In July, when I dropped by a gallery just out of curiosity, I was really impressed with a photo of a golden rice field under a sky of stars in Mu Cang Chai village. Mu Cang Chai is well known for its beautiful terraced rice fields of which thousands of photos have been taken. But this photo was different. The rice field appears in the photo with a gentle yellow under the sky full of glittering stars. I was even more surprised to learn that the owner of the photo was an amateur who has been doing photography for only three years.
He is 24-year-old Nguyen Hoang Linh, who was born and raised in the small coastal town of Thai Binh.
Although he graduated from the Hanoi University of Finance, Linh showed his early art talent through his first drawings. During his final year in university, his first DSLR camera led him down the photography path.
From that time on, Linh started to take photos of everything he liked, from daily activities, urban architecture or just a sunset. He learned to take better photos gradually by changing the angle, layout and techniques.
On Linh’s first trip to Bac Son, a rural district in Lang Son province in the northeast region of Vietnam, Linh spent the whole night looking at the sky until sunrise and realized his passion was landscape photography.
Linh has good skills and a good understanding about geography, weather, tides and astronomy, which helps him a lot in taking more compelling photographs.
Linh said he always tries to draw the viewers’ attention to the foreground of the photos because he thinks a good foreground will make a better shot.
He creates depth in each photo by including objects such as beautiful spots of the region with the far away mountains in the foreground, middle ground and background of the photographs.
Nguyen Hoang Linh now has a beautiful and unique collection of landscape photographs. With an uncommon view associated with good skills and meticulous post-processing, Nguyen Hoang Linh can have a big effect on young photographers.
 Saigon seen from above.  West Lake in Hanoi.  Hanoi traffic.  Sparkling Saigon at night.  A corner of Linh Dam lake in Hanoi. |
Although he graduated from the Hanoi University of Finance, Linh showed his early art talent through his first drawings. During his final year in university, his first DSLR camera led him down the photography path.
From that time on, Linh started to take photos of everything he liked, from daily activities, urban architecture or just a sunset. He learned to take better photos gradually by changing the angle, layout and techniques.
On Linh’s first trip to Bac Son, a rural district in Lang Son province in the northeast region of Vietnam, Linh spent the whole night looking at the sky until sunrise and realized his passion was landscape photography.
Linh has good skills and a good understanding about geography, weather, tides and astronomy, which helps him a lot in taking more compelling photographs.
 Mu Cang Chai's terraced rice fields.  Dong Chau beach in Thai Binh.  Rai cave in Phan Giang.  Bac Son in Lang Son.  Nho Que river in Dong Van district, Ha Giang |
He creates depth in each photo by including objects such as beautiful spots of the region with the far away mountains in the foreground, middle ground and background of the photographs.
Nguyen Hoang Linh now has a beautiful and unique collection of landscape photographs. With an uncommon view associated with good skills and meticulous post-processing, Nguyen Hoang Linh can have a big effect on young photographers.
Story: Ly Hoang Long – Photos: Nguyen Hoang Linh
