Camera Obscura » Interview

Interview with Yuan Yanwu

Fabiano Busdraghi — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:02:30 +0000

13 years © Yuan Yanwu

Following interview by Yuan Yanwu (袁燕舞) and Yu-hui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “photography” mean to you?

Yuan Yanwu: Since I became interested in covering photography report in my early stage of learning journalism, till now I work on arts, to me ‘photography’ has evolved from its original sense; it is becoming an inconclusive concept. I am not sure whether I should still call myself a ‘photographer’, because during my work in recent two years, a ‘camera’ is no longer the precondition for creation. What is relevant to ‘photography’ is the photographs used as the original source (they are not necessarily taken by myself). For example, some times ago I used a digital camera to copy the old photos in my home, now I scan them directly to the computer and do the post production on the screen. When I held my first personal exhibition ‘Youth Self Portraits (part 1)’ in Paris, the post production is all based on photos, i.e. I combine the photographs and post production together; but in current projects, I almost use the ‘Brush’ tool only in Photoshop – I usually create multi layers over the original photo layer, and reproduce it in a way of painting (in a nutshell it is similar to the method of “tracing in black ink over characters printed in red” as a way of learning calligraphy). When the work is finished, I will delete the original photograph layer; that is to say, the final image is like being hand painted with brush completely, and there is no trace of photograph at all. I haven’t got an idea of how to define the work I am doing now. Although the process of ‘photography’ has been omitted from my actual practice, the final work is a creative duplication of the original photograph, and it has an unbreakable relationship with ‘photography’.

16 years © Yuan Yanwu

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Yuan Yanwu: I was born in Yansi Town, Huizhou County, Anhui Province in February 1976, which is the current Huangshan city. There is a village named Xixinan 10 km away from Yansi; that is where my childhood memories are stored, till now my grandma still lives in this village. After I was eight I moved to Shanghai to live with my mother’s parents. After I graduated from high school in Shanghai, I studied Journalism and Communications in Nanjing Univeristy from 1994 to 1998, and worked in the photography department of Xinmin Evening News back to Shanghai after graduation. Five years later, which is in 2003, I quitted my job and came to study in France. At first I studied in Institut Français de Presse in Pantheon-Assas Paris II University, then I did Bachelor and Master studies in the Department of Photography in the University of Paris VIII. Now I live and work in Paris. The contrast between my childhood memories in the village and the city life after I was eight; the history of my family; my life experience between the western and eastern culture – all these have immense influence on my work today.

2 years © Yuan Yanwu

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is your history as a photographer?

Yuan Yanwu: When I was studying journalism in Nanjing University, we had a course on news photography; at that time internet was not as popular as today, and I was very much attracted by several books translated from the west, which were about the leading figures in photography. All of a sudden I felt that news photography was more real and persuasive than words. Therefore I decided to work as an editor in the photography department of a press after I graduated. In the meantime I also did some interviews on photography; that was my first acquaintance with photography. Gradually I found that news photography was not enough to satisfy my desire of self-expression; at that time I also wanted to study abroad to see the world outside China, thus I chose France, the place of origin of photography. When I studied in the University of Paris VIII where both theory and practice were emphasized, I got to know the history of western photography, photography theories, aesthetic etc. Of course there were also practice on photography techniques and creative work. They all changed my understanding of photography. Possibly like many other students of photography, my works at that time were deeply influenced by the documentary style of School of Dusselfolf (for instance, I like the portrait works of Thomas Struth very much). The very strict techniques of this school (front view, keeping certain distance with the subject, neutral, no emotion at all, etc.) is completed opposite to the attitude of photography reporting in my previous knowledge.

Food (Jing) © Yuan Yanwu

Then I gradually found that this so-called neutrality and objectivity by this school is just a method of expression. To quote the opinion in the book ‘Style Documentary’, ‘documentary’ here is a technique only, a style; it doesn’t represent the true record of the reality, and photographer can even obtain the style he/she wants through dark room and post production. Gradually, my photography practice has been transferred from the previous focus on onsite photography, to the emphasis on post-production. My photography work for Bachelor graduation is called ‘Food’, which is composed of over ten diptychs. On the right are portraits of every single person, and on the left is a dish made of the people photographed. From this work we can find the trace of documentary photography in terms of expression techniques. Meanwhile, I had started to do reproduction by employing post-production techniques, for example, simplifying the background of the portrait, adjusting the colour to make it more balanced, outstanding, and also clearer. The food also renders a very clean and light style after many ‘reproduction’ processes. This work aims to present the relations between food and the existence of human beings, therefore I put them together, and present people and food with the same size and weighting. In my works after that, post production takes up an ever bigger portion.

Elswhere (Yan) © Yuan Yanwu

In ‘Elswhere’, I changed the indoor space of the subject according to my imagination, and did a lot of adjustments to the character. In ‘Double bind’, based on the real figures I created their virtual twin brothers and sisters. All these can be seen as my course of practice in using post-production techniques. In ‘Youth Self Portraits (part 1)’, seven portraits in my childhood were from the old photos in my home; originally they were not portraits but family photos. I can say that since this series, I have begun to search for new direction of creation: memory, time, reality, imagination, truth, fiction, closeness, distance…. Probably to me, ‘photography’ means ‘from the reality’ but ‘exceeds the reality’. ‘Photography’ is not that far from imagination and fiction.

Double bind © Yuan Yanwu

What is quite interesting is that after I studied photography, I began to seek inspiration from modern painting. The theme of my dissertation for master studies is photographic painting – ‘photo painting: from figuration to transfiguration’, the subject of research was not photographers but painters, to be exact those painters who use photographs as ‘models’. The painters of this school can be traced back to the Pop Art in the 50s and 60s in America, with Photorealism as representative (the realism painting of the early Chinese painters who studied in the States, for example Chen Yifei and Chen Danqing, have certain relationship with this school). Then we have Gerard Richter from Europe, and many modern painters who draw based on photos, who draw paintings according to the images downloaded from internet, who paint magazines and screens, etc… indeed there are countless painters. It is fair to say that in recent ten years, figurative paintings have found resource and inspiration from photographs and multi-media techniques, and gained new life. When I came to France in 2003, I visited the exhibition held in Strasbourg Contemporary Art Museum which retrospects the history of photorealism in USA. At that time I was not quite familiar with art genres because I didn’t specialize in art studies, but this exhibition gave me very deep impression, and I didn’t expect that my own work would be impacted by that. Another impressive exhibition was the personal exhibition by David Hokney in the National Portrait Gallery in London. I very much like the colour and the airiness of his works, and also his themes – portraits of his family and friends, the ordinary life scenes… there is a long list of artists. When I travel in Europe and other places, visiting local galleries, art museums is one of my routine assignments.

When I was in China, I focused on journalism, and my job was also in the journalism arena; it was after I came to France that I actually started to work on art. This experience is quite interesting for me to take a look back at the Chinese art as well.

14 years © Yuan Yanwu

Yuhui Liao-Fan: I have the feeling that more and more young people have heterogeneous formations they might have quite diverged educational backgrounds and experiences and -as a consequence- their professional career starts later, which has a deep impact on their lives. For example in your case you evolved from photojournalism to art, and you also moved to a foreign country. It seems to me this is symptomatic of a trend in all capitalist countries, trend that can have important social implications.What is your point of view about this question?

