Issue 016 · Spotlight

A Slower Way of Seeing

Adrien Jean
August 2026

A saffron-robed, masked monk holding an alms bowl and prayer beads passes through a dim backstreet pool hall where shirtless men lean on cues around a blue-felt table — Adrien Jean.

Ten years photographing the Saigon that doesn’t announce itself — by a Frenchman who treats a camera as a way of meeting people rather than keeping them at a distance.

Words by Jack Ross

Adrien Jean has been photographing Ho Chi Minh City since 2014, which is long enough to watch parts of it go. His ongoing project is a record of the ordinary city — the alley pool halls, the sidewalk cafés, the markets that have held the same corner for thirty years — made while it is all still there to photograph.

A man reaches up with a long pole to tend towering red spiral incense coils hanging in a dim Cho Lon temple — Adrien Jean
A man reaches up with a long pole to tend towering red spiral incense coils hanging in a dim Cho Lon temple
A fruit-cart vendor checks his phone beside stacked papayas and watermelons while a small black dog sits among the produce — Adrien Jean
A fruit-cart vendor checks his phone beside stacked papayas and watermelons while a small black dog sits among the produce

He is French, has lived in Saigon for over a decade, and spends much of the year guiding. Between tours and workshops he teaches visitors to slow down enough to notice the city they are walking through, which is the same instruction the photographs give.

Shoppers in conical hats and a cyclist thread through a crowded, sunlit morning market lane — Adrien Jean
Shoppers in conical hats and a cyclist thread through a crowded, sunlit morning market lane
Children play football in a shadowed alley courtyard scattered with bicycles — Adrien Jean
Children play football in a shadowed alley courtyard scattered with bicycles
Five older men sit on red plastic chairs at an open-air café against a weathered louvred wall, one meeting the camera — Adrien Jean
Five older men sit on red plastic chairs at an open-air café against a weathered louvred wall, one meeting the camera

Streets & Stories goes out to photographers documenting Vietnamese street life. If someone forwarded this to you, you can subscribe to get each issue in your inbox. Thanks for reading.

Adrien Jean in Ho Chi Minh City

Adrien arrived in 2014 and stayed long enough to stop seeing the city the way a visitor does. What holds his attention is the Saigon that doesn’t announce itself — not the new bridge or the opened metro line, but the improvised sidewalk businesses, the markets and the vendors, the places that feel permanent right up until they aren’t. The project is an argument that this is the real city, and a hedge against losing it.

An overhead view of a market roofed by a patchwork canopy of faded parasols, a lone conical-hatted vendor below — Adrien Jean
An overhead view of a market roofed by a patchwork canopy of faded parasols, a lone conical-hatted vendor below

The same conviction runs through his teaching. He leads street-photography tours and workshops around Chợ Lớn and the older districts, and is explicit that the point is not technique — it is a slower, more mindful way of looking, curiosity in place of a checklist.

I see photography as a bridge, allowing me to forge meaningful connections with local people and gain a better understanding of their traditions and culture.

— Adrien Jean

In April 2026 the work went up on a street wall. The French Consulate hung fourteen of his large-format photographs along the exterior of the French Residence at 6 Lê Duẩn, paired with images of Lyon by the French-Vietnamese photographer Tony Noël, marking the 53rd anniversary of France–Vietnam relations. Two twinned river cities set against each other, on a wall anyone could stop at without buying a ticket — which is roughly where the pictures were taken in the first place.

At dawn a man stands on a wooden riverboat as the Saigon skyline and Landmark 81 rise through the haze behind him — Adrien Jean
At dawn a man stands on a wooden riverboat as the Saigon skyline and Landmark 81 rise through the haze behind him

He has been featured by Lonely Planet, Saigoneer, Vietcetera and The Phoblographer, among others. The Saigon project is ongoing, and you can shoot the city with him if you want to see how he works.

A vendor under a conical hat sits behind bowls of chilies, herbs and rice at a market food stall — Adrien Jean
A vendor under a conical hat sits behind bowls of chilies, herbs and rice at a market food stall
In a narrow alley, one man reclines on a chair in shadow while another sits in a lit doorway across the lane — Adrien Jean
In a narrow alley, one man reclines on a chair in shadow while another sits in a lit doorway across the lane
Live chickens crowd the foreground of a poultry market as two women vendors wait behind them — Adrien Jean
Live chickens crowd the foreground of a poultry market as two women vendors wait behind them
Residents use public outdoor exercise machines in a paved yard beside a graffiti-marked wall — Adrien Jean
Residents use public outdoor exercise machines in a paved yard beside a graffiti-marked wall
A giant inflatable Superman kite floats above a riverside kite field as a man carries a child on his shoulders, Landmark 81 beyond — Adrien Jean
A giant inflatable Superman kite floats above a riverside kite field as a man carries a child on his shoulders, Landmark 81 beyond
A bride in a white gown walks through a market lane, passing a vendor seated on the ground — Adrien Jean
A bride in a white gown walks through a market lane, passing a vendor seated on the ground
Patrons sit in a quiet café interior, soft daylight falling through backlit windows — Adrien Jean
Patrons sit in a quiet café interior, soft daylight falling through backlit windows
A man's silhouette rises through incense smoke behind a row of backlit tea glasses, spiral coils overhead — Adrien Jean
A man's silhouette rises through incense smoke behind a row of backlit tea glasses, spiral coils overhead
The hard-edged silhouettes of four men in hats line up against a bright white wall — Adrien Jean
The hard-edged silhouettes of four men in hats line up against a bright white wall
In a dim metal workshop, a boy works at a machine while another figure in red crosses the floor — Adrien Jean
In a dim metal workshop, a boy works at a machine while another figure in red crosses the floor
Seen through the glass of her food cart, a street vendor rests her chin on her hand and smiles — Adrien Jean
Seen through the glass of her food cart, a street vendor rests her chin on her hand and smiles
Steam billows through a shaft of light at a night street-food stall as a vendor works beside a parked motorbike — Adrien Jean
Steam billows through a shaft of light at a night street-food stall as a vendor works beside a parked motorbike

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