VietNamNet Bridge – A new photo book that takes a panoramic view of Ha Long Bay was launched by photojournalist Do Khanh Giang last month.

Stunning: The prize-winning photograph Dragon was presented at the Dialogue with Geological Heritage photo contest in July. (Photo: VNS)
The Ha Long - Da va Nuoc Vinh Cuu (Ha Long - Everlasting Stone and Water) follows last year's exhibition of Giang's photographs of the bay.

Giang, who works at Quang Ninh newspaper, has spent eight years capturing the bay's beauty.

"Each trip around the bay gives me a new experience of its beauty - a reality that needs no slogan to promote," he said. "Of course, from what I see the book can't tell it all."

The book presents 138 stunning shots of the bay, many of them featuring magnificent sprawling vistas. What makes many of Giang's photos different to most pictures of the bay is that Giang took many of the photos from mountain tops.

"I am never satisfied with what I get," he said. "Once I climbed up to the top of Bai Tho (Poem) Mount to take some photos and I was amazed to discover that Ha Long Bay looks like a giant picture, extremely lively and imposing. Mountains and sea mingle, creating extraordinary scenery."

Giang said his favourite photo is Long (Dragon), which earned him the third prize at the Dialogue with Geological Heritage photo contest held on the sidelines of the second International Asia-Pacific Geoparks Network conference in Ha Noi in July.

The photo depicts a range of rocky mountains in the form of a dragon winding along on the bay's surface.

"When I saw the scene around 4pm, the slopes of the mountains and the sea's surface were covered with the golden light of the late afternoon sun. Then I climbed up to a mount opposite to where I had been and was surprised to see it looks like a dragon," said Giang.

"I chose different angles and took more than 50 photos. And Long is the most satisfactory one."

Climbing up mountains without any specialised equipment posed some challenges to Giang, but he was willing to risk his health for the perfect shot.

"Once I fell down from the mountain top. Luckily, the mountain slope was covered with bushes and plants so I only suffered some scratches and had a set of my cameras damaged."

The photo book is published by My Thuat (Fine Arts) Publishing House and available at bookshops.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News