Yuan Yanwu: My personal feeling is that whether a professional starts his or her career at an early stage is closely linked with their own personality and life experiences. For some people, they got mature thoughts about their career path very earlier on, and they didn’t experience many setbacks, so they start their career very early. But for some people, they become to get clear of what they want to do at a relatively later time. I think the most important thing is that as soon as you set your target, you should be firm and keep moving towards that goal. It’s really nice if you can do just one single thing very well. The trend you have described is very common in the capitalist countries, and I think this is also quite common in modern socialist countries, for example, China. The young people nowadays have a lot of choices; what subject they learn in the university does not have to be a speciality he or she works on for their whole lifetime.

5 years © Yuan Yanwu

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Yuan Yanwu: I work very slowly, on one hand I am a slow-paced person, on the other I am perfectionist in terms of work. If there is no deadline I might never be able to finish ever. I am not sure how my works should be categorized. From the visual perspective, they are more aligned to the photorealism in painting (the difference is that I use computer to paint). Also there are many people think they belong to Pop Art. In terms of theme, my works bear relatively strong autobiographical sense. I spend most of my time in front of the computer screen; this is a much enclosed work style, a bit like writers. My source comes from the existing photos; when I choose from them, usually it is those amateur, imperfect photos that give me inspirations and surprise. After they are re-produced, those imperfections become the highlights. This is very common in my current series.

I think it is a bit early to define my works, because it has been just over two years to devote myself in art works. What I present now is only the above water part of the iceberg. I think to define the works of an artist, you can’t just view the beginning; rather, you should look at the entire course, including his or her life. Plus, definition is usually done by others.

15 years © Yuan Yanwu

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Yuan Yanwu: As I have mentioned earlier, questions like the type of camera, techniques and skills etc. are not quite important in my current work; what’s more important is post-production. Thus, what matters more is the computer screen, Palette Graphics and final output. Simply speaking, the main technique I use is to draw on the screen with brush tool, and the colour of each stroke comes from the colour sample corresponding to the original photograph. Then I choose the parameter of brush, it’s just like painting, only with photographs as references for duplication. I use the imac workstation which specializes in graphic processing with a super large screen (I can only use the computer but I don’t know much about it, and I can’t remember the model and size either), and WACOM graphic tablet and pen.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Does the technical aspects that you mentioned are important or what really matters is only the final result?

Yuan Yanwu: Of course techniques and skills take up a certain proportion, for example, without the super-size and high pixel screen, without the graphic pen, I cannot do any work at all, and probably I wouldn’t be able to present the style as you see now. If I hadn’t been using the brush tool to process photographs for a long time, I wouldn’t be able to paint with it like this. Although it is a virtual tool, it does have differences in terms of speed, weight and style. In the beginning I couldn’t even draw a straight line, let alone draw a photograph with it. However, if the work itself is vague and the message it delivers (i.e. the content) is absent, it doesn’t mean anything to copy a photograph only.

9 years © Yuan Yanwu

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What do you like and dislike in the contemporary Chinese photography?

Yuan Yanwu: I like the boldness and dynamic of the contemporary photography in China¹, also the richness of imagination, experiment in techniques and huge potential. But what I don’t like is sometimes it is quite utilitarian and money-driven.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream, concerning yourself as well as the contemporary Chinese photography?

Yuan Yanwu: As I have mentioned previously, my works are autobiographical in nature, and I hope they can be accepted by the international community.

I think artists are free from restrictions of nationality. No matter what is expressed in his or her works, he or she is representing something common of the entire human being.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a contraint?

Yuan Yanwu: Firstly it depends on what type of photography career we are talking about. If it has an intimate relationship with the objective world, the role of geographic location can’t be neglected. But if it is pure artistic creation, I think in modern world today, the photographers/artists can live in any places on the earth, as long as they can keep in touch with the outside world in time (via internet, mobile phone, etc.); also they can walk around when necessary. I think this might also be the way of life for most artists today.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think it’s important to have a blog or a website or a blog? Is it is essential to have it translated into various languages? How the Internet contributes to the spread contemporary photography?

Yuan Yanwu: I don’t have a blog; I only have a personal website. I think no matter what kind of media we are using, the accessibility of your work on internet is rather important. English is the Global Language, so I think English is enough if it is not targeted at specific audience. In my opinion, internet plays a key role in facilitating the communication between the photography world in China and that of the west. In particular, via internet we can access a lot of information in China: exhibition information, critiques, personal websites of western photographers, blogs, etc., and vice versa: it is the same case with western photography world.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How would you describe the artistic and photographic scene in China? Is it that there are often exhibitions, festivals, events, etc.? What about commercial photography?

Yuan Yanwu: During these years when I am abroad, the information I have received about art world and photography community of contemporary China (mainly art world) is mostly from Europe, which means, an inarguable fact is that Chinese artists are receiving more and more attention in the international community. There has been a rapid development of the domestic art circle (including painter village, artist camps, etc.) and art market (galleries, art centres, etc.). In Beijing there are Song Zhuang, 798, Caochangdi etc.; in Shanghai there are art studio in Taixing Road, Moganshan Creativity campus, the art street of Duolun Road, art galleries residing in the Bund area, and emerging exhibition centres and art centres etc.

Regarding the relationship between art world and business community, these two circles have complicated and intertwined connection, no matter where you are and what time you are in. Art cannot be developed without the commercial world, and nowadays art now increasingly becomes part of the business community.

I also want to add one point, which actually has nothing to do with the art and photography world – the commercial photo studio in China (artistic portrait, wedding photography) is a unique phenomenon that doesn’t actually exist in the west; it should be quite interesting if we research on that.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What are your sources of reference for contemporary photography in China?

Yuan Yanwu: On my bookshelf there are ‘The Art History of China in 20th Century’ published by Peking University Press, ‘Black White Grey, A, Conscious Cultural Stance’ published by Hunan Fine Arts Press.

Last year when I went back to China, I found several quite good magazines, which are very helpful for understanding China’s contemporary art. For example, Art China, LEAP – The Bilingual art magazine of contemporary art, Art Map, Art Today, Hi Art, etc.
There should be a lot of blogs, but I have not been familiar enough to make any recommendations.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you tell some names of Chinese photographers that you particularly like and why?

Yuan Yanwu: Lang Jingshan. The reason is because his works will withstand the test of time.

Please visit Yuan Yanwu website for more information and photographic painting.

Here I need to clarify that when talking about the contemporary photography in China, I mostly refer to the photography that belongs to art category.

Interview with Yan Ming

Fabiano Busdraghi — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:05:01 +0000

Interview with Yan Ming (严明) and Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “photography” mean to you?

Yan Ming: Photography is the way that I experience my life.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Yan Ming: I was born in Bengbu, Anhui Province, and I studied Chinese in university. Now I live in Guangzhou, China.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is your history as a photographer?

Yan Ming: I had worked in music industry for ten years after I graduated. I worked in Southern Metropolis Daily from 2001 to 2007, and The Southern Daily from 2007 to 2010. Now I am a freelance photographer.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Yan Ming: My work is an experience; where I am unrestrained as I observe and watch. I am unrestrained, and I do not imprison myself with restrictions. As long as I can get to it, the location of my photo shoots is any place in China. I’m willing to be just a laborer as I photograph the worlds that I love best- ordinary people and the natural world. I want to calmly look upon this ever-changing era with modern eyes. I hope that I can always retain sincerity and that I will work with purity and trueness. While others fear that their work is not western or trendy, I worry that my work is not Chinese or classical. China’s unique culture, history, nature, and the persevering spirit that I inherited from my ancestors has shaped my style of photography. It has led me to feel what changes and what doesn’t.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Yan Ming: I am using Rolleiflex 2.8F film camera, and I use it to take black and white photos. I will enlarge the photos in the darkroom manually, but I don’t do any manipulation on them.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Does the technical aspects that you mentioned are important or what really matters is only the final result?

