This photograph won the World Press Photo award in 1975.
Art researcher La Toan Vinh is completing a book titled "Event and History Photography," which compiles over 200 famous photographs selected by him after 30 years of passionate photography. Many valuable and famous photographs are being rediscovered for the first time, with new information about their authors, origins, and provenance. For example, the photograph of Da Nang, March 1975 (pictured).
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Archival photo by La Toan Vinh |
The photograph depicts the final days in Da Nang as the Saigon army and American advisors attempted to flee the war zone. A plane is preparing for takeoff amidst a chaotic scramble for boarding. Particularly striking is the close-up of a foreign man striking a civilian struggling to climb aboard. Behind them, another figure appears to be desperately trying to help, but to no avail. In the distance, a guard with a gun is shouting, attempting to stop the desperate, chaotic crowd, but to no avail.
According to La Toan Vinh, the photograph won first prize at the World Press Photo Awards in 1975 and became famous worldwide. Later , in March 1975, Da Nang was included in the Photo of the Year 1976 anthology, a prestigious publication of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Even more honorably, the photograph was selected as a representative work by the Art Council of the 20th Century World News Dictionary, comprised of world-renowned photographers, when the book was published in France.
Many international and domestic newspapers published this photograph, but there was little information about the author. In his book, La Toan Vinh states that the photographer was Thai Khac Chuong, a seasoned photographer in Da Nang. Mr. Chuong had also successfully taken many works, especially war photographs. After 1975, he left Vietnam and went abroad. Regarding the origin of the photograph, during a meeting on Camden Street in Toronto (Canada), Thai Khac Chuong recounted that he took it almost by chance at Da Nang airport. Researcher La Toan Vinh also mentioned that in Canada, Thai Khac Chuong remained passionate about photography. He always had a video camera or still camera ready to work anywhere. Besides photography, he also ran a fast-food restaurant. Notably, the photograph that won the World Press Photo award in 1975 was enlarged and displayed in his restaurant.
Thai Khac Chuong passed away from cancer in Toronto, but the photograph has gone down in photographic history and will live on forever.
Nguyen Huu Hong Minh
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