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  • Alexandre Garel Photographer

    Heritage & Street photography of Vietnam 

    LAST BOOK: SAIGON PORTRAIT OF A CITY

  • Alexandre Garel Photographer

    Beauty in Saigon shapes, contrast & colours

  • Alexandre Garel Photographer

    Street Photography

    LAST BOOK: SAIGON PORTRAIT OF A CITY

  • Alexandre Garel Photographer

    Beauty of Vietnam & Asia

    LAST BOOK: SAIGON PORTRAIT OF A CITY

Sign Snaps Portrait of a city by Alexandre Garelv

Alexandre GAREL

"Born and raised in France by an architect father, Alexandre Garel developed an early sensitivity to the charm of historic buildings. More than that, he came to understand the value of preserving them. On arriving in Vietnam, he was struck by the richness and weight of the time-worn architectural heritage of Hanoi and Saigon, as well as a certain sorrow. Many buildings were neglected, left to decay, and then erased from memory.."

_Last Photographies...

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Book Saigon Portrait of a City
Book Modernist Architecture
Book Yangon Portrait of a City
Book Hanoi Portrait of a City (coming Soon)
Book Saigon Portrait of a City
Sign Snaps Portrait of a city by Alexandre Garel

_Saigon Portrait of a City...

Saigon portrait of a city A hardcover photo book celebrating the beauty, grandeur, and timeless soul of Old Saigon and Cholon I’m excited to present you my last book — a 425-page, large-format (20×32 cm) visual journey through the historic architecture, vanished landscapes, and cultural treasures of Saigon and Cholon. This edition is the result of 14 years of patient exploration, wandering through alleyways, climbing forgotten staircases, and documenting a city undergoing rapid transformation. Many of the sites featured in this book have since been demolished, altered, or sealed off, making this work a unique visual archive of a disappearing world...

Kevin D. Roberts - CEO

Book Modernist Architecture
Sign Snaps Portrait of a city by Alexandre Garel

_Modernist Architecture Vietnam...

Mel Schenck and photographer Alexandre Garel welcome you to view and understand the extraordinary modernist heritage architecture of southern Vietnam.

This book, Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture: Mid-century Vernacular Modernism, features beautiful architectural photography that illustrates the outstanding accomplishment of the people of southern Vietnam in developing a mid-twentieth-century modernist architecture that is extraordinary in the world.

Narmadha Neelagandan - Designer

Book Yangon Portrait of a City
Sign Snaps Portrait of a city by Alexandre Garel

_First edition Yangon Portrait of a City

When I first arrived in Saigon in 2011, I fell in love with the city straight away. Over the next few years, I discovered the beauty of the city, with its small streets and alleyways known as hẻm, each one a labyrinth of life which has developed inside the old arteries originally traced by the French. But I also discovered to my surprise that old French houses were not protected, that they were constantly being destroyed to make way for large steel, concrete and glass towers. By the time I was working for The Word magazine in 2013, I understood the fragility of Saigon’s built heritage and realized that it was disappearing very quickly. It was at this point in time that my work in Saigon took on its real meaning, and photographing the city’s vanishing architecture became my priority. Today I photograph people, life, the streets… What catches my eye at this time are the shantytowns along the canals and rivers, which I contrast with the new developing city. I never stop photographing the city and its inhabitants, trying every day to tame my surroundings and the ever-changing light, which these days owes a lot to pollution. Then there’s the rainy season, which hardly makes photography easy… but I love the warm light at the end of the day. My work can be difficult in a bustling city where the traffic is intense, light is not constant, and many places are closed and inaccessible. People can also be suspicious when I approach, because they don’t understand my work...

Andorson

Book Hanoi Portrait of a City (coming Soon)
Sign Snaps Portrait of a city by Alexandre Garel

_First edition Ha Noi Portrait of a City... (Coming Soon)

When I first arrived in Saigon in 2011, I fell in love with the city straight away. Over the next few years, I discovered the beauty of the city, with its small streets and alleyways known as hẻm, each one a labyrinth of life which has developed inside the old arteries originally traced by the French. But I also discovered to my surprise that old French houses were not protected, that they were constantly being destroyed to make way for large steel, concrete and glass towers. By the time I was working for The Word magazine in 2013, I understood the fragility of Saigon’s built heritage and realized that it was disappearing very quickly. It was at this point in time that my work in Saigon took on its real meaning, and photographing the city’s vanishing architecture became my priority. Today I photograph people, life, the streets… What catches my eye at this time are the shantytowns along the canals and rivers, which I contrast with the new developing city. I never stop photographing the city and its inhabitants, trying every day to tame my surroundings and the ever-changing light, which these days owes a lot to pollution. Then there’s the rainy season, which hardly makes photography easy… but I love the warm light at the end of the day. My work can be difficult in a bustling city where the traffic is intense, light is not constant, and many places are closed and inaccessible. People can also be suspicious when I approach, because they don’t understand my work...

Andorson

_Photographies Book Tree of "Ha Noi Portrait of a city"...