VIETNAM • 2022
Monsoon Season
Three months in the northern highlands of Vietnam — from the first rains of May through the flooding of August — watching the rhythm of the rice harvest shape every hour of the day.
Year
2022
Region
Vietnam
Duration
3 months
Format
35mm + digital
Published In
National Geographic
Vogue
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
I arrived in Sapa on the first of May and stayed until the end of August. Three months is long enough to stop being a visitor. Long enough to learn the names of the fields, to know which paths flood first, to understand that the rice year is not a calendar — it is a body of knowledge passed between hands.
The Hmong and Dao farmers I stayed with had no romantic relationship with the monsoon. It was not picturesque. It was also not a problem. It was a condition — the condition under which everything grew, or didn’t.
Shot on Kodak Portra 400 and a Canon 5D Mark IV for low-light interiors. The mix was uncomfortable at first. By August it felt right.
PHOTO ESSAY
A Hmong farmer working the flooded paddies in early June. Mù Cang Chải, Yên Bái Province, Vietnam.
Inside a Dao household during a heavy afternoon storm. The family waits. Sa Pa, Lào Cai Province, Vietnam.
The August harvest. Rain through the entire collection week. The rice comes in regardless.
Mù Cang Chải, Vietnam.