As you can tell by the dearth of new stories on our site so far this year, we’ve been busy with our ‘day jobs’. As Lara explained in her last post, we had so much writing and photography work that we decided to slow down and stay on in Hanoi in an apartment before exploring more of Vietnam. This is why “Terence on Tumblr” is now a thing.
While being busy is great, what’s even greater is that I get to throughly explore the different areas of this confounding city when I need a break from writing or editing photos.
While it is a difficult city to navigate on foot, as a photographer, walking the streets of Hanoi is phenomenal.
The reward is worth the risk of being run over by a scooter rider checking his text messages or a horn-honking four-wheel-drive. Rarely do I come back home with less than a few shots that I’m really happy with, even though I need a stiff drink after the assault upon my senses.
I get a buzz of excitement when I sling my camera over my shoulder and head out the door. Every time. I feel like a photography student again.
Living in Hanoi for a few months has changed how I photograph. I’ve stopped using my iPhone for photography and I’ve stopped posting images to Instagram (for a number of reasons).
I’m too busy to juggle cameras and I don’t want to miss shots that are really publishable because I’m playing around trying to get good focus with the iPhone.
The only way I think that this could be more pure is if I was shooting film again.
As I’m making selects for magazine stories while we’re here, I’m curating the shots that I feel best reflect the street scenes that I’m witnessing every day.
There might be some food photos, there might be some colour photos at some stage, but for now I’ll just be posting some black and white images of Hanoi street scenes to my new Tumblr account (Terence on Tumblr) and I’ll continue to post pics from our travels.
I hope you’ll go check them out.
Update: Terence is no longer active on tumblr, however, if you’re interested in photography, dig into his archive of Monday Memories a random series of reflections on photographs.
If you’re arriving on Grantourismo for the first time, pro photographer Terence Carter is half of the team/couple behind Grantourismo, a project/site launched in 2010 dedicated to slow, local and experiential travel and food. Terence has a decades-long career spanning editorial, portraiture, and food and travel photography.
Great shot! I am not a photographer but I can really respect your decision to focus on only the best shots.
Thanks!