Hoan Kiem through the lens
                                                                
Tranquility: The loc vung tree by Hoan Kiem Lake captured in a photo by Ha Hong.
HA NOI (VNS) — A photo exhibition featuring 12 photos of  Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) sceneries is opening at Hoan Kiem Lake  Cultural Information Centre in downtown Ha Noi.
 
Titled Sac Mau Ho Guom (The Colours of  Sword Lake), the exhibition, which showcases photos taken by Ha Hong, a  journalist, is expected to bring visitors the images and exquisite views  of the Sword Lake in different seasons.
 
A native of the central province of Ha Tinh but  born and raised in Ha Noi, Hong is currently head of Nhan Dan (The  People) newspaper's Science and Education News Desk as well as head of  the newspaper's Photography Club.
 
With a passion for Ha Noi, especially Hoan Kiem Lake, Hong launched his own website on the lake (www.hohoankiem.org) in 2006 to tell lovers of the thousand-year-old-city the stories of Hanoians around Sword Lake and introduced his photos.
 
"Every day after work or at weekends, I often go  for a stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake to capture the colourful moments of  this place, a bouquet of flowers in the heart of the city," said Hong.
 
He added that that bouquet of flowers changes its  colour with the arrival of each season: the pinkish white of ban  (mountain ebony) flowers in spring, the bright red of phuong  (flamboyant) flowers, the purple of bang lang (giant crape-myrtle)  flowers in summer, the flaming-red of loc vung (Barringtonia acutangula)  flowers in early autumn and the giant crape-myrtle leaves turn from  green to red warning the approaching cold days of winter.
 
Hong engrossed to capture these changes of  colours of Sword Lake for all seasons, and in the last nine years, over a  thousand news articles and more than five thousand photos taken by the  journalist have been published on his website.
 
This photo exhibition aims to celebrate the 61st  anniversary of Ha Noi's liberation (October 10, 1954) at the Hoan Kiem  Lake Cultural Information Centre, 2 Le Thai To Street, and will end on  October 19. — VNS 
Khach | Dang nhap