Hat Vietnamese style, a photo from Quang Nam, South Central Coast

Photographer's Note

Craig showed a Cuban man with a huge cigar, here the portrait of Vietnamese man with rather small cigarette. What I found delightful in Vietnam were these conical Asian hats.
Non la (palm-leaf conical hat) is a traditional symbol of Vietnamese people without age, sex or racial distinctions.
Like many other traditional costumes of Vietnam, Non la has its own origin, coming from a legend related to the history of rice growing in Vietnam. The story is about a giant woman from the sky who has protected humankind from a deluge of rain. She wore a hat made of four round shaped leaves to guard against all the rain. After the Goddess was gone, Vietnamese built a temple to commemorate her as the Rain-shielding Goddess.
Vietnamese tried to make a hat modelling after the Goddess' by stitching together palm leaves, which is now known as Non la. The image of Non la has become strongly associated with peasant lives from the paddy field to both men and women.
Non la is made out of such simple and available materials as palm leaves, bark of Moc tree and bamboo.
(From http://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/non-la.html)

timecapturer, No_One, saxo042, delpeoples, fritzi007, RhodieIke, patpatch, SnapRJW, Kaisa71, COSTANTINO, Romano46 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snunney (130967) 2014-03-11 3:22

Hello Malgo,
A great capture of this man so full of character enjoying his cigarillo. The expression is superb. Thanks for sharing.

timecapturer (49288) 2014-03-11 3:34

Hi Malgo
an expressive and delightful capture this. So much character and a definitive moment in time shot! Excellent!

Brian.

holmertz (103732) 2014-03-11 4:03

Hello Malgo,
What a remarkable portrait. This is a highly unusual way of posing for a photo, but it's a great shot with a perfect background. I am looking forward to seeing more gems like this that you have been hiding in your computer.
Kind regards,
Gert

jasmis (58653) 2014-03-11 4:15 [Comment]

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Sergiom (117241) 2014-03-11 5:37

Ciao Malgorzata,

Un superbe portrait.Je pense que l'homme voulait de tout coeur coopérer avec toi pour faire quelque chose d'original. On se demande comment sa cigarette fait pour tenir.

Amicalement

Serge

wolf38 (30) 2014-03-11 7:44

Hello Malgo. Vietnamese with cigar and typical hat. What a facial expression with the cigar in his mouth open. The man seems a bit surprised by your shot. The hand-rolled cigars are very popular in Southeast Asia, - but to me they have not committed. Two cigars I have kept as a souvenir of his time, - no one will ever smoke.
Rgds, Wolfgang.

No_One (4) 2014-03-11 11:32

Hi Malgo,
Your portrait made me smile, and your note is fantastic! Always when I see these hats, the remind me of Vietnam, and I never knew really why, but now I do! You have taught me something very new and very interesting today, and I wont forget this new information. Really nicely done. Learning about the world through photography :)
All the best
Noel

carlo62 (81265) 2014-03-11 16:20

Ciao Malgo
di sicuro non siamo a Pisa, ma forse in autunno potrai trovare cose simili :)
Un ritratto molto originale, una vista che incuriosisce e mette simpatia.
Saluti
Carlo

Corry (4508) 2014-03-11 19:58

Bonsoir Malgorzata

Beau portrait de cet homme très expressif avec sa cigarette à la bouche. Bien fait.

Yvon

jjcordier (79299) 2014-03-11 23:35

Malgorzata
Nouvelle étape de ton tour du monde! Un portrait amusant de ce vietnamien avec sa cigarette pendante et son Non la.
Amicalement
JJ

saxo042 (38078) 2014-03-12 2:42

Hi Malgo,
A fine triangle in this composition! An interesting portrait of this man, but his smile is not very attractive with that cigar in his mouth. But the overall colours are good.
Kind regards
Gunnar

delpeoples (60342) 2014-03-12 3:22

Ciao cara Itchy Feet

hehehe ooh this made me smile. What a hilarious moment you captured with perfect timing and so much character. What on earth did you say to him to make him do this? I love it, a great moment captured very skilfully and with a lot of humour.

Un abbraccio
Lisa

youngman (31) 2014-03-12 3:32

Excellent portrait captured in the very right moment

fritzi007 (14698) 2014-03-12 5:12

Hallo Malgo,
da ist dir wieder ein großes Foto gelungen sehenswert!
Viele Grüße
Wolfgang

macjake (98544) 2014-03-12 11:34

Hi Malgo
haha...this one is so tiny :)
looks like the type of cigar/cigarette my father likes to smoke.
was it only a one time thing with the man smiling like this or do you have others too?
fun photo for sure, puts a smile on my face to start the day :)
cheers
craig

Silvio1953 (223103) 2014-03-12 13:40

Ciao Malgorzata, great portrait, fantastic expression, splendid light and wonderful colors, very well done my friend, ciao Silvio

RhodieIke (11752) 2014-03-12 23:32

Hi Malgo,

How did you get this chap to pose with his mouth open like this, he he.
He certainly looks a fun guy, his hat is superb, his expression priceless.

Well managed, Tfs,

Cheers, Iain.

patpatch (1601) 2014-03-13 9:27

Hello Malgo,

That a splendid shot.A very nice portrait,and a magnificent capture.
The expression on the face of the man gives a great dynamism to your shot.
That's a very good composition.
Friendly.
Patrick

SnapRJW (31631) 2014-03-13 11:16

Hello Malgo - A super note to accompany an amusing portrait. I wonder if the man is having a little fun with you? You've certainly captured him at exactly the right moment.

Did you buy a hat?

Warm regards Rosemary

Kaisa71 (228) 2014-03-13 14:20

Hi,
That man looks surprised or is he saying something to you? Anyway his face, cigarette and hat make the nice shot. His skin looks weather-beaten and he probably has been working hard all his life outdoor so I hope he now had a pleasant moment of smoking. I have been to Vietnam but now heard first time the legend and history of the traditional Vietnamese hat. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Kaisa

COSTANTINO (117940) 2014-03-13 23:23

Good morning
Dynamic portrait of this Vietnamese man
with a small cigarette I like the
expression of his face with details
very wellcomposed the hat dominates the
photo and its very impressive
I could say its a remarkable photo
really nicely done
regards
Costantino

kasianowak (17676) 2014-03-15 5:06

Czesc Malgosiu
Super portret w stylu low key, ze swietnie uchwyconym wyrazem twarzy, a szczegolnie oczu.
Kasia

jmdias (116635) 2014-03-27 3:00

malgorzata

interesting the reaction of this personage to your camera, looks like a kind of surprise and fun attitude. nice details like the hat, the cigarette. excellent portrait.
nice job.

hugs

jorge

Romano46 (18472) 2014-03-29 10:00

Ciao Malgo
E' proprio un ritratto molto originale.
Il fumo è un'abitudine per certi popoli che fa parte delle stesse loro tradizioni e non credo che essi si pongono problemi di salute quando aspirano il fumo.
Ottima la nitidezza, interessaante il soggetto e bella la stessa ambientazione con lo sfondo omogeneo delle acque del fiume.
Brava
Ciao e buon fine settimana
Romano