Old Lady Bráu

On my most recent visit to Vietnam, I travelled to Kon Tum in the Central Highlands as part of a photography workshop with photographer Zay Yar Lin.

Old Lady Bráu

The Brâu Elder-Kon Tum, Vietnam

On my most recent visit to Vietnam, I travelled to Kon Tum in the Central Highlands as part of a photography workshop with photographer Zay Yar Lin.

We had organised an opportunity to photograph a group of elderly Brâu women inside a traditional communal stilt house. While everything was being prepared and the ladies were being positioned for the photographs, I noticed one woman sitting naturally off to the side.

She had her chin resting on her hand and was fidgeting slightly, moving her head from side to side. There was something about her expression and the way she was sitting that caught my attention.

Rather than concentrating on what was being arranged in front of us, I kept watching her through my camera and waited.

Then, for just a moment, she turned her head and looked directly at me.

That was the photograph.

Nobody had asked her to look at the camera. I hadn't posed her or directed her in any way. It was simply a natural moment that lasted probably no more than a second or two.

It became my favourite photograph from that visit to Vietnam.

The image later went on to win the Gold Medal for Best Colour Image at the Irish Photographic Federation National Club Championships, where 25 photography clubs from around Ireland were competing.

That was a great honour, but what I like most about the photograph is that it wasn't the photograph we had planned.

We had planned the location. We had arranged the opportunity to photograph the women. We could think about the composition and the light. But ultimately, my favourite image came from noticing something happening off to the side and being ready when the moment appeared.

For me, that's one of the things I enjoy most about photographing people.

You can plan almost everything, but sometimes the best photograph is the one you didn't plan at all.

Kon Tum, Central Highlands, Vietnam