For Richard Baker the line between life and death is very thin, almost transparent. He served in Vietnam; he came home with PTSD; he tried suicide twice; then a Veterans Administration doctor suggested Baker return to Vietnam. 

He did.

"I fell in love with the place and the people and never felt so free," Baker wrote in an email.

That feeling saved his life and has led him back to Vietnam numerous times to live with and photograph the people.

"When you step into Viet Nam you step 1,000 years back in time," he wrote. "I am especially drawn to the 54 ethnic groups, many of which are dying out. I am determined to photograph and document every group before I die."

This desire to capture the cultures of a county this nation once fought is at the heart of Baker's photography.

To do this he uses the simplest of cameras and lens.

"A camera is no more important to a photographer than a paintbrush is to an artist," he wrote. "I use cheap plastic cameras because they are not intimidating, and I enjoy the unsharp pictures."

Baker's art - "Viet Nam - An Alternative View, Photographs by Richard Baker" - is on display at Handforth Gallery on the first floor of the Tacoma Public Library's Main Branch in downtown Tacoma through Feb 21. The majority of the 48 exhibited photographs are in black and white. Some are razor sharp; others are a used razor dull.  

As to the Holga cameras and lens he uses, they are inexpensive Chinese made black and white film cameras known for their lack of clarity, no light meter, vigetting and blurry edges."

"I am not smart enough to use color," Baker wrote with a note of whimsy at one point. "No one takes a Holga seriously; it is a plastic toy. I have a piece of tape on the back of one of my Holgas because the back sometimes falls off, a common trait of the Holga."

That's part of the beauty of the camera and the kind of photographs it makes.

"The frequent roughness of the photographs emit true personality, a realism not found in more technical cameras," continued Baker.

As visitors to the Handforth Gallery look at his thought-provoking photographs, they will find a title and a short explanation of where and why the image was made.

One image, entitled "Waiting for Lunch," captures Baker's attitude about his work.

Lost in the mountains, Baker walked a road that became a footpath that ended in a village. Invited by the villagers to have lunch, he had grubs, maggots, pork, rice, noodles and wine.

"I have never taken an official tour anyplace in the world. This experience is the reason why," Baker wrote. "I only know that I am someplace wonderful in the world - that's good enough for me."

I'd say. It saved his life.

"VIET NAM - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW, PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICHARD BAKER," 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through Feb. 21, Handforth Gallery, Tacoma Public Library Main Branch, 1102 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253.292.2001 or www.tacomapubliclibrary.org