Mermaid: An image from the photo collection The Sea by An Le, which won the grand prize at the New Exposure Fashion Photography Contest in New York.

NEW YORK — Vietnamese photographer An Le beat 500 other candidates from different countries to win the grand prize at the New Exposure Fashion Photography Contest that was held in mid-July in New York City.

The contest, organised by Vogue fashion magazine, aims to pinpoint key emerging talents in the fashion photography field and help to advance their careers.

An Le, 22, who graduated earlier this year from the US's Sannavah College of Art and Design won the prize for his collection titled The Sea. The collection takes viewers through the story of an old fisherman who found a huge egg lying by the sea out of which hatched a beautiful woman.

"Whenever I take photo of an object or a landscape, a woman or a man, I want my photos to rouse strong emotions in the audience," said Le.

"I love literature and have always been inspired by the beauty of language and the metaphors, the symbols, motifs, etc, so I always try to integrate those elements into my photography. It is not so much about a specific message I want to convey to the viewers through my work but rather the experience and thoughts that they have when looking at the photographs," he added.

Le will receive a US$50,000 prize that includes a RED Epic-X camera package, a one-year mentorship with Management Artists photography agency, and the chance to shoot a project for Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta.

A native from HCM City, Le moved to the US by himself when he was 15 years old to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. His photos will be published exclusively this month in Viet Nam's Dep (Beautiful) fashion magazine, where he has worked as a freelancer for several years. — VNS