When we meet at a cafe nestled down the alley of 3A Station, Réhahn brings a copy of his second book with him. Based on its weight alone, you can tell how much work the Hoi An-based French photographer put into its creation. The tome, a beautiful photo book titled Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts II, seems to cover everything about rural Vietnam but Réhahn is not yet content with his knowledge of the country.
“Vietnam is like a mosaic,” he tells Saigoneer. “The more I live in Vietnam the more I feel like I don't know anything here.”
Fascinated by the people and landscapes of Vietnam, this curiosity has driven Réhahn to spend the last several years of his life traveling across the country, photographing everything from portraits of minority groups to the sweeping landscapes of Vietnam's interior. While the first installment of his Vietnam book series, Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts, appeared last year to great success – and made its cover model famous – the photographer plans to keep this project going with more high-quality photo books in the future.
This 78-year-old Hoi An woman was featured on the cover of Réhahn's first book, Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts, and has since become a local celebrity, as tourists often ask her to recreate the pose from the photo.
Réhahn's second book focuses on central Vietnam whereas his first was more centered on the northern region. Though he takes thousands of images during his ongoing travels, the strength of his photographs comes from the effort and personal stories that accompany each image. For even a single image, the photographer would travel to remote parts of the country, taking an ailing motorbike up mountains and along dirt roads just to find a specific ethnic group or visit a particular place.
The end result, as you can see below, is stunning. As Réhahn gears up for a few international exhibitions, the new photo book, Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts II, is now on sale at local Artbook stores as well as on his website. You can also check out more of his work on Facebook and Instagram.
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