Sean Nolan: Vietnam

Sean Nolan: Vietnam

Sean Nolan, a life-long resident of San Francisco and the Bay Area, traveled extensively as a child. As a youngster, he developed a love for photography while traveling with his parents to Kenya. After college at the University of California, Berkeley, he renewed his passion for the medium, concentrating on environmental portraits.

On a trip to Vietnam in 2002, Nolan noticed a confluence of cultures–foreign tourists and capital from the West and Asia alongside traditional values that are thousands of years old. Vietnam is now the thirteenth most populous nation on Earth with approximately 90 million people. It is one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the last decade. This rapid pace of recent change creates fascinating blends of fast and slow, old and new, traditional and unusual, which provided the inspiration for Nolan's Vietnam series.

In Vietnam, traditional, conical hats worn by merchants, farmers, and street peddlers mix with urban bustle, neon lights, and concrete. Skateboarders perform maneuvers in front of Lenin's statue, and young people wearing trendy sports clothes are indicative of a modern culture encroaching on tradition. Orange and rose vendors together with children selling traditionally made kebabs on a charcoal grill compete with large supermarkets and modernized convenience stores.

For this series, Nolan used a medium-format film camera, which forces him to slow down and carefully consider framing more than one does when using digital photography, where speed and storage capacity might encourage a less deliberate approach. Because there are only twelve frames in a roll of film, traditional medium-format photography requires a deliberate consideration of essence, which Nolan finds more contemplative, almost meditative - a pleasing contrast to the hectic bustle and rapid pace of a constantly changing Vietnam.

Photography is not permitted.
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