|
VietNamNet Bridge – In 1986, Nicolas Cornet graduated from an advertising photography school in Switzerland. He wanted to travel around to discover the world, instead of working in Paris. Then, Jean-Claude Labbé, a journalist he had known, suggested him go to Vietnam with him to make a photo book.
In 1987, Cornet arrived in Vietnam. That first journey started quite a long series of journeys to the country. Step by step, he met kind-hearted people who helped him understand many things and explained social and cultural codes to him.
Discovering the country
Province after province, Cornet discovered the country in depth. Vietnam began to change from the time it opened its door to the world in the late 1980s. Gradually, everything became easier for Cornet. He started learning Vietnamese and had more friends.
He doesn’t know when his love for Vietnam began. Many people thought that it came from his Vietnamese wife. But actually, he only met his would-be wife in 1989, two years after his first trip in Vietnam. “This love has been built up thanks to the course of discovering Vietnam for a long time, and partly because half of my friends live in Vietnam,” he said.
Cornet even told his wife that she should visit her homeland, and he has been his life partner’s interpreter. “Just because I speak Vietnamese better than she does,” he said. It is strange enough that his wife helps him correct his mistakes in French, and he helps her learn more Vietnamese.
What Cornet also likes in Vietnam is that everything can change so fast. He always have to adjust himself to new norms/principles, and the people’s new life. When the open-door policy began, everybody quickly found ways to integrate, and to seize all opportunities in order to change his/her life. This process occurred incessantly, and thanks to that, Vietnam has been developing more and more. He is really impressed by this.
For a person who engages in art like Cornet, the most marvelous thing is that Vietnam in that time abounds in beautiful sights. “A country is as beautiful as one in fairy tales,” he commented. He used to shuttle many times between Hanoi and HCMC.
Nicolas Cornet, born in 1963, graduated from Vevey Applied Arts School (Switzerland). He usually cooperates with famous newspapers and magazines in Europe, such as Le Monde, Geo France, A/R Magazine, Grands Reportages, and Figaro. He also participates in editing some newspapers and TV productions in Vietnam and Germany.
He has a great passion for Asian cultures, civilizations, and languages, besides Vietnam, so he frequently goes to India, the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Korea.
He published a book named Vietnam, C’est le rêve with his photos and writings, and the English version of this book: Vietnam, A Sense of Place. He also has photographic cooperation with writers like Jean Claude Pomonti in some books such as At Dawn, Vietnamese Portraits and Anna Moi, Vietnam.
He said that his new book on discovering Vietnam will be published at the end of next year.
Although most of its parts are still poor and underdeveloped, thanks to the countryside, forests and national parks, for him, Vietnam is one of the most beautiful countries. It must be strange to many people because, to a number of the Vietnamese, France is a beautiful country.
The image of Vietnam in the old days is still in his mind. Nowadays it’s difficult to recognize the former Mandarine road. Way from Hanoi to HCMC, we can see miles and miles of match-like town houses stand close to one another.
On rivers appear many fish-shrimp-culturing ponds, and more factories can be seen along the road. To keep a fresh eye and desire of making photos Cornet has now to avoid big cities and main roads. “This is the price of quick development, the good thing is that the people’s life has become less difficult, more comfortable for many.”
Vietnam through thematic photos
It may not be easy to understand all the photos Cornet took for magazines and in his pictorial books. The themes in his photos are greatly relevant to the culture and other ethnic communities in Vietnam. In order to have a new theme, he has gone further into the Vietnamese people’s life, not simply by sitting on a coach and coming to places with beautiful landscapes to take pictures.
Looking at rivers, he asked himself about the life of those who live there. When seeing people ask each other to drink tea, he wonders what the position of tea in the Vietnamese daily life and culture is. Why does everybody invite one another for some tea when meeting? What does tea imply? Cornet discovers Vietnam and finds themes for his works in such a way.
Another theme that interests him is Buddhism. Recently, he studied the differences of Buddhism between North, Central and South Vietnam, and in what degree Buddhism influences Vietnamese culture and daily life. He is observing carefully young people going to pagodas, praying, and practicing meditation and sometimes yoga. He has recorded these images. His photo story has been printed in “Ulysse” and “Xua và Nay” (then and now) magazines.
In a book to be published in 2013, he said he would lead readers to discover Vietnam in different perspectives. They are kinds of “human and geographical roads” in Vietnam.
Cornet’s photos are a variety of colors. Blue, green, pink, dark red (raspberry) and others appear frequently. Colors bring him new ideas. An idea appeared when he caught sight of an old golden statue and two glass windows on Hanoi streets, or while he was strolling around an area in HCMC where the Chinese community lives.
Cornet has used a lot of colors in his photos, sometimes simply to show viewers powerful things, but at times only because of simple things, for example, just to let them admire a photo and utter: “Ah, that’s really Vietnam!”
Highly journalistic nature
Even though Cornet’s photo education was aesthetic and academic, his images are often highly journalistic. He said:
“My books are mainly sold in Western countries. I want to show readers truly realistic aspects of Vietnam. To do this, I have taken pictures as a journalist.”
This is really the most direct and effective way for everyone to understand clearly about the Vietnamese country, culture, and people. Journalistic photos always describe daily life better than artistic photos do.
|