I became interested in art when I was in primary school in Tianjin. My father was very happy after reading it, so he bought a set of Mustard Garden to copy for me, which laid a good foundation for me to learn photography.
1930, just 13 years old, when the middle school basketball team participated in the competition, the physical education teacher took pictures of our team with Kodak 1 16 square mirror box, which was very interesting and sprouted the idea of learning photography. Then, another classmate and I each bought a 6× 9mm Kodak Hawkeye square mirror box, the price was only 2.8 yuan, and we also bought a camera. The company also presented six issues of Kodak Photography Magazine for half a year, and each issue produced a competition topic (similar to today's monthly competition of Dazheng Photography Magazine), which all readers can participate in. For the first time, I sent my first summer film to Kodak Company in Shanghai, with rays of sunshine in the blue sky and an acacia tree as the background. Unexpectedly, this work won the nomination prize in the competition and was selected as the first photo of the magazine for several consecutive issues. At that time, it was out of fashion to pay the manuscript fee, so I was given two rolls of Kodak Wanli brand 1 16 black and white film as prizes. Since then, I have taken great interest in photography.
After I fell in love with photography, I spent 18 yuan to buy a 6×6 mm camera made by German Funeng Factory. This camera has the functions of adjustable aperture from F2.2-F9 and shutter speed of b, t-1100 second. It is very convenient to use. In order to improve my photography skills and enrich my photography knowledge, I ordered 1936' s Photography in China and American Photography Yearbook. It is particularly worth mentioning that in China Photography, the works of world-famous photographers are selected in each issue, and the original works, lighting and composition are attached. It is good for photographers and professional photographers.
1936 In the spring, when I was traveling in Beiping, I first saw the photography magazine "Flying Eagle" published by Shanghai Guanlong Photography Equipment Company. Most of the works published above are the works of some famous artists of Black and White Film Society, among which Lang Jingshan, Wu Zhongxing, Liu Xucang, Jin and Lu Shifu are the most impressive. Reading these famous books opened my eyes. It points out the maze for my future photography creation and benefits me for life.
When I was in Tianjin, every Sunday morning, whether in winter or summer, I always took one of my cousins to the seaside or the old Russian park. Even the British troops marching back to the barracks after a church service every Sunday morning became my subject, and I captured many shots after catching up with each other. The activities on campus, all kinds of building facilities, and the corners that I find interesting are all my creative materials. There is still some information.
When we graduated, in the school magazine, in addition to the high school graduates and junior high school graduates each have a personal photo and a brief comment, the editor also specially selected two topics of my landscape photos and life activities. Later, due to my father's job transfer, our family left Tianjin and moved to Wuhan, Hubei. I entered Wuhan Zhonghua University (located in Liangdao Street, Changkai) and became a day student. Cross the river twice a day, greet the rising sun on the deck early, and send it to faint at night. Seagulls soar and shine. High-rise buildings on both sides of the strait are connected, and there are many factories. The factory director is very different from the north. After school, I am really happy to go to Sheshan Park, Luojiashan and other places for picnicking, playing and photography creation with my younger brothers and sisters!
On my 20th birthday (1937), my grandmother and other elders gave me some money, which I just used. I spent 75 yuan to buy a Bessa“BESA”f 4.5, 1/250 second camera with self-timer. You can take 8 photos and 16 photos. Like its owner, the eye camera has gone through hardships and disasters and is still in use today.
From 65438 to 0937, Mr. Mei Lanfang led a delegation to perform on Wuhan Grand Stage. In order to support and satisfy my desire for photography, my father bought me a seat ticket in the middle of the second row, which is convenient for shooting. That scene happened to be the finale of Mr. Mei Lanfang's Farewell My Concubine. Mr. Mei plays the concubine and Liu Lianrong plays the overlord. As there is no flash, I can only take pictures with the help of the strong light on the stage. The film used is Kodak ISO400 without tripod. I can only shoot a sword dance of Uji at the speed of110 seconds and115 seconds with my camera in my hand. When a sword dance ends in the dead of night, when the double swords are unveiled, a movie is over. These photos were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution). Since then, this Bertha camera made in Germany has made me more fond of it and become a loyal "companion" in my photography creation. It has been more than half a century now, and I am still working. It is a ladder for two generations to learn photography.