Yan Ming: The image itself and the material media by which it is presented are both important.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think that the Chinese contemporary photography is different from the Western one? If yes what are those differences and how do you explain them? Do you think we can speak of a “Chinese school” or photography today is globalized?

Yan Ming: The aesthetic habit of Chinese people is different from that of the west; this leads to the difference on the selection and presentation of landscape and subject comparing to the western photographers.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How Chinese photography has evolved over the years? How would you describe the recent history of photography in China?

Yan Ming: The sense of calmness, subjectivity, and distance has been strengthened in the Chinese modern photography. Some works are gradually detached from the control of the system and ideology which have been in place for a rather long time. We have to admit that this is a move towards the global trend.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What do you like and dislike in the contemporary Chinese photography?

Yan Ming: I like the elements of classics, serenity and romanticism in China’s photography. I don’t like those works that aim to preach mechanically, those incendiary works to simply arouse people’s emotion, and those that report on the social system and service.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream, concerning yourself as well as the contemporary Chinese photography?

Yan Ming: I would like to be able to make living from photography without having to find another job.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a contraint?

Yan Ming: Geographic location is not important at all. In China, the problem is whether you can be in the right status to take the photographs. Time availability and economic condition is a precondition. For example, in order to keep ends meet, some photographers cannot enjoy even for 15 days of a year taking photographs purely for him or herself. Thus he or she can only be an amateur photographer. Only after the Chinese photographers can have the basic economic conditions and sufficient time to do the artistic creation, it is meaningful to discuss the environment and future of the photography in China.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think it’s important to have a website or a blog? Is it is essential to have it translated into various languages? How the Internet contributes to the spread contemporary photography?

Yan Ming: In order to present the works in a continuous manner, blog and personal website are very important. Otherwise, it can only been seen by submitting to the media, which is unimaginable.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How would you describe the artistic and photographic scene in China? Is it that there are often exhibitions, festivals, events, etc.? What about commercial photography?

Yan Ming: I only know that the galleries in China are of really low quality. They cannot provide much assistance, funding, support and promotion for the Chinese photographers. They contribute little to art, but consider a lot on other matters.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What are your sources of reference for contemporary photography in China?

Yan Ming: I love just walking, not books.

Please visit Yan Ming website for more information and photographs.

Interview with Li Wei

Fabiano Busdraghi — Fri, 13 May 2011 12:24:11 +0000

Camel rider, 2010
© Li Wei

Following interview by Li Wei (李伟) et Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “photography” mean to you?

Li Wei: Photography is simply taking photos. The world I have sensed, the moments that I have experienced, the people I have met. I use photography to record all of them.

A bull in the grass, 2008
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Li Wei: I was born in Huhhot, Inner Mongolia in 1976. I was graduated from Communication University of China in 2001 majoring in communication engineering. Currently I work and live in Beijing as a freelance photographer.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is your history as a photographer?

Li Wei: I became interested in photography when I was in university. After I worked for a few years I quit my job and became a freelance photographer.

A couple in poolroom, 2008
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Li Wei: Recently I took a series of photographs of my hometown Inner Mongolia; it records the life of the minority people living in the border area of China.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Li Wei: I use a Mamiya RB67 and 120mm colour film to take photographs. The portraits and landscape are all presented in a relatively quiet way. I make very simple adjustment after the film is scanned.

A family, 2008
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Does the technical aspects that you mentioned are important or what really matters is only the final result?

Li Wei: I emphasize more about the idea that the work itself delivers.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How do you approach strangers? Do you ask if they accept to be photographed or otherwise you try not to be noticed? What are their typical reactions?

Li Wei: For some people I might have simple conversations with them before I take photographs; but sometimes I just photograph them without notifying beforehand.

A Mongolian man, 2010
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: When you are working in China, do you think that being Chinese and -as a consequence- to have a certain invisibility compared to a foreign photographer, is a major advantage?

Li Wei: I don’t think the invisibility is that important. Taking photographs is a rather obvious activity, and many foreign photographers have also created excellent works in China.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: A lot of photographers complain about the actual situation of documentary photography. Do you think that reportage has a major crisis now and why? What an be a possible solution?

Li Wei: I have never actually thought about issues like the crisis of documentary photography today. I would rather focus on taking my photographs, since those issues are not in my control at all.

Buddhist temple, 2008
© Li Wei

Li Wei: It’s definitely different. I believe that photography does bear a geographical nature – from the content that is photographed, to the cultural differences.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Your point of view is quite interesting. At this time I already interviewed at least a dozen photographers and their response was rather the opposite: culture influences people’s minds, but the practice of photography in China and the West is significantly the same. Can you deepen this important argument? What are the profound cultural differences that you mention?

Li Wei: The basic function of photography is to reflect the social reality. The contemporary photography in China certainly has many photographs about China, in my opinion, this differs from the European photography and American photography. In addition, when we talk about the cultural difference, the oriental aesthetic prefers the spirit of Zen; therefore I think the cultural essence of many photographers is still quite Chinese.

Haystack, 2010
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How Chinese photography has evolved over the years? How would you describe the recent history of photography in China?

Li Wei: From my understanding of the contemporary photography in China, it was used as a tool of propaganda by mass media since New China was founded, and then it evolved to landscape photography, then to documentary photography, and now it is becoming more individualistic, with a more diverse way of expression.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What do you like and dislike in the contemporary Chinese photography?

Li Wei: I don’t like many conceptual photographies; I think they are totally nonsense.

Mongol sculpture, 2008
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you give a more specific? What are you referring to?

Li Wei: Outstanding photographs will have penetrating power in them. Much conceptual photography seems to be quite meaningless and is very rigid and arbitrary. Without referring to the text illustration, you will not have the faintest idea what it is about. Sometimes, even after you read the illustration, you still don’t know what is going on.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream, concerning yourself as well as the contemporary Chinese photography?

Li Wei: I can only talk about myself. I hope I have enough time and energy to take good photographs – that’s enough for me.

Mongolian yurt, 2010
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a contraint?

Li Wei: It’s sure that Beijing and Shanghai are good places for development, because there are more exhibitions, which can help you open up your mind, and there are more art events. However, with the development of internet, geographic location is not a big restriction any more.

Li Wei: I think it is very important. A blog or personal website is a relatively fast and convenient way for other people to know your works. They can get a lot of information from it.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What are your sources of reference for contemporary photography in China?

Li Wei: The books on photography are: the Documentary on Paper Series, which has published “Mai Ke” by Hou Dengke, “North, South” by Luo Dan, etc. Blog on photography: The blog of Ren Yue.

Nasong in Aili teahouse, 2008
© Li Wei

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you tell some names of Chinese photographers that you particularly like and why?

Li Wei: Lv Nan. Photography is self-cultivation, and I can sense the power of his inner world from his works.

Please visit Li Wei web site for more informations and photographs.

