For the past week or so, I’ve been trying to figure how to represent Saigon in a photo. Ever since the bike trip to Cu Chi tunnels, I’ve been very amazed how hundreds of motorcycles criss crossing traffic without creating minor accidents. It is how alert most riders are, makes it possible to cramp so many motorcycle into so little space.

Now that I managed to have my own bike, it feels even more rewarding to experience everyday traffic Saigon has to offer. This is what Saigon is, no where else have I experience motorcycle craze like this, not in Cambodia, Thailand, China, Macau nor Taiwan.

So for the shoot in Saigon, I believe the traffic should be represented in the photo. With that in mind,  the uncontrollable traffic will have to be the backdrop.

In Saigon, the traffic flows like water in a river, flowing around any rocks or obstacle. To emphasize that fluidity of traffic, decided that my bike will be the obstacle in the middle of traffic.

What?? Yes! to simple say it, park a motorcycle in the middle of the road while crazy traffic will have to go around it.

There is danger with this shoot, as the golden hour is around the busiest traffic time, roughly 6 pm. Also, its starting to get dark, while some riders don’t like to turn on their head lights.

Update: the shoot turned out very well. With the help of a few friends, we managed to get into position, get our shot, and exit safely from the traffic near the Ben Thanh market. I suspect over couple hundreds of bike flow by us during the long minute we were in the middle of traffic. Here is the result.