Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese photography has developed dynamicallyraising both opportunities and challenges for photographers.

That was the message that came into focus in Hanoi on November 28 asprofessional and amateur snappers gathered to discuss industry problems andpromote creativity in the art.

Entitled Photographic Art – Current Problems, the seminar also created a chancefor photographers to enhance mutual understanding and exchange experiences.

Dang Dinh An, Chairman of the Hanoi Association of Photographic Artists, saidthe profession has been diversified with various types of cameras andtechnology.

But it stressed some younger photographers are ditching digital and moving backto film.

“Between new and old things, photographic art still requires much effort andtalent from photographers,” he said.

He pointed out that some photo contests bring controversy due to the quality ofphotos, the transparency of the jury and professional ability of participants.

“The most popular problem is the photographers use Photoshop application toretouch the photos,” he said.

“While the genre of press photos requires the truthfulness, in the genre ofartistic photos, photographers can retouch their work to have the betterstructure and light as well as cropping ‘rubbish’ in their photos. But theycertainly have to respect the moment they capture the photos.”

An said artistic photos should have a long vitality in term of space and time.“Particularly, when I choose a photo to hang up in my office, I can contemplateit everyday through years but not feel tired.”

“In the recent years, I realised that the photos which are simple, modest butclose to the life, often linger longer to the people’s taste,” An added.

Photographer Nguyen Xuan Chinh said authors should be stricter to themselves tocreate better works.

“The number of photographers has increased rapidly leading to the larger numberof photos created, audience have too many things to contemplate, so they becomemore demanding.”

“Photographers don’t have to just convince their audience but their colleaguesas well.”

Chinh suggested photographers should travel and discover new ways to takepictures.

“Photographic art should be stick life and the photographers should understandclearly the life and culture they are trying to reflect.” — VNS/VNA