Interview with Li Jie and Zhang Jungang

Fabiano Busdraghi — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:29:53 +0000

Following interview with Li Jie and Zhang Jungang (李洁 and 张君钢) by Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “photography” mean to you?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Photography is part of our lives.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Li Jie, born in Shanghai in 1975; Zhang Jungang, born in Harbin in 1980.We live together in Harbin now.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: We don’t regard photography as work, but rather as a lifestyle. We will bring our cameras wherever we go. We use photography to record the moments when human hearts dance with the world around – be it memories, exclamations, or compliments.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Mostly we use 135mm film camera to take photographs, I don’t mind reproducing photos; I will use some basic simple techniques on computer or in the darkroom (e.g. curves adjustment, resize, colour adjustment). I am not familiar with very complicated techniques.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Does the technical aspects that you mentioned are important or what really matters is only the final result?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Yes it is important. Any forms or messages are important.

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Photography is a worldwide phenomenon.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How Chinese photography has evolved over the years? How would you describe the recent history of photography in China?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: We rarely think about this type of questions; they don’t mean much for us.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream, concerning yourself as well as the contemporary Chinese photography?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: We hope that there will be institutions and organizations that engage particularly in photograph album publication; there will be more exhibitions that focus on traditional photography rather than contemporary art themes; there will be more people like you who concern about the history and environment of China’s photography to consolidate the works of photographers nowadays, and help them promote their works more effectively.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a contraint?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: We have more freedom on internet; freedom is the most important instead of cities.

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Compared to blog, personal website is more important to photographers. But I like the media as a blog, especially in China where the mass publication environment is rather bad, internet media such as blog is particularly useful for you to speak what you want to speak about and do what you want to do – this is critically important.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What are your sources of reference for contemporary photography in China?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: Fake magazine. If you want to know about the status-quo of photography in China, especially the folk photographers and pioneer photographers, this website is very informative.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you tell some names of Chinese photographers that you particularly like and why?

Li Jie & Zhang Jungang: I very much like the current exhibition ‘the middle school students of the 80s’ by Ren Shulin. It presents the desire and admiration of the young bodies, which is something I really would like to photograph.

Please visit Li Jie and Zhang Jungang for more photographs and informations.

Interview with Xiaomei Chen

Fabiano Busdraghi — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:40:19 +0000

Following interview by Xiaomei Chen (陈小枚) and Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: What does “photography” mean to you?

Xiaomei Chen: To me, photography is first of all a tool of exploration and expression. The camera is my passport; it gives me a reason to travel, observe, explore and understand among different cultures and geographic locations. Because of the camera, my horizon is being continuously expanded. My cognition of this world becomes more tangible, and my feeling more real. I understand myself better, too. Each time, no matter what theme I am working on – documentary, artistic, I am always like a curious child, who tries to understand the world and herself through lenses.

In the meantime, although I no longer believe that photography can change the world, still I hope that they can provide people with visual information, and inform people of social problems, so that they can reflect upon them.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Xiaomei Chen: My parents gave me the name of Chen Xiaomei, and I changed one character by myself when I was in elementary school. I was born in Heyuan, Guangdong in China in 1974, and grew up in a traditional Hakka cultural environment. I currently live in Dallas, United States. Initially I had a degree in education, and after teaching English in a teaching college for six years, I turned to Journalism and got a Master degree in Journalism from Jinan University in Guangzhou. Then I became interested in anthropology. In 2004 I went to America and studied anthropology in University of Colorado, and obtained a master degree in anthropology in 2006. In the same year I gave up a PHD scholarship offered by the University of Wisconsin, and started my career as a photographer. I got a Master degree in photography from Ohio University in 2010. Now I work as an independent photographer.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: How did you become a photographer?

Xiaomei Chen: I always admire artists. My younger brother is an artist and he is very gifted. I almost adore him, and I would never think that I could do creative work like him. How did you become a photographer Nor did I think I could do anything related to visual art. In the eyes of myself, my family, or friends and classmates, I am supposed to be a teacher who works with pen. Now I still write for the media in China from time to time.

The first time I picked up a camera was when I traveled to Inner Mongolia during the summer vacation of my sophomore year. I borrowed a point-and-shoot camera and took snapshots of the landscape. They are intolerable when I look at them today, but at that time I really enjoyed the process of looking at the world from a viewfinder. In 1999, I travelled to the Tibet, and for the first time I used an SLR, Nikon FM2, but I had no single idea about aperture and shutter speed at all, and of course they were just tourism photos. When I got back, the local media reported my trip and asked me to write a series of travel journals of my journey to Tibet. Along with that some photographs were published. That was the first time I publish my photos. But I didn’t think about becoming a photographer, and I didn’t dare to, because I thought a pen is easier to use than a camera.

When I studied Journalism in Jinan University, I became an amateur photographer. Since it was not my major, I knew little about photography, and there were not many materials available to learn, so it was purely a leisure activity without any restrictions. I took tourism photographs, I shot plants, and sometimes street scenes as well. Occasionally I even received some praises. When I was about to graduate, I photographed Xiaoguwei, a disappearing historic village in the suburb of Guangzhou. Later, my photos were exhibited by Jiangnanliguo in Guangzhou.

When I studied anthropology in the US, photography became a seasoning of my life, because academic research was very monotonous. I sat in on lectures on fine art photography in the department of Arts, and lectures on photojournalism in the department of Journalism. I got acquainted with Kevin Moloney, the photographer with New York Times and his father Paul Moloney. With their encouragement, I seriously started to consider being a professional photographer. In the end I gave up the PHD scholarship and became a full time photographer.

After working for nearly one year for a newspaper in Colorado, I was encouraged by Rich Clarkson, the former photography director of National Geographic, to accept the Enlight Fellowship from University of Ohio. I studied visual communication and documentary photography.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Xiaomei Chen: My job is a lot of fun, but at the same time it is very demanding, both physically and mentally. When doing academic research I felt it rather tiring and boring, and I admired people who do art because I thought their job is very easy and full of fun. But when I became a full time photographer, I find that photography is sometimes even more difficult than academic research. Doing academic study only requires hard work and accumulation, and as long as you keep thinking, you will gain achievement. However, creative art work is really hard, and accumulation might turn out to be repetition and restrictions.

A Chinese proverb says, “You cannot know the shape of a mountain when you stand in the mountain.” It is very difficult for me to judge my own work. You may want to seek comments from those people in this field who are familiar with my work. For example, Terry Eiler, the director of Faculty of Visual Communication, photographer Tom Ondrey, Bill Alen, the former chief editor of National Geographic.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Xiaomei Chen: Maybe because of my academic background in Journalism and Anthropology, basically my approach is quite straightforward. Most of my work is documentary. In addition, under the influence of photojournlistic ethics in the US, do very little retouching except the traditional dodging and burning. Generally I don’t change the original look of the photograph.

I mainly use Nikon DSLR, sometimes 135mm and 120mm films as well. I got a 4×5 view camera recently, so I hope I can do more film photography.

I like to try different ways, and I do not want myself constrained by techniques or styles.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Does the technical aspects that you mentioned are important or what really matters is only the final result?

Xiaomei Chen: Post processing is not very important in my work. Whether it is documentary or studio photography, I emphasize more the photograph per se and the message it conveys. If I want to get a specific effect, I’d rather get it from the shooting than the post processing.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: How do you approach strangers? Do you ask if they accept to be photographed or otherwise you try not to be noticed? What are their typical reactions?