1938, when the Japanese invaders were about to hit Wuhan, my father asked me to take some brothers to take refuge in Sichuan. After I arrived in Chengdu, I transferred to the private Guanghua University in Chengdu (now Southwestern University of Finance and Economics) to study. The following year, we moved into a new school building (now "Guanghua Village") near Caotang. The school appointed a window in the corridor of the classroom for students from all departments to publish papers and monographs, so some photographers and I in the school also took out our proud works and creative experiences and exhibited them in the window. Every once in a while, students and teachers used to like to stop and watch. This lasted for a year. Due to the tense war, the Yunnan-Myanmar highway was blocked and photographic equipment was extremely scarce. Our photography window could not continue, so we had to end its artistic mission with regret.
During my study at school, I used the winter and summer vacations to hike to Mount Emei, Leshan, Qingcheng Mountain, Dujiangyan and other scenic spots for photography creation. Although the works of that year were in war, I still kept the next one.
1940 after leaving school, the workers assigned to Ya 'an, Kangding, then the capital of Xikang Province, had very difficult working and living conditions. It's really inconvenient to just move from the prosperous Chengdu to work and live in this remote ethnic mixed area and enter the barren land, but the desire for photography creation suddenly rises. When I was studying in the city, I met a photographer who devoted himself to shooting ethnic customs and scenic spots in Xikang Province. His clothes are the same as those of ethnic minorities. He lives with people in Kangzang area, just like a family, which makes me respect and admire him. I've always wanted to follow his example, go deep into ethnic areas and deep mountains and forests, and do some photography creation. So when I arrived in Kangding, I tried to make friends with Tibetans, pot owners and lamas. Look for opportunities to have a "dragon gate array" with monks in the Lama Temple (called "chatting" in Sichuan dialect), or go to Happy Mountain to drink buttered tea and eat sticky cakes with Tibetans in their tents. Through frequent communication and contact, I take photos for them and also carry out my own photography creation activities.
The time when I worked and lived in Xikang Province was the "golden time" of my life. At that time, whether it was steep peaks, swift rivers, blue sky and white clouds, Tibetan life, yurts, Lama Temple, etc. It's my creative object. For photography creation, I once rode a yak alone, walked, crossed Erlang Mountain, Zheduo Mountain and Paoma Mountain by sliding bar (simple bamboo cool sedan chair), and painted Dadu River, Zheduo River and Qingyi River for photography creation. It's really bitter and fun, and it means a lot.
After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, I worked in Nanjing, Shanghai, Kaifeng and Xi 'an. Therefore, it is a pity to see the great rivers and mountains of the motherland destroyed by Japanese imperialism! At the same time, we are proud of the vast territory, beautiful scenery, unique, beautiful and inexhaustible creative themes of our great motherland!
1948 In the spring, on the eve of Kaifeng's liberation, I bought a Japanese Mamiya 6 camera. Who would have thought that more than ten years have passed, which coincides with the three-year difficult period, and all six people in the family are in trouble. In order to save the life of the whole family, after a complicated ideological struggle, they had to reluctantly entrust a friend to send this camera to a consignment shop in Chengdu for more than 200 yuan, and bought back dozens of pounds of sweet potatoes, saving the life of the whole family.
Suffering from the displacement of the Anti-Japanese War and the turmoil of the civil war, on the eve of liberation, I went to Guangyuan via Shaanxi, and then worked hard in Chengdu and other places to come to Sichuan. In the early 1950s, he was transferred from Sichuan Branch of China People's Bank to Jianyang Sub-branch, and retired in the mid-1970s. In the second half of my work and study, I participated in the "cadres who decentralized rural labor", worked as a "dutiful son and grandson of capitalists", "ghostly" and "foreign slaves", and endless sufferings followed. Although he suffered a lot of unfair treatment, his life-long photography never stopped.
Now, I am nearly 80 years old. At the suggestion of my children and grandchildren, I plan to hold a local photography exhibition in the near future, which has been my amateur creation for 65 years. If the exhibition is successful, it will put an end to my amateur photography creation.