The story of Vietnam's youngest photojournalist - 12-year-old Lo Man Hung

The frame below, where the boy takes pictures during military operations, is not staged at all. The picture was taken on February 18, 1968 in Saigon, Vietnam. And a 12-year-old boy with a camera is actually the youngest photojournalist in Vietnam, Lo Man Hung. 

By the time the photo was taken, Lo Man Hung had been helping his father, a veteran and freelance photographer, for 2 years to capture the dramatic and violent events taking place in the war-torn city. 

Perhaps this is one of the most unusual and frightening sights — the figure of a little boy making his way to the most dangerous places, hot spots, places of hostilities, consciously taking a deadly risk. While young people run without looking back from danger, he, on the contrary, is looking for it. Because he is a professional photographer and can prove it with more than a dozen published works.

Together with his father, 58-year-old Lo Win, who was injured at work during street riots, 12-year-old Lo Hung made a curious couple — the oldest and youngest working photojournalists. The boy's father, a famous local photographer, was born in North Vietnam, studied art and literature at a French university. He turned to his hobby — photography - when he needed to earn money.

For many years he traveled and photographed Indochina, and at the age of 43 he got married. A few months later, Lo Wing left North Vietnam with his wife, fleeing from the Communists, and moved to Saigon.

Every morning, Lo Man Hung and his father got up at 5 a.m. to arrive at work as early as possible, and finished after 9 p.m. And so 365 days a year. On quieter days, the couple rode around the city on a motorcycle and covered official government affairs, weddings, plane arrivals, parties, fires—everything that could get into the news.

The boy helped with the process of shooting and printing photos, sent pictures to local newspapers and foreign news agencies.

His small, thin figure and childish face both helped in the work and made it difficult. The police invariably stopped the boy when he passed through the checkpoint with the words: "Where are you going?" Lo Man Hung calmly explained that he was the son of photographer Lo Win, showed the accreditation and moved on. It was usually skipped.

But not always, and it was a big problem to convince the police that he really works as a photojournalist.

However, his small stature had its undeniable advantages: in a crowd of photographers, where everyone pushes and shoves each other, trying to get to the place of the event first and take a place with the best angle, a brisk 12-year-old boy easily emerged victorious.

Lo Man Hung made his way through the crowd on all fours and, taking the best place, quickly snapped the camera. At the same time, he never blocked the view due to his small stature and let others work.