Hemmed in
Fujilove Magazine submission October 2020
With the exception of a few months in New Zealand, I have spent the best part of the last decade living and working in Saigon, Vietnam. It’s a city of nominally nine million people, but unofficial estimates that include expats and foreign contract workers run to 13 million.
When I first took up residence here, I lived in a narrow cul de sac in the suburb of Phú Nhuận, one of the most densely populated parts of the city due in large part to its myriad alleyways or hẻm, in Vietnamese. At first, even finding my way home at night was a challenge, so I used a mnemonic from my drumming days to help. RLRLRR. Go past the language centre on the corner, then take the first right, then left, then right… you get the idea.
These ‘hems’ (there’s no plural ‘s’ in Vietnamese) form labyrinths of self-limiting living and mixed purpose spaces throughout Saigon. For this FujiLove story, I revisit life in the hems of Saigon, focusing principally on four localities: Phú Nhuận District, Phạm Ngũ Lão, Bùi Viện and Trần Hưng Đạo Streets( District 1), and the notorious former slum area around Tôn Đản Street in District 4.
On the right-hand side of the first hem on the way to my former home is a sliver of a dwelling which literally looks as if it were glued onto the front of a much bigger house. I came to know the occupants quite well. Recently I visited them for the first time in years and was invited in to take some pictures. They are a nice family – a husband, wife and their two kids, whose certificates of academic achievement are still proudly displayed on the rear wall. I’m not certain of the precise dimensions of the building, but you can get some idea from the picture here. At one end is the kitchen and cooking area - it’s possibly 1.2 metres in width. This tapers to about 600mm at the opposite end, where there is a ladder leading up to the next two floors of equal dimensions. It was night time when I visited, and this gave me a good opportunity to capture the essence of such cramped living in low light, creating the impression of even less space.
Around the corner from the sliver house is a fantastic old wok kitchen that has been operated by three generations of the same family. It’s precariously situated outdoors beneath an old timber and tin living quarters on the intersection of three hems. Motor scooters, pushbikes and pedestrian traffic stream through here at a steady rate around dinner time, which of course is when the family is busiest cooking. The husband and wife team stand side-by-side throwing woks of delicious noodles, beef and seafood over twin gas jets. They frequently glance over their shoulders to micro-assess the risk posed by the approaching traffic. Sitting at a table and watching their skills under this pressure is quite an entertainment.
Saigon is a riot of crazed colour, especially at night. The X-T4’s auto white balance does a great job of deciding on a ‘doable’ colour temperature from all this chromatic chaos. In post, I left its choices largely unchanged but selected Classic Negative as my go-to profile. These pictures were processed initially in Capture One Express, but some local adjustments were made in Lightroom Classic. I decided to use 16 x 9 framing for most images in this story. It seemed to make sense, lending each scene a more cinematic, narrative feeling.
By far the tightest of the hem networks I photographed was in the Trần Hưng Đạo area of District 1. Many of these hems are barely wider than a man’s shoulders and yet bustle with life. Several enterprises can be witnessed in full flight – A kids’ makeshift summer classroom, a hairdresser, a food stall run by an eccentric old guy and his wife - all within the same 50 square meters. I took with me the X-T4 and two lenses – the 16mm/f1.4 and the 16-55mm/f2.8 zoom. I did find myself wishing I owned something wider, perhaps the Fujinon 10-24mm zoom, or even the third party Laowa 9mm/f2.8, which I’ve heard good things about.
The next series of pictures comes from one of the most historically significant hem networks in District 4. The area was largely overlooked in the early French planning of the city, which focused on developments to the north, and an ad hoc residential precinct grew organically along the canal which was once the port area. It became a classic portside slum occupied by vagabonds, poor rural folk who’d migrated to the city in search of work, gamblers, racketeers, hustlers and hookers. One of the original corrugated iron shacks is still standing.
The most famous alley here is Hẻm No. 148. It was the home of Saigon’s most notorious gangster, Năm Cam. Although the violence and illicit activity of the past have mostly subsided, the alleys here are still imbued with a vague sense of threat. I visited Hem 148 on two occasions. Locals forbade my access to certain areas in no uncertain terms.
Despite this cool reception, as well as snapping pics of a construction site and a living-room shoe factory, I was able to grab a few shots of the locals gambling, both men and women, who were at first welcoming, but soon grew tired of my lens in their faces. An interesting point here is that when I flipped out the screen in order to take an overhead shot, the men instantly accused me of shooting video, and at that point I was told to leave. I’ve developed a keen sense of self-preservation in these situations, and so complied without argument. I have to say that perhaps the X-T4 paired the 16-55mm zoom is not a great fit for this kind of shooting- it’s conspicuously professional and attracts too much attention. The tiny 16mm/f2.8 would have been a better choice for shooting here. Much less intimidating.
I love exploring these tight spaces. I’m constantly fascinated by the stories that they offer up, and by the resilience and enterprise of their inhabitants. Some might see this kind of photography as intrusive or even objectifying - more so than regular street shooting. After all, I am often pointing my lens directly into people’s private houses and, by extension, into their private world. But I think context and intent really matter here. Wherever possible I try to engage with my subjects, and I never take a photo if asked not to. But of course, there’s a fine balance between projecting good faith and missing the moment.
Finally, a few notes on the X-T4 from a newbie owner. Regarding the tilty-flippy screen, I have to admit that as I’m primarily a photographer, I’m not a big fan. I think it only really appeals to vloggers, who in any case would probably opt for a lighter camera body than the X-T4. Just my two cents…
On the plus side, the autofocus was confident and nimble. Image quality at low ISOs is superb, but noise does begin to impact fine detail above ISO 4000. The overall build standard and weather-sealing of the camera are excellent, and I’ve taken it out in tropical rain with no problems whatsoever. These narrow alleys are severely light-deprived and basic IBIS was engaged on the X-T4 for most shots in order to keep ISO low. I kept the f-numbers a bit higher to keep some context in the backgrounds, and the slower shutter speeds helped to capture the motion of the ubiquitous scooters. This of course resulted in less than sharp faces at times, but I think nailing the moment is more important in this type of photography.
I also still enjoy being able to glance down at the top dials and know where I’m at before lifting the camera to my eye. My hem project is ongoing and being a denizen of the hems myself, I guess I’m also documenting my own story. With the right lens choices (smaller is definitely better) the Fuji X-System is uniquely suited to this sort of urban exploration.