Stunning photos of Vietnam’s street vendors from above

By Sophie-Claire Hoeller, INSIDER From Business Insider

Vendors 01
Courtesy of Loes Heerink

Sometimes in life, all you need is a change of scenery. Other times, a change of perspective is necessary as well.

Loes Heerink has managed to provide us with both in her photo series, “Vendors from Above.”

Heerink moved to Hanoi, Vietnam, from the Netherlands, and spent a year photographing the city’s street vendors from various bridges.

“This project started [with] my fascination for the women carrying their goods,” she wrote. “They have no clue how beautiful their bicycles are, no idea they create little pieces of art every day.”

She’s now raising funds through Kickstarter to publish a collection of these aerial images, titled “Vendors.”

Take a look at the attached images

Hanoi is home to approximately 15,000 street vendors — most of them female migrants.
Courtesy of Loes Heerink
Source: Vietnam News

They travel in from the countryside by bike, spending a few days in the city in order to make a living before heading back to restock.
Courtesy of Loes Heerink

Since 2008, there’s been a partial ban on street vending in Hanoi, though many of these women are their families’ sole breadwinners.
Courtesy of Loes Heerink
Source: Serious Eats

According to Heerink, they are part of what makes Hanoi so beautiful.
Courtesy of Loes Heerink

“They color the city,” she said. “I wanted to take the pictures from above so there would be no distractions on the images beside the vendors.”
“As you can imagine, Hanoi is a very lively and busy city; lots of people, lots of trees, lots of motorbikes. If I would have taken a picture from [eye level] there would be a lot of other stuff going on on the image. I wanted to only have the street vendors on them.”

Heerink spent hours every day on various bridges, waiting for vendors to pass by.
Courtesy of Loes Heerink

Then she’d lean out as far as she could and snap her photo.
Courtesy of Loes Heerink

She hopes to show these hardworking vendors in a new light. “I want to show people what I see. I hope people see the beauty street vendors create, and I hope they also see that themselves.”
Courtesy of Loes Heerink

Read the original article on INSIDER. Follow INSIDER on Facebook. Copyright 2016. Follow INSIDER on Twitter.

For more on this story go to: http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-vietnam-street-vendors-2016-11/#she-hopes-to-show-these-hardworking-vendors-in-a-new-light-i-want-to-show-people-what-i-see-i-hope-people-see-the-beauty-street-vendors-create-and-i-hope-they-also-see-that-themselves-8