Da Nang (VNA)- Having succeeded at printing photography on stones and leaves, Le Nguyen Vystarted working with sea shells – a tough material for photo printing – andpioneered the art of printing photographs on shells in Vietnam.

Fishermen from coastalvillages helped him collect sea shells from the ocean and from seafoodrestaurants for his artwork.

Many Da Nang and centralregion landscapes now appear on his oyster, snail and clam shell prints, whichare created manually, using 3-dimensional imagery. The initial photo design andmaquette are done on a computer to set up the desired image on a shell.

“It’s a new milestone ofmy creation. I succeeded in printing photos on stones and leaves, but sea shellis quite a challenge,” Vy said.

“Shell surfaces are notflat, so it takes time to print a photo on a shell. It’s amazing,” he said."Eighty percent of the printing process on shell is done by hand."

Shell portraits arealways the most challenging customer orders. Each portrait must reflect everyelement of face and gesture on an uneven shell surface.

"I tested photoprinting on everything from big to tiny shells, and nothing is impossible,” hesaid.

Vy, 66, was born in DuyXuyen district of Quang Nam province and grew up in Da Nang. He is consideredthe first innovator of printing photos on leaves and stones.

Shell photo prints canlast for centuries with his technique, so customers can preserve their imagesfor a long time.

Vy wants to offerspecial souvenirs for tourists and friends visiting Da Nang and other places inthe central coastal region. Tourists can take portraits and impressivelandscape photos and have them printed on sea shells within two days.

The artist plans tocreate shell portraits of leaders of countries participating in the APEC(Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation) Summit in Da Nang next year as gifts. Theportraits will also include an imageof the red-shanked douc langur (Pygathryx nemaeus) – an endangered speciesrecognised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in2013.

In the past, Vysuccessful printed the Binh Ngo Dai Cao (Proclamation ofVictory over Foreign Invaders) – a famous poem composed by the brilliantstrategist Nguyen Trai in 1428 – on a stone pendant. Shops sold thesependants as souvenirs.

Vy also spent threemonths experimenting with printing photos on crystals.

“It’s quite different.Crystal creates twinkling light effects with light-emitting diodes. Portraitsand other images look lively,” said An Dy, a visitor.

“It seems like he puts alive portrait inside crystal. I could not image that photos are imprinted ineven tiny size on sea shells and crystals as well as stone and leaf,” she said,adding that it’s extraordinary pieces of artworks and innovation.

Vy, who studiedphilosophy in HCM City, said he wished to recreate everything in life on seashells, stones and leaves, as well as to tell ocean stories on oyster shells.

In 2007, Vy wasrecognised as the inventor of printing photographs on stone by the Vietnam RecordsBook Centre, after nearly 18 years of optimising the process.

"I select stones,leaves, crystals and shells to feature my desires, images and stories. I hopemy artworks make Da Nang and the central region not only a World Heritagedestination, but a rendezvous for encounters with mysterious creations ofstone-crystal-leaf-and shell.”

All the artworks aremade by Vy and his son on an alley in the Son Tra district. Vy’s work is ondisplay at a subway near the Holiday Beach Hotel on Son Tra peninsula.-VNA