Huy

Absolutely fantastic street photo tour of Saigon

I was on a sunrise and a sunset tour with Adrien on the same day. My personal background makes me a somewhat unusual participant of these tours. I was born and grew up right here in Saigon but left 20 years ago to settle overseas and have only been back occasionally for short visits since then. I’m also a photography enthusiast with a very good understanding of the technical aspects (but maybe not the artistic parts) of photography. I believe this background allows me to review Adrien’s tours with some authority and this is my take: his tours are absolutely fantastic and you should definitely book them.

Despite growing up in the city, I wasn’t aware of the very interesting spots he took me to. I thought District 1 is all expensive, built-up, sterile, commercial and touristy but there’s a part of district 1 right next to the touristy areas that is full of dark little alleys and small vibrant street-front shops where people are living typical Vietnamese lives completely unbothered by foreigners and big commerce. The little nooks and crannies he walked me through at each location showed me that he knows these places like the back of his hand and he must have spent days on end wandering and exploring them before showing them to me. Adrien helped me see the street markets I grew up with in a new light as prime street photographic opportunities. It’s quite amazing to see how comfortable Adrien is with taking photos of strangers and how he makes strangers feel comfortable with him taking photos of them. He would often stop and talk to Vietnamese people he encounters and they would be amazed at how well he speaks Vietnamese and readily open up to him and tell him about their lives.

I’m extremely impressed by how quickly Adrien spots interesting light, people, lines, shapes and colors and how quickly he combines these elements into interesting composition in photos that he took during the tour and shared with me during our post-tour feedback session. I felt like I was truly learning from a master of his craft. Another unique thing is that, totally unbeknownst to me, during our tour, Adrien was taking street photos of me taking street photos of other people and I really love these photos because. In addition to being my favorite photos of myself (who is usually behind instead of being in front of the camera), these photos are great street photos in their own right and show how Adrien truly practices the principles of photography what he preaches.

Aside from the photographic aspect, Adrien is also an amazing human being and I love talking to him about life and his experience living in Vietnam for the past 10 years. He’s also very open to giving you photographic tips about other places he has been to before. In short, you won’t regret booking his tours.