The young man spreads his love for Xu Lang through photos

– As a freelance photographer with a very young age, Mr. Chu Van Minh (Chu Minh) is the author who owns many works winiing great prizes inside and outside the province. His photos have contributed to promoting and spreading the beauty of Xu Lang to viewers.

Minh was born in 1994, currently living in Tam Thanh ward, Lang Son city. In 2017, after graduating from the Department of Photojournalism, Academy of Journalism and Communication, Minh returned to his hometown and became a freelance photographer. Regularly taking photos since 2017 but in 2019, he really got involved in art photography. His forte in photography is works about Xu Lang’s landscapes, beautiful scenes and tourist attractions.

To pursue the subject of landscape photography, Mr. Minh has traveled around Lang Son’s countryside. Minh shared: “During my travels, I often go to the countryside with beautiful scenery or famous landscapes, because there are always cultural stories with different colors there, which are precious materials for photographers. Each photographer has their own thinking and perspective, I always try to discover or create new things on old materials”.

Mr. Chu Minh

Minh said that many a time, to realize an idea, he has to spend many days away from his family, go long distances, climb mountains, soak in water, stay up at night, or face extremely difficult situations, such as standing under the sun on the extremely hot mountain top or suffering a cold of a few degrees Celsius on the top of Mau Son… If he lacked passion and not brave enough, he would give up. From those hard trips, he has accumulated a lot of knowledge about photography techniques such as handling light, color, perspective, shooting angle and so on.

It is known that before 2019, when he “hunted” for beautiful images, he often mainly shared on social networking sites, but recently, he has just begun to submit photos to contests. From here, the name Chu Minh has appeared more and more in photo contests inside and outside the province. His works have gradually been noticed by the judges thanks to its balanced composition and harmonious colors. Typically, in 2020, his work “Lang Son Flagpole” was displayed at the “Proud of a Border Strip” Exhibition; in 2021, he won the second prize in the contest of beautiful Lang Son city tourism photos with the work “Xu Lang Spring Garden”. Most recently, two of his works, “Mau Son Frost” and “Hon Vong Phu 2”, have been selected to be displayed at the Viet Nam Photo Exhibition through the international photographers’ lens in 2021.

Besides, from 2020 to now, he has had nearly 100 photos published in Xu Lang Art Magazine and Lang Son Newspaper. Many of his photo sets, after being published in Lang Son electronic newspaper, have been continuously shared on social networks, online photo sharing platforms and received a lot of positive comments from viewers such as Bac Son during the Brilliant Golden Season; Admiring Dong Lam Steppe in the dry season; Peace on the Khau Sao Steppe and so on.

Minh added that he still regularly learns and updates about the latest photography styles and technologies, for example, recently, he has invested in flycam equipment to serve the trend of taking photos from above. In addition, he also regularly look at photos and learn more from the experience of experienced photographers or those with the same style in the province such as Luu Minh Dan, Bui Vinh Thuan and so forth.

Commenting on author Chu Minh, photographer Vu Quoc Khanh, former President of Viet Nam Association of Photographic Artists, member of the judges of Lang Son City Tourism Beauty Photo Contest said that Chu Minh is a young author with good technique, tight perspective when taking pictures. For example, with the work “Xu Lang Spring Garden” (winning the second prize in the “Lang Son City Tourism Beauty Photo” Contest in 2021), author Chu Minh has shown a beautiful photo, with good composition of harmonious colors, combining elements of local culture. The photo has a high aesthetic value, creating a strong impression on viewers. It can be seen that Chu Minh is a young face with many prospects for development in the field of photography in the province.

It is known that Mr. Chu Van Minh’s dream is to continue to spread the image of the beautiful Xu Lang Land to friends from all over the world. Therefore, at the end of 2021, Mr. Minh applied to join the Photography Sub-Association, the Lang Son Literature and Art Association with the desire to have conditions to study more deeply about art photography, further improve his knowledge and skills about art photography.