Xiaomei Chen: Usually before I take a photograph, I will ask for permission from the subject. However, if I have to capture a fabulous moment that can’t be missed out, I will take the photograph first, and tell the subject that I just took a photo of him or her. In the States, most people are very friendly, and they don’t mind being photographed. But if they ask me not to shoot them, I will stop, except for some special news events, such as photographing the detainees.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: When you are working in China, do you think that being Chinese and -as a consequence- to have a certain invisibility compared to a foreign photographer, is a major advantage?

Xiaomei Chen: I don’t think I have certain invisibility as a Chinese to photograph in China. The camera itself unveils your desire to photograph. On the contrary, I think that photographing in China is indeed more difficult, because Chinese people seem to be shy in front of the camera, and meanwhile they are more alert.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Do you think that being a women modifies the reactions people have when you take their photographs? Do you think that shooting reportage can put yourself in difficult context for a women or the danger is the same for everyone? Have you ever find your self in this kind of situations?

Xiaomei Chen: In the US, it is an advantage for me to be a female photographer and a foreigner as well. It is because a woman, compared to a man, does not pose any threat to the subject, so the subject may feel relatively relaxed. Moreover, as a foreign female, it is quite often that people are curious about me and they would love to talk to me. Therefore they give me the chance to express my friendliness, and it is easier for me to get access to photograph them.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: One of your first work was a trip to Tibet, a special autonomous region where Chinese peoples usually need special authorizations to visit it. Did you had complete freedom or you experienced any form of pressure from the authorities? More generally, what is your personal experience concerning the freedom of the press in China?

Xiaomei Chen: When I first went to Tibet years ago, rather than as a photographer or a journalist, I was just a tourist. Therefore I did not need any special authorization. Also it might be that the time and social circumstance then was rather different from nowadays, so I didn’t find any restrictions.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Can you describe the two projects you have chosen to illustrate the interview?

Xiaomei Chen: The photographs of these two series are projects in progress. The beginning of Zen of Fire is rather accidental — the house of my boyfriend’s mother was on fire. The purpose of this project is to explore the meaning behind disasters, and make people rethink of disasters. Laozi once said, weal and woe come side by side. Woe may be a blessing in disguise, and luck can be the next neighbour to misfortune. What I want to express is just a simple philosophy as such. Because of this project, I found myself having quite different thinking compared to the western photographers, and the influence of Chinese culture is very penetrating.

“Embrace Pain” aims to explore some marginalized American people from an anthropological point of view. I photograph them, not simply because their behaviour is quite odd in the eyes of the “ordinary people”, but because I am curious about their inner world, and I would like to re-contemplate about the contemporary society through their eyes. I want to question again “what is normal?”, and this project reveals the very fact that to me, that photography is an instrument of exploration.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: A lot of photographers complain about the actual situation of documentary photography. Do you think that reportage has a major crisis now and why? What an be a possible solution?

Xiaomei Chen: It is rather difficult to judge whether we are facing crisis in documentary photography, but it seems that we are experiencing a transition, a bit uncertain state. According to the traditional Chinese philosophy, “crisis” breeds “opportunity.” Possibly we will embrace a whole new opportunity in documentary photography, or even the entire photography realm. The only thing is that we haven’t found it yet.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Do you think that the situation is the same in the Western world and in China?

Xiaomei Chen: Maybe there are some differences in theory and practice between the Chinese and western photography. However, in China as in the West, technological developments, changes of opinion and the economic situations influence more or less the mindset, approaches, techniques and means of disseminating photographs. With globalization the gap between Asia and the Western world is diminishing.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: More generally, do you think that the Chinese contemporary photography is different from the Western one? If yes what are those differences and how do you explain them? Do you think we can speak of a “Chinese school” or photography today is globalized?

Xiaomei Chen: I am not really familiar with the specific distinctions between the modern photography of China and that of the West. But I think unlike words, photography is a language without national boarders. It is true that the environment and culture in which we grow up will leave marks on us and influence the way how we work, but every photographer has his or her own way, no matter in the west or in China. It is difficult to judge the photographer’s nationality from an image.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: What do you like and dislike in the contemporary Chinese photography?

Xiaomei Chen: A very small number of photojournalists do staged photography, or do a lot of post processing work, and I don’t agree with that. I am not against the post production of art photography, but for journalism and documentary photography, it is better not do post production in order to reflect the reality.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream?

Xiaomei Chen: Practice photography in an honest manner, and meanwhile don’t have to be starved.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a contraint?

Xiaomei Chen: Geographic location is not a restriction. Restrictions come from a closed mind, as well as economic constraints.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Do you think it’s important to have a website or a blog? Is it is essential to have it translated into various languages? How the Internet contributes to the spread contemporary photography?

Xiaomei Chen: The blog is indeed a very personal way of expression. It can help people see and know more about the photographer’s work. But in an era when blogs are flooded, there are very few photography blogs that can receive much attention. I have a blog, but the purpose is not to promote my work, but share with friends. However, I do think photographers should have their own websites. I designed and established my own website.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: How would you describe the artistic and photographic scene in China? Is it that there are often exhibitions, festivals, events, etc.? What about commercial photography?

Xiaomei Chen: The relation between the art world and the commercial community is very tricky. Art needs commercial support, but might be undermined by the commercial world. The resistance and attraction are going on at the same time.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: What are your sources of reference for contemporary photography in China?

Xiaomei Chen: The blog of Ren Yue, a teacher of China Renmin University, is very informative.

Yuhui Liao-Fab: Can you tell some names of Chinese photographers that you particularly like and why?

Xiaomei Chen: Gu Zheng’s fine art photography is quite in-depth. The documentary photography of Lu Guang very much deserves attention.

Please read Xiaomei Chen’s contributed article Between In and Out and visit Xiaomei Chen website for more informations and documentary photographs.

Interview with Sheila Zhao

Fabiano Busdraghi — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:49:25 +0000

Following interview by Sheila Zhao and Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “photography” mean to you?

Sheila Zhao: Photography is a craft that belongs to its own world. Photography allows me to visually translate and share the way I see the world.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Sheila Zhao: I was born in Beijing, China, in 1983 and spent the first part of my childhood there. At the age of 7, I followed my parents to the United States, where they have been working and trying to establish themselves. I spent the rest of my childhood and teenage years growing up and attending secondary school in New Jersey, then continued on to study at Indiana University (with frequent trips back to China in between). I graduated with a degree in journalism, concentrating in public relations, and then came back to Beijing for a three months long internship at General Motors Beijing. During those three months, I enjoyed the excitement of Beijing very much and decided to pursue a job at an international public relations agency post internship.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is your history as a photographer?

Sheila Zhao: After a year and a half working at the public relations agency, I realized that I was unhappy and unfulfilled working there. My mind began drifting and through a series of coincidences, I made the very impetuous decision of becoming a full time photographer.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: I think you made a courageous choice. A lot of people are scared by the incertitude of a creative profession, that is often see as difficult and precarious. How did your entourage reacted to your decision? Did they encourage you or did they tried to dissuade you?

Sheila Zhao: Thank you. Again, I would like to stress that when I decided to change profession, I was very young, inexperienced, without any proper education in photography, and without any realistic expectations. As a result, the decision I made to go into photography was, in hindsight, very impetuous and irresponsible. While I don’t have any regrets about what I did and am very grateful for everything I have learned and gained through this decision, I don’t encourage anyone to go about things the way I have. That said, I’m also very grateful for a strong support network. My parents were never, and still are not thrilled by my career choice, but I’m very grateful that at the end of the day, they are the most patient with me and the people who supports me the most.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Sheila Zhao: My photography is still evolving and still learning (I’m self taught, and there’s a lot to learn!). Where I started out is very different than what I do now. My current personal work is a bit hard to explain, mostly because I just began it earlier this year and I’m still trying to make sense of it myself. Very broadly, I guess you can describe it as a series of photos where I try to express a similar set of emotional commonality within a variety of different situations and settings.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique? Digital or film, a lot of editing or absence of manipulation, equipment used, etc..

