Now, close to 90, Ngo Minh Dao’s passion for photography still burns bright. He continues to produce stunning photos of Vietnam’s scenery, friends, and colleagues.
“If you want genuine, beautiful photos, you must go to the front lines. In war, the front lines are about loss and survival, life and death. If the soldiers can survive, why should I be afraid?” This is how journalist and photographer Ngo Minh Dao recalls the fierce years of his career.
Just back from a trip to Nam Dinh with his “retired but not old” group of Vietnam News Agency photographers, nearly 90-year-old journalist and photographer Ngo Minh Dao warmly welcomed me into his airy second-floor home on Tran Quang Dieu Street, Hanoi.
He prepared a special treat - yogurt coffee, brewed by his own hands from instant coffee and homemade yogurt.
More than 20 years into retirement, Ngo Minh Dao has never really rested. He always finds ways to gather with friends and colleagues, and is ever ready to grab his backpack for any story or beautiful scene he hears about.
Through mountain breezes, white forest flowers, and terraced fields from their waterlogged beginnings to golden harvest, the veteran journalist has captured unique photo series on the spectacular landscapes of Vietnam in every season.
“You’ve got to live up to your record as the landscape photo champion,” I joked.
A calling, not just a career
Mr. Ngo Minh Dao (left) with journalist Dinh Quang Thanh
Born in Nghe An, poor but with an artistic spirit, photographer Ngo Minh Dao inherited his passion for the arts from his father, photographer Ngo Quynh Son. His father supported the family through photography in Quynh Luu from the 1940s and left thousands of images from the anti-French resistance, now preserved at the Xo Viet-Nghe Tinh Museum.
In 1960, Ngo Minh Dao came to Hanoi for a short course in photojournalism and became a photojournalist for the Vietnam News Agency.
During the resistance against the US, he carried his camera to the frontlines in Quang Binh and Quang Tri, seeking the most authentic moments. His images of life, work, and battle in those burning regions were published by nearly every major newspaper and magazine, bringing timely information to the public about our people’s determined struggle.
“To get real, beautiful pictures, you must go to the front lines. In war, the front is about loss and survival, life and death. If soldiers can make it, why shouldn’t I?” he laughed, recalling the “luck” that carried him through those brutal years.
“I still vividly remember the death of Captain Thai, the commander of a unit in Quang Binh in 1966. When our artillery set an enemy ship ablaze, he and I peered out through a tiny bunker opening. Suddenly, a barrage of enemy fire hit the bunker. Captain Thai was killed, right beside me. I realized surviving was already a huge blessing.”
Across every battlefield
Artillery soldiers in Quang Binh. Photo: Minh Dao
Ngo Minh Dao didn’t just work domestically - he followed Vietnamese volunteer troops into Laos. Those familiar places in the Land of a Million Elephants remain unforgettable memories. There, he both reported news and trained journalists for Laos’s KPL news agency. Many of those first KPL journalists, survivors of the deadly Plain of Jars, later rose to senior positions.
War’s front lines meant frequent brushes with death. He cheated death three times: in 1966 in fiery Quang Binh, at the Plain of Jars in Laos, and again at the Lang Son border in 1979, when he and Japanese reporter Takano stumbled into a Chinese ambush. Takano was killed instantly on March 7, 1979, and Ngo Minh Dao became a witness in numerous documentaries about this historic event.
After the war, he became a leading political photojournalist. His work appeared in countless reports on the activities of Vietnam’s leaders and major political events. He had the honor of accompanying many senior leaders like Le Duan, Pham Hung, Vo Van Kiet, and Do Muoi on official duties.
Former Party General Secretaries Do Muoi, Le Kha Phieu, Nong Duc Manh congratulate General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong after his election at the 11th National Congress. Photo by Ngo Minh Dao, at the Central Party Office, Lunar New Year 2011.
Traveling across Vietnam and on more than 50 trips abroad allowed Ngo Minh Dao to capture extraordinary moments of life and the country’s landscapes from above.
“We are used to familiar images of Vietnam’s dazzling, mysterious mountains and rivers. But few have seen the country from a plane, gazing down from the clouds at our land in all its glory. Luckily, photographer Ngo Minh Dao traveled for us, capturing those magical, real, and poetic images,” wrote author Bang Son in the foreword to Ngo Minh Dao’s 2003 book, Looking Down from the Wings Over Vietnam.
Over 100 selected photographs from his journeys offer viewers a new perspective on familiar places, from Ninh Binh, Ha Long, Mu Cang Chai, and Ha Giang to Pac Bo, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Long An.
In 2014, Looking Down from the Wings Over Vietnam was recognized by the Vietnam Records Organization as the photo book with the most color and black-and-white aerial photos of Vietnam’s landscapes.
“I’m happy for the award’s value, but even happier that my hard-won photos are appreciated,” he shared.
Artists are like that - their happiness and sorrow always connect to their audience.
As long as I’m healthy, I’ll keep going
Ngo Minh Dao on a photo shoot by motorbike
Now, close to 90, Dao’s passion for photography still burns bright. He continues to produce stunning photos of Vietnam’s scenery, friends, and colleagues.
His series of portraits of Vietnam News Agency reporters who covered the southern front, recently displayed in Hanoi for the 50th anniversary of national reunification, captured precious moments before many colleagues passed away. Remarkably, this was the first exhibition of portraits shot on a mobile phone - though, as he jokes, his phone is more than just a “simple device.”
“No need for posing. I want to capture the most honest moments of life. Only authenticity ensures a photograph lives on in the public’s heart.”
Portraits of journalists, photo artists, and war reporters are still being completed for a forthcoming photo book. For Dao, as long as he can photograph, he is alive and happy with family, friends, and colleagues. If he can move, he can create.
“Cambodia is open again. Soon, I hope to return to Laos for more memories with comrades on the Plain of Jars,” he says.
That’s war
During the resistance against America, we were early in Quang Binh’s fiery zone. My first battle was an ambush on an enemy warship from the south.
On May 17, 1966, the enemy ship fired on the coast as it approached. When it reached the artillery range, our batteries at the Quang Hau ferry site (Dong Hoi) opened fire and set the ship ablaze.
Captain Thai, a ground artillery commander whose wife taught in Son Tay (now part of Hanoi), handed me his binoculars to look out from the command bunker. Suddenly, the ship fired back, and Captain Thai was killed.
Another time, the Vietnam News Agency’s Quang Binh office was bombed, and our telegraphist, Que, died.
At the Plain of Jars in Laos, a bomb struck our bunker, killing one and injuring two. The dead was our team leader, Thanh.
After all that, we thought we had escaped the bombs - but not so. In early 1979, during the northern border war, we entered an enemy ambush in Lang Son. Bullets rained down, killing one and wounding two. The fallen was Japanese journalist Takano. Even now, I sometimes visit the martyrs’ cemetery in Lang Son to light incense in his memory.
That’s war!
During war, we never retreated, and none of us backed down. That’s the essence of a war reporter - and I lived up to it.
In the face of the enemy, war correspondents are steadfast, unyielding. This is not only a personal quality, a challenge, a duty, but also a source of pride for our children, our families, and ourselves.
Written by journalist and photo artist Ngo Minh Dao on his personal page
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