Whether it is a boy making paper birds in a park to pray for peace or a Vietnamese language speaking practice session between a father and daughter, Trung Nghia seeks to present every moment he captures with emotional clarity.

A collection of photographs taken by Nghia, a producer and reporter for ABC Radio Australia , is now showing at the Michaels Camera Museum in Melbourne .

Nghia's Asia-Pacific in Contrast, a collection of 40 photographs in black and white as well as in colour, is the result of nearly 10 years work that took him all over Vietnam and other countries in the Southeast Asian region.

The different themes that the photographs are grouped under – Traffic or A Closer Look at Young People - shows the different aspects of life that has captured the photographer's attention.

Nghia has visited many foreign countries, but his focus is on capturing his motherland's beauty.

The exhibition area is decorated with green bamboo, an inonic part of the country's flora, to give exhibition visitors an authentic feel for the country, he said.

The exhibition also includes images dealing with the life of Vietnamese communities in Australia , on the ways they strive to preserve and develop their traditional culture in a foreign country.

Nghia's images reveal "a true artist, who has worked hard to capture vivid moments with much emotion, passion, pleasure and pain," said Mike McCluskey, CEO of Radio Australia .

A graduate in journalism from the HCM City University of Social Science and Humanities, Nghia now studies community welfare at Melbourne University .

" I want to work as a social worker to help disadvantaged children," he said.

He has also published tourist books and organised personal photo exhibitions in Vietnam and Europe .

His show has attracted considerable local interest since it opened early this month.

All money from the sale of photos will be used for charity, Nghia said.

The exhibition will remain open until June 27./.