I first came across Charley’s work after being repeatedly mistaken for her at an event I had attended in San Francisco. We exchanged emails and bonded over Vietnam - her recent return from the country and my imminent trip to. Through her descriptions of Vietnam, I fell in love with the place. With each exchange, I grew my excited about my travel plans until I finally took up the opportunity to ask Charley to share her images from Vietnam  on here.

I hope you find these as dreamy and cinematic as I did. Vietnam, as photographed by Portland-based photographer Charley Zheng. In her own words:

This is Vietnam in 10 days: 8 flights, 6 bus rides, 3 boat rides, 2 overnight trains, 1 motorbike tour, and 1 aerial tram. At the beginning of January, I took a journey halfway across the world with 12 other travelers, exploring nearly the entire length of the country from the south to the north.

I constantly felt like I was living scenes out of a movie. It was such an extraordinary and cinematic experience. Life spun out like a Haruki Murakami-esque tale, a little bit surreal, a little bit dreamlike. Yet it was also so acutely animated, lively, and colorful that it made coming back to Portland feel like a strnge reverie. I miss the sights, the streets, the food, and the people already. They lent so much to this pretend movie that I was making in my head.








Charley Zheng is a photographer currently based in Portland. For more of Charley's work, visit her website or her Exposure.