30th Mekong Delta Photographic Festival

The Mekong River Delta is Viet Nam’s largest rice growing area. Its beautiful landscapes, zigzagging canals, floating markets and diverse cultural traditions, the region have inspired a lot of photographers.
The 30th Mekong Delta Photographic Festival was held in Can Tho city recently. The annual event was launched 30 years ago by poet Bao Dinh Giang and photographer Lam Tan Tai to create a venue for photographers to share their photos.
The festival has steadily attracted a growing number of participants. Van Ngoc Nhuan, former President of Soc Trang province’s Arts and Literature Association, has won a number of international photographic award.
“There is a photo collection of the first festival. At that time, the photos were black and white. The festival was held at Can Tho Cultural House. I’m moved to see all those photos again. After 30 years being held in different Mekong Delta provinces, the festival has proved to be successful,” Nhuan noted.
The festival has become an annual event where photographers of 8 provinces in the Mekong Delta share their experiences and new photographic technology and show off their creativity.
This year, Long An province’s Photographic Association proposed online judging of photo entries to reduce costs and enable the public to admire the beautiful photos. This idea will be applied across Viet Nam.
Vice President of the Viet Nam Photographic Association Le Xuan Thang said,“Over the past 30 years, the number of festival participants has increased a hundreds fold and so has the quality. Photographers in the Mekong Delta have a great passion for photography. Festival entries document the development of photography in the Mekong Delta region”.
The festival attracts new participants every year. Some of them just take photos as a hobby and participate in the festival to show their passion for photography.
With his photo collection “Welcoming father”, Le Phong Vu of Tien Giang province won a gold medal at the festival. His photos depict the beauty and peacefulness of rural Viet Nam. This is the 4th time Le Phong Vu has participated in the festival.
Vu shared, “I love photography but I find it difficult. I have learned a lot from my predecessors. At this festival, I have met a lot of famous photographers from whom I have learned a lot of things”.
The event was organized by the Vietnam Photographic Association and Can Tho Association of Arts and Literature.
Under the themes “Mekong Delta Region- Its land and people” and “Hometown River”, the festival attracted more than 400 photographers with over 3,000 entries in various categories: color photos, black and white photos, and photos of Can Tho.
The organizing board selected 183 outstanding photos to exhibit.