Tra Su canal, Nhon Hung, Tinh Bien.
Spinach belongs to aquatic species, small leaves, soft body, fast growing, wherever the level of water goes up, floating vegetables follow it. When touching, the leaves will retract. After picking off the leaves, the young stalks are used as clean vegetables, cooked in sour soup, dipped in hot pot or eaten raw with braised fish sauce or braised fish.
Village woman picks wild flowers along the banks of Vinh Te canal, Chau Doc. In each Sesban river bean season, people will sail to pick vegetables to eat in each meal with dishes such as making pickles, cooking sour soup, making salad, stir-frying with shrimp or eating raw with braised fish.
In particular, when the Sesban river bean flower blooms brightly, it is also the time when the Linh fishes follow the flood water to pour into the rivers and ponds. The small Linh fish at the beginning of the season is made with vinegar, and at the end of season, when the Linh fishes are grown, they are made with Linh fish sauce.
The photo was taken when a man drove his buffalo through Vinh Te canal to reach the higher grounds with lots of grass that has not been flooded to feed the buffalo, and in the afternoon, he brought the buffalo back. The photo reminds the photographer of the movie " Buffalo wool season" with scenes shot in An Giang by director Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh premiered in 2004.
In his photo trips, the photo that left him the most emotions was "An Giang's mother" holding water lilies on the banks of Vinh Te canal. “When I was passing by the canal, I saw a beautiful old woman with a bright smile beside the water lilies, so I stopped to ask for a photo. A month later, when I returned to give her a photo, she had passed away," the author said.
The "dance" taking off the fish net at sunset on Tha La flooded fields creates a unique picture of nature. Every day the sky at sunrise or sunset has different colors and does not overlap.
Peaceful afternoon in the fields of Tra Su and Tinh Bien. According to photographer Huynh Phuc Hau, the floating season is part of life. In the 2000s, water flooded the field, and then usually by the end of November, the water would recede, the picture of life in the flood season was very bustling.
