From 1992-2009 I lived in Viet Nam where I worked as a freelance photographer shooting for international corporations, advertising agencies, local manufacturers, businesses and media. I converted a pigsty into a darkroom, a garage into a studio, hung a gallery in a restaurant, sold my book and greeting cards nation wide, taught photography courses and organized field trips into the boondocks. It was a truly amazing time to be in the country, witnessing the changing way of life since Doi Moi when Viet Nam implemented economic reforms by opening its doors to us in 1986. I cannot explain my deep connection and love for Viet Nam but it is one I share with my daughter, Hannah, and many friends - it seems to resonate with our souls and we feel we belong there.
I have travelled the country widely and wildly, mostly by motorbike - sometimes, once she turned eight, with Hannah riding pillion. My passion is shooting street photography - walking and riding along streets, tracks and paths and shooting subjects that take my fancy where ever it is and what ever it is. My aim to capture the essence of Viet Nam; faces of friends from the many tribes, their rich culture and varying religious beliefs, vignettes of their daily life and surroundings. Photographs have been published in a book, 'loose dust blowing against a mountain', a pictorial journal of my travels up until 2004 which sells for $30AUS plus postage. Volume II is on its way.
My Fine Art Photographs of Viet Nam can be ordered online via this site.
Moving to Australia in 2009 for Hannah's education was challenging. We recently decided to give the big smoke of Brisbane a miss and have opted to live surrounded by the beauty of NSW's Mid North Coast where we wake to the sound of waves and laughing kookaburras, walk to the beach for a swim or a fish and take long drives in the mountains we can see from our kitchen window. A far cry indeed from our little house on the outskirts of Sai Gon, its lush oasis of a garden, the friendly greetings walking to the morning market for a bowl of pho, the sound of the city encroaching on our wee hamlet (a downside to development).
I am available for commercial, corporate, industrial and fashion shoots, weddings and portrait photography on the Mid North Coast. I teach photography workshops and hold field trips in the beautiful valleys around this region.
You can catch me on the 3rd Saturday of each month at the Bellingen Markets where I have a market stall selling Fine Art Photographs and Handmade Cards.
In September this year I will have a month-long exhibit at the Queensland Centre of Photography in Brisbane.
To facilitate navigating this website all facets of my work are listed under PORTAL.
Clicking on will return you to the PORTAL.
I hope you enjoy my photography!
Helen Savory
January 2011
Helen Savory
Vision Vietnam - Photography by Helen Savory
0434412329
Mid North Coast,
NSW,
Australia
