INNOCENCE

Cao Bằng, Vietnam, 2000 - Leica M4, Summilux 35, Kodak Tri-X *Good portraits of kids and elderly people always fascinate us because of their pure genuine emotion. Innocence and pure love are deep inside both the child and the elderly person, i.e. in the beginning and at the end of their lives. I just don't remember what I told these teens, likely some nonsense with a foreign accent. Located about 15 miles/25 km from the Chinese border, the town of Cao Bằng deeply suffered from at least two bloody tragedies in its history: the first Battle of Cao Bằng in 1950 during the eight-year French Indochina War and the 2nd Battle of Cao Bằng in 1979 during the one-month Sino-Vietnamese War.