Vintage Photos Reveal Rapid Modernisation of Post-War Hanoi
William E. Crawford arrived in Vietnam in 1985 as one of the first Western photographers to travel inside post-war Hanoi. He began documenting the transformation of the country’s capital city and would spend three decades capturing the city’s rapid modernisation. Through his powerful photographs of specific neighbourhoods and families, he shows the changes of this beautiful city and its people, as they worked hard to forget the years of turmoil and embrace economic liberalisation. Culture Trip spoke to Crawford about his recently published work Hanoi Streets 1985-2015: In the Years of Forgetting to learn more about his inspiration to document Hanoi’s evolution.
How did you become interested in and ultimately pursue a career in photography?
I am from the South Side of Chicago. I became interested in photography as a young man. My father and grandfather were both enthusiastic amateur photographers. I studied photography both as an undergraduate and graduate student at Yale, and upon receiving my MFA began writing The Keepers of Light, a History and Working Guide to Early Photographic Processes.
Why were you drawn to Vietnam in 1985?
In 1985, a personal friend contemplated a run for Congress and had the opportunity to travel to Vietnam with a television crew for a local station. I was invited to come along as the still photographer. I made important friendships with my Vietnamese guides on that trip and was encouraged to return.
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