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In early february, the photo collection garnered significant attention and was widely shared across online forums. |
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The young people embody elderly individuals visiting the flower market for Tet. Some buy peach branches and boxes of candied fruit, while others carry home bouquets of gladioli. |
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Two young people recreate "grandparents' love", with blooming peach branches in the background, highlighting the spring atmosphere. |
Models in the photos are from a Hanoi-based studio. Hoang Anh Hien (left), the brand's founder, expressed his delight that the project has been widely received and shared.
Amidst today's fast-paced life, the team chose to revisit Tet celebrations of yesteryear. The crew recreated a northern rural market scene, featuring peach branches, kumquat trees, and green banh chung (sticky rice cakes).
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Each year, Hien creates a photo collection for his staff during the new year, often focusing on telling old stories. Through these projects, he and his team aim to remind young people of a time when Tet was celebrated without phones, marked by scarcity but abundant love and family togetherness. |
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The team developed the concept one month before the shoot. Members were required to wear specific costumes. |
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According to Hien, the most challenging part was sourcing and purchasing costumes for nearly 30 people, including wool sweaters, padded jackets, and sandals, to authentically resemble the style of their grandparents' era. Hoang Anh Hien noted that while the costumes were not perfectly complete, they aimed to evoke the atmosphere of that period. |
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On the day of the shoot, team members began their makeup at 3:00, adding beards, gray hair, and wrinkles to appear elderly. Afterward, they proceeded to the first shooting location: Quang Ba flower market in Tay Ho. This is Hanoi's largest flower market, operating from 3:00 until noon, and staying open all night during Tet. |
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The young group performed a traditional dance, bringing a cheerful atmosphere. |
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After the Quang Ba flower market, the group moved to Dong Xuan market and concluded their shoot at Ho Guom at 4:00 PM. To achieve a vintage photo aesthetic, the team used an old camera, valued at approximately 1,2 million dong today. They also consulted archival images on the Internet and interviewed relatives to accurately capture the spirit of the subsidy period. |
On a fanpage with over 2,7 million followers, many praised the group's clever and endearing concept. Dang Khoa commented that the photo collection was beautiful and thanked the young people for recreating the old scene.
Writer Truong Quy observed that the photo collection largely captured the spirit of the subsidy years, though he noted some minor inaccuracies. For instance, the costumes appeared too "lavish," conveying a sense of abundance that was inconsistent with the historical context. Additionally, Vietnam at that time had a young population, and the collection could have included more images of young people, not just the elderly.
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Hoang Anh Hien, 32 years old, was born and raised in Dan Phuong, Hanoi. He studied architecture at the University of Civil Engineering Hanoi. He pursued photography from his third year of university and has photographed the late People's Artist Hoang Dung, runner-up Huyen My, and runner-up Tu Anh.
Phuong Linh
Photos, video: Calica Studio
