HCM vs HSBC Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Day XXII

In front of Ho Chi Minh City Hall (the pink building on the left), you can find this statue of... Ho Chi Minh ! It remains you Viet Nam is still a communist country.
Beside Ho Chi Minh City Hall, you find the HSBC building. It remains you the cold war is over for a while.

In Viet Nam, you can use Dong or US Dollars (even to give to Buddha) ! What does Uncle Ho may think about that ?

ndb1958, jmdaoudal, bertolucci, devimeuxbe, mlopes has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

davido (1982) 2005-08-21 13:33

Bonjour Stéphane,
Voici une image intelligemment construite avec Mr Ho au milieu qui doit se retourner dans sa tombe comme une crêpe de la Chandeleur.
Bien réalisé. Un reportage sur le Vietnam qui commence réellement à avoir 'de la gueule' comme on dit.
Amicalement, David

mrdungx (172) 2005-08-21 15:37

Ha, interesting view and comment!

About your question, I think Ho Chi Minh would say, "I'm OK with that as long as Vietnam economics can grow rapidly."

Ho is believed to be a practicalist than a communist and I think Vietnam could have even opened the economics much earlier if he stayed in the control role longer. Hence he surely wouldn't mind if there is such a non-communism icon like HSBC placed close to his statue either ;)

Fis2 (47675) 2005-08-21 15:55

Bonjour Stephane!
Good composition. I like the frame and colours. Very impressive picture!
Regards
Krzysztof

apache (1426) 2005-08-22 4:59

Hi Stephane,
The HSBC building behind the HCM is a good sign that Vietnam is coming out of the cold war era and the country is opening up to change. You picture with the grand buildings behind does a lot to change the view of common man that Vietnam is not an under developed country full of starving vietnamese but a country surging ahead with developement.
A good travel picture
Ranjith

kevinos (6929) 2005-08-22 9:02

It's an interesting and enjoyable picture Stephen, and one that makes a point. Sadly, uncle Ho is dead but George W Bush and others like him are not.Morality against money always was a non-contest.

weswang (18223) 2005-08-22 10:40

Hi Stéphane, A very well composed picture. This is the icon of current Ho Chi Minh City. The contrast on the status is a little too strong. I have made a WS to bring out the contrast of the status a little. Hope you don’t mind.

[workshop] [compare] +

ndb1958 (9249) 2005-08-22 11:09

Hi Stephane,
interesting shot and even good note. I like the composition.
Nice POV and composition.
Nino

feather (51026) 2005-08-22 11:50

Interesting how you have cropped this to make the point from your note. It makes a powerful image. My memory was that there were 2 children and that you'd cropped one out. Anyway when I looked back at my un-creative snapshot I see I was wrong. Well composed
Kath

jmdaoudal (82) 2005-08-22 12:29

Hier c'était Jésus, aujourd'hui c'est le Messie du Vietnam, un peu Marxiste sur les bord et avec Giap le grand reconquérant de l'indépendance....
J'aurais mis moins de ciel mais tout autant de contraste pour donner de la force à ce visage asiatique.
Belles couleurs et lumière.
Jean Michel
PS je note la présence du groupe Bancaire bien connu dans le fond =-)))

Kenny10pin (19301) 2005-08-22 18:19

wow, a similar shot to mine, but mine was at night, well done, I like the shadow here, good one

bertolucci (12024) 2005-08-23 13:35

Bon soir Stephane, this is a very evocative and well composewd entry in your Viet Nam travelogue. The contrast between the old ruler and the modern backdrop is indeed intriguing and well captured. The dark shadows on the statue works well here.
Good job!
Regards from Rotterdam,
Bert

devimeuxbe (56598) 2005-08-24 5:32

Salut Stephane.
Les statues des idoles ne sont pas encore déboulonnées au Vietnam. En fait il s'agit ici plus d'un nationaliste que d'un idéologue.
J'aime bien ce cadrage dynamique avec cette grande part pour le ciel.
Bertrand

mlopes (492) 2005-08-26 15:49

Great and artistic eye, you've composed the photo very well... nice use of DOF.

Mário

nopoint (878) 2005-09-24 11:19

Great composition! I like it. HCM actually was a very good friend with the Americains. The OSS had worked with him. When he declared independent of Viet Nam, the Americain officers was sitting next to him. At the end of world war II, Truman abandon him...Kiet

vlado (174) 2005-11-02 7:21

Hi

I like your shot, because it is very simple with warm colors and great composition. It's superb, that you had focused on Ho Chi-Minh and put the tower with Vietnamese flag in back, this makes a very good composition. Also this picture is a good proof of Vietnamese path between communism and capitalism.

Regards