Why Larry Gassan Keeps Coming Back
Larry during an outing in Tam Coc. © Ash Sing / X-Pedition Hanoi 2023
I first met Larry Gassan in Havana in 2018. We were sharing a room in a casa particular — a private home that rents out rooms to tourists — and within about 24 hours I thought had him figured out: Here was a guy who was all steam ahead, never held back, who always seemed to have a relevant anecdote about his last visit to Cuba some 48 years earlier. He was, in the best possible way, a lot.
That was our first workshop together, David Hobby's and mine, and we were still figuring the X-Peditions experience out. But one thing we already knew was that a personality like Larry's made the trip better for everyone in the room.
What I couldn't have known then was that Larry would keep coming back. Twice to Cuba. Five times to Hanoi. Seven trips in total, across seven years, with more photographs and more confidence each time. He's not the same photographer who showed up in Havana when he was not entirely sure he belonged in the room with better shooters. He has moved well past that stage.
What follows is a conversation we had recently on WhatsApp. It's vintage Larry — direct, funny, occasionally profane, and completely honest about where he started and how far he's come.
You’ve traveled with us seven times — twice to Cuba and five times to Hanoi. What has kept bringing you back?
Many reasons.
1. Destinations. Havana and Hanoi. I was last in Cuba in 1973. I'd never been to Hanoi, so that was a red hot factor.
2. Educational. David Hobby's background as a working photojournalist mattered a lot. I wasn't interested in an Ansel Adams Rocks-n-Trees outing, or some wispy "art" thing. I first read David’s Strobist around 2007. I was immediately struck by the no-BS, approachability of affordable photo solutions. As the son of a photo prof it was zero-attitude. Being self-taught can be limiting. I needed to be in the room with smarter, better shooters.
Larry in Cuba on his second trip with X-Peditions in 2019. © Joe Newman / X-Peditions
3. Desire to get way better at photography. Now looking back at where I started in 2018, I can see I had a long way to go.
4. The traveling part. Part of the X-Ped ethos was to reach escape velocity to travel solo or with a friend, and figure shit out on the fly. This really accelerated in 2023.
5. People skills. X-Peds jumpstarted how I got past the self-doubt as to whether or not I was a photographer. It took a lot of work and situations.
Can you tell us the biggest improvements you’ve made as a photographer?
The X-Ped workshops introduced me to white balance, and helped me begin to understand light.
As Kool Moe Dee once said, "There is no romance without finance." The romance is the image possibility, the finance is how the camera sees what you want it to see.
Now when I enter a shooting environment, I'll calibrate what the camera sees. Spoiler, it's a continuing process.
Climbing Hung Mua peak. © Larry Gassan / X-Pedition Hanoi 2022
One frequent shooting locale near my home in California is a record store that hosts live music. I told the owners "the light here is awful, don't change it. It's made me a better photographer."
I've had to learn how to shoot the musicians with whatever color cast is happening that night. I push my camera to redline; top end ISO 12800, f3.5 at maybe 1/60th. I try to get the image 95 percent perfect out of camera. Keep the post-process via CaptureOne to a minimum. The goal is to capture the moment with whatever light is there. So in venues where the stage lighting is a bright balanced white that's easy in comparison.
Do you have a single favorite memory from your trips to Hanoi?
2024 was my third trip to Tho Ha Village with the X-Peds. The village industry is edible handmade rice paper and 16” rice crackers. That novelty had dissolved on the last trip. Now, I was faced with the “news shooter’s dilemma:” How do I shoot something that I’ve seen before? What did I miss before? It was a sobering thought as I dozed in the pre-dawn bus ride. Little did I know I was on my way to a Vietnamese village funeral.
A scene from a Vietnamese funeral. © Larry Gassan / X-Pedition Hanoi 2022
I unobtrusively photographed the funeral from village start to the private finish at the burial ground. At the village boundary, an elderly grandmother invited me to follow the funeral procession out to the burial ground. I was the only foreigner there. I left with the non-family mourners when asked.
What is your biggest takeaway from X-Peditions?
As a photographer, X-Peds showed me situational-aware people skills; combined with necessary compositional and technical skills. I shoot to get the image 98 percent correct out of camera. I edit ruthlessly, keeping the knob-twirling to a minimum. Then get up the next day to do it again.
As a traveler, X-Peds gave me the confidence to go places solo or with friends, and do things with a confidence I didn't have earlier.
Finally: I made a photo book about the funeral at Tho Ha Village. Check it out here.
