© copyright by long nguyen. all rights reserved.

 

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melissa

 

 

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corena

 

 

 

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wanted: beautiful women

 

 

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adam

 

 

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miami

 

 

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clarity

 

 

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lee loo

 

 

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tempress

 

 

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2 steps forward

 

 

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and 1 step back

 

 

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portrait of a ballerina

 

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project vietnam

this april, i will be returning to vietnam. it has been over 10 years since my last visit. my primary reason to go back this time is to photograph the heart and soul of vietnam. suggestions and comments are welcomed. on hold.

 

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sophia

model: sophia / makeup: kymmy / hair: laty

 

 

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the executioner's song

to singapore

dear sir, a man commits a crime. does that make him a criminal? for how long? if that man also exhibits love for others, does charity, contributes positively to his society, is he still a criminal? when does he stop being a criminal and become a man again? or does he ever? if, say, he commits a crime that is so heinous and that demonstrates he no longer possesses any qualities of being human or humane, can he ever become a man again? now, is the crime which mr. van tuong nguyen committed so heinous that he should be banished from humanity? those who say it is, should consider whether they too possess the qualities of being human and humane. playing utilitarian games with humanity does not make a society great. it merely disguises the barbarism underneath a veil of enlightenment. singapore may be a rich nation, but it is morally and ethically bankrupt. sincerely, long nguyen.

 

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on photography

susan sontag argues that "photographs furnish evidence. something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it. in one version of its utility, the camera record incriminates. starting with their use by the paris police in the murderous roundup of communards in june 1871, photographs became a useful tool of modern states in the surveillance and control of their increasingly mobile populations. in another version of its utility, the camera record justifies. a photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened. the picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist, which is like what's in the picture. whatever the limitations (through amateurism) or pretensions (through artistry) of the individual photographer, a photograph -- any photograph -- seems to have a more innocent, and therefore more accurate, relation to visible reality than do other mimetic objects. virtuosi of the noble image like alfred stieglitz and paul strand, composing mighty, unforgettable photographs decade after decade, still want, first of all, to show something 'out there,' just like the polaroid owner for whom photographs are a handy, fast form of note-taking, or the shutterbug with a brownie who takes snapshots as souvenirs of daily life. while a painting or a prose description can never be other than a narrowly selective interpretation, a photograph can be treated as a narrowly selective transparency. but despite the presumption of veracity that gives all photographs authority, interest, seductiveness, the work that photographers do is no generic exception to the usually shady commerce between art and truth. even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by tacit imperatives of taste and conscience."

 

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diaspora

photo courtesy of united nations high commissioner for refugees
pulau bidong, malaysia - circa 1978

me, mother, and brother