Planting Party - Lao Cai, Vietnam

• Prize
  Bronze in People/Culture
• Photographer
  Matt Sievers
• Agency / Studio
  Matt Sievers Photography
• Photo Date
  6/1/2024

It's rice planting season in Lao Cai, and several Red Dao families work together to carefully remove green rice shoots from a full terrace above so they can be transplanted to help fill empty terraces below. One woman walks above with two large bundles in hand, the roots already washed to help keep them light so easy to carry. Others are busy at work, washing roots and replanting. At elevation machines are less practical, leaving most of the work still to be done hand. But therein also lies the beauty, with rice being cultivated and farmed almost exactly as it would have been centuries before.

Hey, I'm Matt. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest (USA) but based in Vietnam, I am a travel, documentary and fine art photographer focused on capturing the beauty of Vietnam, SE Asia, the US West and beyond. More than the places you go, it is hopefully the people you meet along the way, calling each one home, that leaves the greatest impression. For me, that has always been the true gift of travel: people, and the authentic interactions and conversations you keep with you from those journeys.