Kicker: HCM City Department of Culture and Sports on January 2 organised a workshop on assessment of the photography industry and potential plans to develop the field until 2030. — VNS Photo An Phương

HCM CITY — Photography has played a crucial role to HCM City’s development and it should receive more attention, experts have said.

HCM City Department of Culture and Sports recently organised a workshop on assessment of the photography industry and potential plans to efficiently develop the field until 2030.

Attending were the deputy director of the city Department of Culture and Sports, Võ Trọng Nam, and the deputy head of the city Institute for Development Studies, Nguyễn Văn Trình, among many experts in the field.

According to Trình, photography has played an important role throughout history, recording historical moments and introducing images of Việt Nam to the world.

“Photography in the city has made great contributions to the country’s development process,” he said.

The president of the HCM City Photography Association, Nguyễn Thanh Tâm, said that the time of national liberation was the most dynamic period of photography, with participation of many artists such as Lâm Tấn Tài and Lâm Hồng Long.

“Thanks to photography, younger generations today can easily visualise and understand how great Vietnamese soldiers were throughout the two wars against France and the US,” he said.

In 2017, 31 photographers received money from an investment fund, while 32 photographers received funds in 2018.

There are three levels of funding, with level A being VNĐ10,000,000 per person, level B VNĐ8,000,000 per person and level C VNĐ6,000,000 per person.

Experts agreed that this amount of investment was not that attractive to photographers.

In addition to limited funding, HCM City photography field has encountered difficulties in changes in artistic tastes among locals and photographers.

Despite this, HCM City has successfully organised many photography camps and exhibitions for artists to nurture their creative ability.

Trần Thị Lệ from the HCM City Institute for Development Studies said that authorities should implement more campaigns to raise locals’ awareness about photography activities, develop preferential policies to encourage photographers to create meaningful images, and apply technology in the field, among other tasks.  VNS