Street & documentary photographer

Jack Ross

Five years photographing Vietnam, now working the light in Chicago — and still running the community those streets made me build.

Based in Chicago · Vietnam 2018–2023 · Founder of Vietnam Streets · Leica M11-P

View the work ↓ Instagram @jackjross ↗

Photo © Jack Ross

Jack Ross in a flat cap, shooting a black-and-white self-portrait with a rangefinder-style camera raised to his eye

The story

I'm a street and documentary photographer based in Chicago — most days you'll find me working the light downtown, along the river, or wherever the city hands me a moment worth keeping. I shoot a Leica M11-P with a 35mm Summilux: small, quiet, and a rangefinder in the literal sense — the kind of camera that lets you get close and stay patient.

I moved to Ho Chi Minh City in 2018 and stayed five years — three in the city, then Nha Trang. Vietnam is where I learned to photograph the street: the density, the colour, the collision of old and new, and the patience it takes to work inside all of it. It is also where I couldn't find one good place to see the best of what people were making, so in 2022 I started Vietnam Streets with Sam Derbyshire and Adrien Jean. What began as an Instagram curation project is now a community of 170+ published photographers.

I came back to Chicago in 2023 and still shoot every week — Chicago at home, Vietnam whenever I can get back. The two have nothing and everything in common. That's the whole reason I keep a camera on me.

Usual kit Leica M11-P · Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4

Selected work

The work

A living edit across two countries. Chicago is home — the light, the shadow lines, the people moving through them. Vietnam is the work that started everything.

Chicago Recent frames

A man in a plaid blazer exhales cigarette smoke while walking past the corner of a downtown Chicago building — Chicago · Smoke break

Overhead frame of a lone walker casting a long shadow across the diagonal edge of sunlit pavement — Chicago · Long shadow

Late light raking across two Loop high-rise facades, a single figure crossing the street far below — Chicago · The Loop

Layered storefront window reflection showing a Chicago sightseeing bus and a group of pedestrians overlapping — Chicago · Reflections

Abstract frame of a walking figure reflected in a polished red surface beneath a blue glass facade — Chicago · Red abstract

Black-and-white abstract of two high-rise facades converging toward a bright centre of sky — Chicago · Converging

Commuters seen from above through the sloping glass wall of a Chicago atrium — Chicago · Atrium

Warm interior of a Madison bar, pendant lights hanging over an empty wooden counter — Madison · Warm room

Vietnam The work that started everything

Silhouetted figures and a cyclist along a seafront railing against a burning orange sunset in Nha Trang — Nha Trang · Sunset bridge

Two masked figures in silhouette against a teal corrugated wall, one holding a black umbrella — Green wall · Umbrella

Black-and-white overhead view of market umbrellas, a vendor in a conical hat in the gap between them — Umbrella market

Black-and-white view from beneath a flyover — switchback stairs, a lone figure with an umbrella, and the Saigon skyline beyond — Saigon · Under the bridge

A cyclist riding through a cloud of golden dust at low sun, mountains faint behind — Dust and bicycle

A woman in a conical hat crosses a sunlit strip on a train platform while a silhouetted man checks his phone — Platform light

A worker in a nón lá and checked shirt lit by a single shaft of light against a dark green wall — Nón lá

A woman in a conical hat stands still behind a green-clad figure sweeping past the frame in motion blur — Market · Blur

A swimmer mid-backflip above the sea, mountains on the far shore — Backflip over the bay

Seen from above, a man carries a bicycle down a concrete apartment stairwell — Stairwell · Bicycle

Overhead frame of stairs and escalators converging, a small figure in a conical hat crossing the landing between them — Stairs and escalators

A fisherman carries a blue round coracle over his head across the sand, dripping water — Coracle

Overhead frame of a lone figure in a conical hat crossing a wide grey tiled plaza — Nón lá · From above

A man walks between station canopies at sunset, mirrored in a still puddle in the foreground — Station · Reflection

A balloon seller reaches up into a crowded bunch of brightly coloured foil balloons against a pale sky — Balloon seller

A long dim teal corridor with a single figure walking into the light at the far end — Seventh floor

Figures silhouetted on an upper walkway against bright dusk light, dark stair geometry cutting across below — Stairway silhouettes

Five figures silhouetted mid-stretch along a seafront railing under a violet and orange dusk sky — Evening exercise

Palms and a seafront promenade seen through a window, overlaid with warm orange reflections — Window glow

A figure's mirrored reflection in a thin sheet of water on rippled sand, feet breaking the surface — Wet sand

Vietnam Streets

What I built

In 2022 I started Vietnam Streets with Sam Derbyshire and Adrien Jean — three photographers who kept finding each other's work and thought Vietnam deserved one place to see the best of it. I started it from Vietnam and run it from Chicago now, shooting there whenever I'm back. It's grown into the thing I'm proudest of.

170+

photographers published

cities documented

30+

guides written

2022

founded

5,200+

following @jackjross

Writing

Guides & field notes

City How-To Guides

Best-Time Guides

Photo Walks

Press

In the press

Vietcetera Expert Picks: Street Photographer Jack Ross and His List of the Most Photogenic Spots in Vietnam

Follow the work, or say hello.

New frames most weeks on Instagram. Prints, workshops, and collaborations by request.

Instagram @jackjross ↗ jackjross.com ↗ Vietnam Streets →