Sheila Zhao: For my current personal work, I am shooting black and white film and do my post processing digitally.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Does the technical aspects that you mentioned are important or what really matters is only the final result?

Sheila Zhao: Personally, I think that content is always more important than what equipment you use. Of course, that’s not to say that the technical aspect is not important at all. Every decision you make, from beginning to end, all impacts how your picture will turn out. However, one shouldn’t always relay on a cool camera effect, a cool post-processing filter, or be restricted to the traditional confines of what a “good” picture is in order to create an impactful image. For me, at the end of the day, a great image should clearly show what the photographer is trying to express and if it reveals a bit of the photographer’s vulnerability.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you speak a little bit further about your recent personal work? Is it a precise project or it’s your everyday visual diary? What is your current theme of interest?

Sheila Zhao: I just began a new series of personal work from the beginning of this year. It’s difficult for me to make sense of it now as I am still very much in the initial phase of this new journey, much less provide an articulate explanation. I very much stumbled upon the work – I was visiting a friend in Pusan, Korea, and we went to visit Pusan’s famous fish market for fun. I shot about a roll of film there. When I developed the film, there were a few frames I liked, so I decided to continue on photographing fish and other aquatic food we eat at fish markets. By another coincidence, I happened to go to Japan a month after Pusan. I spent about 5 days in Tokyo and happened to be staying within walking distance from the Tsukiji fish market and continued photographing what I saw there. However, it was only recently that I realized the photos I have been taking are about more than just fish. The important thing was how I was interpreting the situation, the shared feeling of the images, and what the pictures said about me. Currently, I’m working on expanding the work.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How do you approach peoples? Do you ask them if they accept to be photographed or you try not to be noticed?

Sheila Zhao: Every situation is different. Generally speaking, I don’t like being too obtusely intrusive. Plus, I have my own issue of being a big wimp and am very shy to approach strangers. I’ve gotten a little bit better over time, but it’s still very much a problem with me. Ideally, I would love if people don’t notice me or if I already have an element of trust with the people whom I am taking pictures of, but of course that is not possible all the time. I think one just has to learn how to work with each situation and what their limits are.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think that in China you have the freedom to take photo of everything or some subject is off limits? I’m thinking about both people negative reaction as well as pressures from the authorities. Did you experienced anything like this?

Sheila Zhao: Like most countries in the world, China has its restrictions. How it effects a photographer depends on the intention of the photographer and how they approach the subject. Photojournalists working in China experience the brunt of this, I think, because of the nature of their work. That said, there are other photographers and artists who make their point across with photography in more subtle, creative ways. For example, Ai Weiwei had a series of photographs he made, which showed him giving the middle finger to various famous landmarks around the world, including the White House, Eiffel Tower and Tiananmen Square.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: When you are working in China, do you think that being Chinese and -as a consequence- to have a certain invisibility compared to a foreign photographer, is a major advantage?

Sheila Zhao: Yes and no. Being Chinese (or looking Asian) generally makes you stick out less in a crowd. People will notice a white guy with a big camera a lot sooner than noticing me. However, the advantage of being a foreigner photographing in China is that some people are quicker to let their guard down with a foreigner because they see the foreigner as non-threatening. That, or they assume the foreigner does not speak Chinese and will not hassle the photographer too much.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think that being a women modifies the reactions people have when you take their photographs? Do you think that shooting can put yourself in difficult context for a women or the danger is the same for everyone? Have you ever find your self in this kind of situations?

Sheila Zhao: I try not to think about my gender, or consequences of my gender, when I am working. It might be different if I am working on pictures addressing gender issues, but as I have not done that and am currently not doing that, I try not to think about it and try to listen to my instinct more. Again, depending on the context and the situation, one’s gender can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. To use another photojournalism example: male photographers might find it easier to work in high testosterone, mostly male dominated situation. However, the chances of them photographing in situations involving secluded, highly guarded women, is slim (such as “behind the veil” moments with certain groups of Islamic women). Women photographers are generally seen as less threatening while male photographers are generally taken more seriously by various non-photo related entities. So both have their pros and cons, one just needs to learn how to work with their own situation.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think that your Chinese origins and cultural background are important in your photographic work and in your aesthetic vision?

Sheila Zhao: Not consciously. I have heard from some other non-Chinese photographer friends that one general style of Chinese photography is quiet, subtle pictures. Some of my previous work fall under that category, although it was completely coincidental. Maybe that is a result of similar cultural background? Who knows.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream, concerning yourself as well as the contemporary Chinese photography?

Sheila Zhao: I would like to learn to lose control and let my instinct and passion guide me through my work.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a contraint?

Sheila Zhao: I think you can live anywhere you feel comfortable with, whether it’s a big city or a small town. I am personally a big city girl and won’t know what to do with myself if I’m stuck in the countryside for too long!

Sheila Zhao: It’s not imperative, but a website never hurts. Of course, it’s important for the language of the website to be in a widely used international language, but whatever the photographer can manage is more important. At the end of they day, whether or not a photographer needs a website depends more on his/ her intentions.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How Chinese photography has changed over the years? How would you describe the recent history of photography in China?

Sheila Zhao: Everyone and their mother has a camera now! A lot of hobbyist photographers have nicer equipment than I do. I think very much like the west, there is a massive flood of content and China is facing the same situation as the west concerning usage, copyright, etc.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How would you describe the artistic and photographic scene in China? Is it that there are often exhibitions, festivals, events, etc.? What about commercial photography?

Sheila Zhao: Promising and growing. While I don’t think China’s photography scene is as mature as other countries in Asia, I certainly do think that it will grow – the sky’s the limit. I’m sure there are a lot of photographers doing interesting work. And there are also photo exhibitions in Beijing and various photo festivals around China, such as Caochangdi Photo Spring, Pingyao, etc.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Which countries you are referring to? What do you think China can and should do to fill the gap and improve the situation?

Sheila Zhao: Japan has a rich photo history and has produced some of my favorite photography masters, such as Daido Moriyama, Masahisa Fukase, Shomei Tomatsu, etc. South Asian countries such as India and Bangladesh are currently also producing some very talented younger photographers. I think there are a lot of talents in China, but the general culture and awareness is not as refined. On a collective level, I think part of that is a lack of exposure to high quality work and a lack of guidance by international photo masters. Recent past history and how the country developed probably also influenced the development of photography in China. But I do think everything just takes time. International photo festivals are great opportunities for everyone involved, and I think more should be organized.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you tell some names of Chinese photographers that you particularly like and why.

Sheila Zhao: A colleague recently sent me work from Chinese photographer Qiu, which I really liked. His work reminded me of the rawness of pictures produced by photographers such as Daido Moriyama, but also has a sense of subtle whimsy.

For more information and photos please read Shifting Focus: China Roads or visit Sheila Zhao web site.

Interview with Rian Dundon

Fabiano Busdraghi — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:57:21 +0000

Following interview by Rian Dundon and Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “photography” mean to you?

