Hanoi, Vietnam Street Photography

Available for editorial and commercial licensing

Hanoi has an energy that gets under your skin. The streets are alive with movement — motorbikes weaving through alleys, kids chasing each other between fruit stands, vendors setting up shop on the sidewalk like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Every corner has its own rhythm, and walking with a camera feels like stepping into a never-ending stream of stories.

I carried one body and one lens, and let that limitation push me into seeing differently. Some moments you catch, others slip away, but that’s the beauty of street work. It’s fast, unpredictable, and brutally honest. These frames from Hanoi are part of a larger body of travel work I’ve been building, and they’re available for editorial and commercial licensing.

Why Photograph Hanoi This Way

I wanted to keep it simple — one lens, one perspective. The city doesn’t need much help telling its own story. Life spills out everywhere: coffee brewed streetside, scooters stacked three deep at stoplights, laundry hanging above sidewalks. Photographing it felt less about finding “shots” and more about staying open long enough to let them find me.

Street Life and Daily Rhythm

Markets buzzing before sunrise, old men playing checkers on plastic stools, women carrying baskets balanced across their shoulders — Hanoi’s everyday life has a timeless quality. These photographs are less about the place on a map and more about the pulse of human movement.

Licensing Use Cases

These images are available for:

Travel and culture magazine features
Editorial stories on Southeast Asia and Vietnam
Commercial campaigns for tourism, hospitality, and lifestyle brands
Website or social content for companies wanting authentic imagery from Hanoi

Licensing Information

Each project is unique. I offer a range of options — from single-use editorial licenses to commercial rights packages — depending on how the images will be used. If you’re working on a story, campaign, or brand project and need photographs of Hanoi street life, I’d be glad to put something together for you.

The streets of Hanoi have a way of pulling you in. They’re noisy and chaotic, but at the same time full of small, quiet moments worth holding onto. That’s what I wanted these photographs to be — honest reflections of a place in motion.

If you’d like to license these images, or discuss a project that needs photography in this part of the world, reach me directly at rob@robhammerphotography.com..

Hanoi, Vietnam street photography available for editorial and commercial licensing — Hanoi, Vietnam street photography

Stock photograph of a street food vendor in Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi, Vietnam street culture photography - Travel — The streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

Photograph of chickens in a cage on the street before being killed for serving in a street restaurant — Caged chickens at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam

Stock photograph of a woman cleaning chickens on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam — A woman preparing dead chickens to cook at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam

Photograph of various fried fish for sale on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam — Fish for sale on the street in Vietnam

Photograph of various shellfish for sale on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam — Shellfish for sale on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam

Photograph of a woman selling fruit on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam — Stock photograph of a woman selling watermelons on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam

Stock photograph of man and his shoe repair station on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam — Shoe repairman on the street in Vietnam

Stock travel photography of Hanoi, Vietnam

Fresh eggs hanging on a motor bike on the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam — Hanoi, Vietnam Street Photography available for editorial and commercial licensing

Stock photograph of the world famous "Train Street" in Hanoi, Vietnam. Available for editorial and commercial licensing — Train Street in Hanoi, Vietnam

Stock photograph of a woman's bike in Hanoi, Vietnam stacked with fruits and vegetables — A Vietnamese woman carrying food on her bicycle to sell on the streets of Hanoi

2012-ish in Amsterdam was the first time I recall embracing the simple joys of street photography. After years of lugging around a lot of lighting equipment, it was very refreshing to just have a camera bag on my back. That was also the first time that I remember having a focus on one subject. The first time I grasped the notion of a “series” of images. Maybe it was too much time spent in the cafe’s, but either way, the singular focus wasn’t intentional. After miles and miles of walking around Amsterdam, it just struck me that I had photographed a lot of bicycles. And all of a sudden, Emily would be saying “look at that one over there” or “that’s a good one”. The theme had caught on. She recognized what I was doing too. Probably because she always had to wait while I made 35 different images of one bike from 35 different angles. Regardless, it stuck and was most likely the beginning of the way I think about long term personal projects like Barbershops of America and The Hoops Project. Both of which are focused on one subject and have been going on now for 8+ years. They are a great balance to the commercial work, which I love, but it very involved with planning, time, and gear. Over the past couple years, my kit for personal trips has been cut down even further. In fact, on this last trip to Europe, all that came along was one camera body and one lens. The feeling of not having options is quite freeing. There is no need to think about switching lenses every 5 minuets to accommodate the situation. You just have to make do with what you have. ultimately, it makes you a better photographer. And it cuts down on weight. Nothing better than traveling light. Here is another batch of images from Europe in December/January. They were all made with very little thought as to why or a care of where they would end up.

Click HERE to see more street photography.