Vietnamese Child Soldiers School Play: Travel Photography Tips

Let it be travel, street or people photography, it is best to be ready for the unexpected. From the smallest coincidence and synchronicity, to stumbling upon amazing street scenes, the travel photographer usually has little idea of what images will be captured any given day.

March 18, 2008 was such a day, while wondering the streets, I discovered a colorful, outdoor dance performance and musical in progress, east of the picturesque Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam. The first half of the elementary school play featured girls dancing with flowers, the second half consisted of a military musical with marching and singing child soldiers, armed to the teeth with cardboard weapons.

Fortunately I was prepared to the almost non-stop photography for the next hour. I had a fully charged spare battery and several spare memory cards. Photographing these school kids presented some creative challenges as my mobility was restricted among the crowd of onlookers – but it also was a great exercise in quick thinking and decision making.

Daydreaming chubby Vietnamese child soldier

Let me start with one of my favorite images from this photoshoot. First of all there are not many chubby kids or adults in Vietnam so the novelty of this adorable kid already guarantees an engaging picture. This photo was towards the end of the school play and even though this kid was daydreaming, and mentally already checked out, he and his comrades deserve a lot of credit to stick it out for the duration.

This Vietnamese child soldier was quite a few yards away from me so I was using a telephoto lens which ensured a blurred background, that did not distract, so the portrait of the kid stands out and is not lost in with background clutter. This was a rapid fire photoshoot, so as far as composition, I was mainly making sure to place the kid’s face in the cross hairs of the Rule of Thirds, and to put more space in front of him than behind him.

Vietnamese child soldier with crumpled ears, holding cardboard weapon

I also love this portrait and as usual, small details start to emerge and make the photo even more enjoyable than seeing it at a quick glance. The child soldier’s crumpled, bent ear immediately stands out to me, which represents a typical imperfection, which tend to give realism to photographs that weren’t set-up.

I also like that the kid’s finger is on the trigger of the cardboard weapon. Another element that adds a realistic feel to the image.

Vietnamese child soldier with proud stance

This is an interesting moment frozen in time, compared to the other images from this series. Perhaps due to the heat or simply as an act of rebellion, this child soldier decided to flip back his hat. His gesture might have been part of his march or he could have been making conducting gestures to the accompanying loud music. His pose takes on an elegant and proud stance. I was lucky that this performance area had an amazing background with thick vegetation.

Even though this background was also green and could have camouflaged the kids’ uniforms, fortunately it had texture and shapes so the main objects – the kids – never really got lost in the composition. The vertical cutouts in the stone fence behind the child soldier add strong, defined vertical lines to the composition, which compliment the typically rigid, at attention pose of a military person.

Vietnamese child soldiers marching with cardboard guitars

Often times the cardboard weapons were turned into cardboard guitars, which made perfect sense for the musical. I am not sure if it happened organically – as it seemed – or if it was under the direction of the choreographer. This composition features the classic “Odd Rule of Composition”, which means that odd number of items or subjects are typically more visually pleasing thant even numbers.

This wider angle shot shows more of the fantastic background that was such a gift. The backdrop easily could have been a disaster: a parking lot, electric poles or wires crisscrossing the scene and intersecting heads and bodies.

Young soldiers marching with cardboard weapons

The choreography was quite dynamic so I was presented with many different arrangements of the young soldiers. A soldier in both the foreground and the background means that the image has more of a 3D effect, via the introduction of perspective. Lines of perspective can be drawn from face to face, weapon to weapon, raised knee to raised knee.

Stolen moments in travel and people photography

Given the complexity and length of this school play, kids at this age are bound to loose concentration. Some start to sweat and our favorite chubby child soldier will be probably the more sweaty and itchy performers. What is captured on this pictures is what I refer to is a stolen moment.

The kid scratching his head with the cardboard weapon is a small gem, a moment that is not a typical aspect of the entire, hour long performance but it highlights the humanity of the subject matter of the photo.

I also like this rather unchoreographed moment when all things seemed to fall apart. But the composure was quickly regained and the show went on.

Vietnamese child soldiers outdoor military musical performance

I love the contrasting roles between the different child soldiers here. The contrast between the movement of the marching kids versus the stillness of the kid in the foreground standing at attention. The distant gaze in his eyes is perfect, it conveys a mood that is mysterious which is open for interpretation by the viewer of the photo.

Vietnamese child soldiers singing near the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi

Back in 2008 my Nikon D80 camera did not have video recording feature, therefore the music and signing can only be implied by still photography. The enthusiastic, animated and expressive performance fortunately translated beautifully to photos and conveyed the spirit of the children and the musical.

Busy choreography of Vietnamese child soldiers outdoor school play

Thankfully the choreography was visually interesting and well structured so even a complicated group movement like the child soldiers circling, still resulted in a visually interesting composition, instead of a hot mess of intersecting subjects.

Vietnamese child soldiers standing at attention

When the “Odd Rule of Composition” – odd number of subjects being typically more visually pleasing – was not applicable, fortunately repeating shapes and lines still saved many images. The two child soldiers are both similar and different at the same time, which give the viewer’s eyes a chance to roam around the photograph and discover interesting details.

The similarity is the at attention pose and the way the cardboard weapons are held. The difference is in the weight and physical appearance of the two children.

Vietnamese child soldiers marching and singing with cardboard weapons

Some of these young performers had more energy, talent and enthusiasm than others, and it was important to concentrate on these persons and catch decisive moments when they especially shined. Both the powerful marching and the enthusiastic singing nicely come through on the following two photos.

Vietnamese child soldier preforming as Rock ‘n’ Roll singer

A truly precious moment, I was very happy and lucky to capture. Somewhat out of character one of these trained killers all of the sudden started to perform as a Rock ‘n’ Roll singer. The cardboard weapon instantly transformed into a guitar and the foot movement of the soldier completely stopped resembling any style of marching.

Vietnamese child soldier with cardboard toy weapon against beautiful background

Out of the hundreds of photos taken during this military school musical, some were perfect gems, taken at moments when everything fell into place. This child soldier had a rare, perfect eye contact with me, as I was quite a distance away.
As I placed him off center in the composition, a beautiful palm tree became visible in the background, drawing an eye-catching geometric pattern reminiscent of a peacock tail.

Vietnamese child soldier hiding in ambush

Usually a western visitor with a camera is immediately spotted in Southeast Asia but on this day, I was in a middle of a crowd and the kids were preoccupied with following the songs and the choreography. But shortly after the conclusion of the school play my presence was finally discovered and I was promptly ambushed by a nearly invisible soldier hiding behind thick jungle foliage.

Vietnamese communist soldiers marching across the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi

Two more images from a totally different location and from another day but related in their subject matter to the above photos. In Communist Vietnam there are often signs around government buildings which prohibit photography.

This particular location was just too close to a major tourist attraction: the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to be off limits. Still, I was only able to snap a few pictures before I got some stern looks from the marching soldiers. Being born in a communist country myself (Hungary), it was second nature to me to quickly put my camera away and walk away before I would get into trouble. Better safe than sorry.