Rian Dundon: Photography for me means taking an active role in the world. It means dedication to the pursuit of something meaningful. And it means confronting ourselves with notions of truth that are not always comfortable or of tangible benefit. Photography means reaching a state of vulnerability within oneself and recognizing that vulnerability in others.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction?

Rian Dundon: I was born in Portland, Oregon in 1980. December 23. Grew up in Monterey, California. Earned a B.F.A. degree from New York University (Photography and Imaging: 2003). I’ve lived in China on-and-off between 2005 and 2010 working as a photographer and consultant. I’m currently an M.A. candidate at University of California, Santa Cruz (Social Documentation: 2012).

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is your history as a photographer?

Rian Dundon: I started photographing in high school and pursuing it full-time since shortly thereafter. At some point while at university I narrowed my focus to working on more long-term documentary projects. Most of my current work continues to be this type of socially engaged documentary photography. I use photography as a form of participant observation and as a means to enter social realities different from my own.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you describe your work? How would you define your photographs?

Rian Dundon: I’m trying to embrace people with my photographs, trying to hold on to people in my work. Perhaps this is an impossibility, but I’m always pushing towards a certain depth of intimate meaning in my photographs. I’m desperately searching for something I know I might never find.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: How do you approach peoples? Do you ask them if they accept to be photographed or you try not to be noticed?

Rian Dundon: It’s always different but in general I try to get to know the people I photograph. I don’t hide: there is always some kind of interaction or relationship between us.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is their typical reaction?

Rian Dundon: I believe most people genuinely like to have their picture taken.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think that the fact you are a stranger makes easier to take photos of people? Or it’s the contrary?

Rian Dundon: I try not to be a stranger. The people I photograph are people I generally spend a lot of time with and become very close to. Being a stranger in a foreign country is difficult but it also allows me to open myself to new people and experiences in a way that is hard to do at home.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: In your series “Chinese youth” you explore the experience of young people in Mainland China. Do you think that there is a fundamental difference with the youth from the western world? Or on the contrary all human beings today share the same experience? Does geographical differences are still important or the world is globalized?

Rian Dundon: That project was looking to explore universal themes of youth and self-identity: not necessarily just those brought on by globalization, but the deeper emotional experiences that we all share. That being said I think there are many important factors that shape and differentiate the lives of young Chinese. There is no single Chinese youth identity, but I do think that socio-political influences have helped shape and dictate the structure and experience of this generation of Chinese youth in particular.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Your work sometimes show difficult situations. For example “Addiction in Kunming” tells the story of heroin addiction and AIDS infection in the Yunnan province. Sometimes, here in Europe, we have the impression that the Chinese government tends to control all the informations and hide the negative news. Did you experienced any form of pressure from the authorities? Hod do you deal with this question?

Rian Dundon: I never experienced pressure or threat from the Chinese government. The Yunnan work deals with difficult issues but it’s not explicitly critical of state policy.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Rian Dundon: It’s all film. I do minimal manipulation, try to keep most of the tones in a print or scan. Always full-frame (or close to it). I shoot almost everything with one lens and one camera. I try to minimize technological variables in my work. This process works for me, it keeps things simple.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Are the technical aspects that you mentioned important or is what really matters only the final result?

Rian Dundon: Of course final results depend on formal and technical aspects, as well as the theoretical. Everything matters equally. In visual art the way we physically create a final product is as important as the ideas behind it. One cant exist without the other.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you further describe your relationship with China?

Rian Dundon: As I said I lived in China on-and-off between 2005-2010, first in Hunan and later in Beijing and Shanghai. Originally my girlfriend had gotten a job there so I moved with her. I like China very much and speak Mandarin OK. I keep going back to China because of the good friends I’ve made there over the years. And the food is quite good.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think it is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a constraint?

Rian Dundon: Many places are interesting and unique and important in their own ways. Some people prefer to live in large cities, some the countryside. The Internet has nothing to do with the tactile reality of inhabiting a place.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think it’s important to have a website? Is it is essential to have it translated into various languages? How the Internet contributes to the spread of contemporary photography?

Rian Dundon: Having a website is not nearly as important as making prints and looking at them. The Internet allows our work to be seen by a vast transnational audience. But as that audience slowly becomes immune to the subtleties of photographs the Internet can also cheapen the impact of our images. I think people are less capable of connecting with photographs now. We see too many images (and as photographers we produce too many photographs). Our visual sense has dulled. I think photographers should make less pictures, but smarter ones. We need to spend more time looking at our images and thinking about what they really mean before we throw them up on the Internet. Make prints first, then worry about a website.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What are your sources of reference for contemporary photography in China?

Rian Dundon: Three Shadows Photography Art Center in Beijing.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you tell some names of Chinese photographers that you particularly like and why?

Rian Dundon: Zhang Hai’er – Intimacy and closeness with people. I haven’t seen much of his work but what I have seen is beautiful. Li Yu and Liu Bo – Their project “13 months in the year of the dog” is fascinating. Zhou Hai – Atmosphere.

Please visit Rian Dundon website for more informations and documentary photography.

Interview with Rona Chang

Fabiano Busdraghi — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 12:18:18 +0000

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Shaving Business, Wuhan, China. 2007
© Rona Chang

Following interview by Rona Chang and Yuhui Liao-Fan.

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What does “Photography” mean to you?

Rona Chang: Photography for me personally is the medium I use to understand and interpret how I see the world. It’s a comment on or reflection of what I find intriguing, interesting, and or inspiring.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – The Collector, Puno, Peru. 2009
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you write a biographical introduction? When and where were you born?

Rona Chang: I was born in 1978 in Chungli, Taiwan. The town is famous for its beef noodles. It’s the first thing I eat when I get off the plane when I go back to Taiwan. My parents divorced and my mother, sister, and me moved to the States (Buffalo, NY) in 1985 when I was seven. We subsequently moved to Queens, New York when I was eight.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Fireworks, Kuanyin, Taiwan. 2008
© Rona Chang

Queens is the most diverse place in the world with most of the world’s cultures represented right here in my current neighborhood of Jackson Heights. I don’t have a particular relationship with the Chinese immigrant community. I have always loved the diversity of New York City and think that I appreciate this mix of cultures most. I grew up with kids with varying backgrounds and related to the fact that we were all just kids. I embrace all of it, especially the amazing food that is available here. It’s a food lover’s delight around these parts.

My mother’s half of my family is from Wuhan, China. My maternal grandparents escaped the communists in 1949 and moved to Taiwan. My mother was the fourth child but the first of her siblings to be born in Taiwan. Her eldest sister was left behind in China and she still lives in there in Wuhan. My father’s family is Hakka and they have been living in Taiwan for about 400 years now. I have roots in both places and most of my immediate family is in Taiwan. I consider both Chungli and Queens to be home. While many consider me to be quite Americanized, I am deeply rooted in Taiwan and the States.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Oil Spill, San Francisco, CA, USA. 2007
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is your history as a photographer? What is your educational background? Where do you work?

Rona Chang: I was always interested in art as a child and that led to me attending a specialized High School in Manhattan called LaGuardia H.S. where I majored in art. I took a photography course there and fell in love with the medium. I went on to go to art school down-town at the Cooper Union for the Advancement for Science and Art. At Cooper, I took printmaking classes and a wonderful typography class but for the most part, I stuck like glue to my love of photography. I took all the photo classes I could get into.

For my day job I photograph art by digitizing and archiving flat art for museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions. For almost nine years, I worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have photographed all of the Japanese woodblock prints, Indian paintings, and Chinese hand-scrolls in the collection.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Choclo Vendor, Puno, Peru. 2009
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Can you say a few words about your technique?

