One of Japanorama’s longest-standing photography students does us proud with an amazing set shot on his recent trip.

Rob Piazza has been an on-and-off photography student with us for about 18months. He learns some stuff, he goes away and practices and then he comes back for a little more. It’s one of the greatest joys of teaching to see someone you teach get better and better. Now, less of me blowing sunshine up the man’s arse, and over to him…. to tell you all about his recent foray up the end of the river.

“Northern Vietnam and its colorful Ethnic minority tribes and stunning scenery has been on my list of places to visit for some time now. Since diving into the world of photography, my desire to visit the region and capture it’s beauty increased significantly so in October I made it happen. My first stop in the north was a small town called Bac Ha.

“I arrived on a Wednesday and not only was I the only guest in the hotel, but the only tourist in the village! Bac Ha isn’t a prime tourist location – most tourist get off the train in Lao Cai and head straight for Sapa, 3 hours west of Bac Ha, and only venture to Bac Ha on a daytrip from Sapa for the colorful Bac Ha market. Bac Ha and area is home to the colorful Flower H’mong tribes and after setting my bags in my room, I immediately set out to start shooting.

“To my surprise, and disappointment, none of the ethnic people would let me take their picture! Kids would cover their faces with their hands, adults would put umbrellas in front of their bodies…I was devistated! I travelled all that way for nothing. I was going home empty handed. What would I tell Alfie? Not wanting to give up, I did some digging around and eventually found a local who spoke English and shared my experience with him. His response? The ethnic people, especially children, are shy. That’s it. They are simply shy. Well, making someone who is shy feel comfortable and open up has never been hard for me. So I made some changes to my approach and set out again with renewed confidence. The following day, I ended up shooting a group of school children continuously for almost two hours! Once they felt comforable with me and my camera they wouldn’t stop. They even showed up in front of the house I was staying at later in the evening for another round! The only thing that prevented us from shooting more was sunlight (or lack of it) and my batteries.

A Slideshow of Vietnam Photos, by Rob Piazza
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I did eventually travel to Sapa and, contrary to how I thought I would feel about the place, I actually liked it there. Yes, it is a tourist trap. Yes, you can’t walk much further than 3 meters before being hounded by ethnic minorities trying to sell you handmade (or not) souvenirs. The stuning scenery was average at best, due to excessive fog and poor visability, and the rice crops had already been harvested so gone were the golden terraced rice paddies extending from valley floor to mountain peak. But nonetheless, there was something about Sapa that made me want far more than the four days I was there. The layout of the town, its location on a mountainside overlooking the valley, its architecture…?

No, the charm for me came from the people I met: Tommy and his H’mong wife Chai who ran the fabulous Cha Pa Hotel and all the H’mong staff they employed; Chai’s sister Sho who guided me to the tourist-less villages in the area and took me out for a night on the town, H’mong style; May, the young H’mong girl who quickly became my friend and guide when Sho was unavailable; and Martin and his H’mong wife May who taught me so much about the local tribes and their way of life.

It’s the people of Sapa that give Sapa it’s charm. And it’s these people that make me want to go back for more. Sapa is again on my list of places to go, and I know next time will be an even more rewarding experience.

On a seperate note, I was disgusted at the number of photographers I saw in Sapa that treated the locals like monkeys in a zoo. In some cases coming within a few feet of a young ethnic minority girl, sticking their camera in her face and snapping away like the she was an animal in a zoo. Please, please if you do visit Sapa, remember that the ethnic minorites are people just like you and me…”

Report by Rob Piazza

Visit his Flickr stream here.