Why Vietnam? Well, let me explain.

Greetings friends and fans.

Welcome to my blog. Everyone on the planet has one, so I figured I should, too.

Actually, I am launching this blog to keep friends and clients updated on my creative endeavors, most notably my photography. And I am launching it to coincide with my latest shooting trip to Vietnam. (Remember, you can always see my images at www.RobertDodge.com).

Whenever people see my Vietnam portfolio for the first time they often ask the same question: Why Vietnam?

For starters, the Vietnam War was the war of my generation. I never had to serve in the military, being saved by the high draft number that one of President Richard Nixon's flunkies randomly assigned to my birthday. But the country did have an enormous impact on my life even though I had never visited there. The war, as well as the domestic anti-war activism of the era, were always in the news. Coverage of the war, which included big photo spreads in magazines like Life and the Saturday Evening Post, is what fanned by interest in journalism and politics. 

When the country opened to tourism in the late 1980s, I thought I might someday visit. But it was not until years later when I saw the work of photographer Peter Steinhauer (www.steinhauerphotography.com) in Lens Work magazine that I knew I had to go. 

I originally viewed Vietnam as both a landscape project and one I would do in black-and-white. But when I finally arrived in the Fall of 2005, digital photography had come of age and I had reluctantly left film behind. It was a good thing that my camera pack was not loaded with black-and-white film. I quickly realized that I had to shoot in color, that Vietnam was blazing in color. 

That first trip ended in Ho Chi Minh City. I ended up going to the War Rememberance Museum, which largely remains a propaganda tool. But there is one pavilion that has walls of news clippings from that era, many from U.S. media. As I worked through the displays I came upon all those magazine spreads that had inspired me when I was a high school and college student. That moment was a real epiphany for me, as I felt I had come full circle in my life and was destined to be there at that moment -- and that my photo work in Vietnam would be an important long-term project.

On this trip, I will return to northwest Vietnam to photograph the rice planting. This is the same area I went last year at this time and where I fell off a mountainside rice paddy and blew out my knee. This year, I plan to stay horizontal and upright. I will be making regular entries here about my trip, which is scheduled to begin Monday, May 4, when I land in Hanoi. My Vietnamese photographer friend, Long Ly, will be there to greet me, and from the airport, we will head northwest. The journey is outlined in red in the map here.

This will take us to the most remote mountain areas in North Vietnam and I do not expect to find much access to the Internet. But when possible, I will post updates here along with a couple of images. So, please check periodically for updates.

-- Robert Dodge, Washington DC, April 26, 2005