Rona Chang: When I photograph, I’m very aware of my composition, color, and content. I shoot film with a Mamiya 7 and scan it on an Imacon. I’m a minimalist when it comes to Photoshop. I basically clean dust off the scan and then adjust the color to best represent what I remember the scene to look like.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Holding Their Breaths, Hierve el Agua, Mexico. 2010
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: What is the importance of travel in your work and life? As I was talking with a couple of friend with diverging opinions about travel and photography, one said that only traveling photographers can feel the essence of things, because they have a fresh and impartial approach to places compared to the biased visions of locals. The other one said quite the opposite, photographers should explore their immediate surroundings because when they are in unfamiliar places they are unable to completely “understand” it. I think both approach are valid but what is your point of view about this question?

Rona Chang: Travel has always played an important role in my life. Growing up in Queens allowed me to be comfortable hearing multiple dialogues spoken. The offerings of ethnic food filled my curiosity about cultures. Having friends whose families, like mine, hailed from halfway around the world was the norm. It was natural for me to travel and explore the world where my neighbors are from.

I have traveled to many of these places to photograph and to gain an understanding of the cultures I am fascinated by. Moving Forward, Standing Still began inadvertently on my first trip to China in 2000, on a street in Shanghai. While I intend to continue to pursue the project, I am now beginning to focus on specific locations. The Queens edition of the project is about going full circle: seeing the world, re-examining my immediate home environment and then seeing the world within the neighborhoods of Queens.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Fixing the Colosseum, Macau, China. 2008
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: I think you are particularly interested in space. Can you describe and explain this fascination?

Rona Chang: I have a tendency to try to rearrange things within a space multiple times to see what feels best. As a child, I often rearranged furniture when my mom was at work and I would surprise her upon her return. Photography holds much of the same fascination for me. I look at all the elements and walk around to see which perspective makes the best composition or find a point of view that I find interesting and wait for the characters to move into position.

The Hold Over Water – Clouds Lifting, Shihmen Dam, Dasi, Taiwan. 2002
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Simplifying it a bit, one can say that plain landscape photographers take pictures of breathtaking places, above all for their intrinsic beauty. In your case you try to portrait society through landscapes. Can you tell more about this interesting point? How can a photographer use landscape to represent contemporary society?

Rona Chang: For many years I only made landscapes (without any figures) though I was always drawn to make more interesting images than just beautiful pictures. The Hold Over Water, a series of images that explores my awe over water management sites are landscapes, though specific to a subject that is important to me. As I mentioned earlier, Moving Forward, Standing Still began inadvertently. I didn’t begin to think of the project as a series until I had a handful of images that felt like they belonged together and stood out from my previous work.

The Hold Over Water- Fog Lifting, Laudat, Dominica. 2003
© Rona Chang

I began to explore the concept of photographing society through people within the landscape. The characters within the frame tell a story. It can be a scene or a whole story about a way of life, a daily activity, or an interaction that may be local or universal. These images have allowed me to think of my connections and similarities to my characters and at the same time, how our lives are inherently different.

Some of these images may seem timeless or non site specific but they each tell an interesting story. For example, The Cobbler, was taken in Emhurst, Queens. His set-up, in front of the public library, is one that I’ve seen in many parts of the world. One would only guess that it was taken in the United States because his sign is in English and Chinese. He is a figure in the cultural landscape of Queens, a place that is decidedly at once local and global.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – The Cobbler, Elmhurst, NY, USA. 2010
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Several of your photographs show people occupied in somehow odd occupations. Do you think that your pictures have a narrative approach or you are searching from something else?

Rona Chang: I don’t necessarily think of my images as having a narrative approach. I think of them as a way of sharing cultural revelations. I see a stage that is set, and the actors reveal a scene, but not always the movements of a whole story. There is something in it that you and I may be able to relate to and other parts that we may not, and that dynamic is what keeps me interested in searching for these compositions.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – River Bathing, Lensvik, Norway. 2010
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think is fundamental to live in a big and important city, or -for example thanks to Internet- the city in which you live is no longer a constraint?

Rona Chang: While I love New York, I don’t think that it is necessary to live here or any other big city to make good art. This is a topic that always comes up between my friend Alejandro Cartagena and me. He’s made a beautiful project, Suburbia Mexicana, based on his surroundings in northern Mexico. Alejandro is not limited by his environment, but instead uses it as his inspiration, or the incentive to make meaningful work.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Play, Lensvik, Norway. 2010
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you think it’s important to have a website? Is it is essential to have it translated into various languages? How the Internet contributes to the spread contemporary photography?

Rona Chang: Websites are a wonderful way to share your work. It is not essential but a good way to present yourself to the public. For me, it’s a good editing tool and a way to keep things current. And I do think that websites should be in English or otherwise bilingual if possible. The Internet is a brilliant way to make things more accessible to a larger audience but there is still much to be said about going to see an exhibition in person. The recent Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand show at the Met is a handsome example.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Eid Candy, Jackson Heights, NY, USA. 2010
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Do you have a wish or a photographic dream?

Rona Chang: My photographic ambitions mainly involve working on a project I believe in, carrying the thought through, and presenting it. On the other hand, my travel wish list is constantly growing.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Shoveling Snow, Elmhurst, NY, USA. 2010
© Rona Chang

Yuhui Liao-Fan: Are you familiar with Chinese contemporary photography?

Rona Chang: I know very little about contemporary Chinese art and photography. Much of what I have seen seems romantic, though this is not an absolute comment. One Chinese photographer who I deeply admire is Sze Tsung Leong. He was born in Mexico and is British and American so he has an interesting cross-cultural background as well.

Please visit Rona Chang website for more great photos.

Moving Forward, Standing Still – Mian (noodles), Flushing, NY, USA. 2011
© Rona Chang

Tom Carter’s Advice for Aspiring Photographers and Authors, an interview by Wang Zheng Rui

Fabiano Busdraghi — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:05:31 +0000

Following photographs by Tom Carter, text by Tom Carter and Wang Zheng Rui.

I had the good pleasure of recently meeting travel photographer Tom Carter at a book signing for his masterpiece CHINA: Portrait of a People. I asked if I could interview Tom (I am a Chinese journalism student and occasionally write freelance articles for some Shanghai publications), however he suggested that instead I ought to write an exclusive Q&A feature for Fabiano Busdraghi’s photoblog Camera Obscura.

So here I am sitting with Tom Carter, who is somewhat of a living legend amongst Asian photography enthusiasts for his record-breaking 2-year, 33-province backpacking journey across China and, more recently, his cross-county adventure in India.

Peter Hessler, author of Country Driving: a Journey Through China, and Rob Giffard, author of China Road, are both high-profile names who have recently monopolized the attention of the international media for their respective road trips. The name Tom Carter remains relatively “obscuro” due to the fact that Carter does not have the publicists, professional connections and funding that Hessler and Giffard do. Nonetheless, anyone who has read Carter’s 600-page photographic tome CHINA: Portrait of a People will agree that the mainstream media are indeed biased against independent artists.

How, then, are indie artists to receive any recognition for their work without mainstream support? These are the sort of questions we will be discussing with Tom Carter today.

Wang Zheng Rui Hi Tom, thanks for taking time out to chat with me. It must be every photographer’s dream to have their work bound and immortalized in the pages of a book. You already covered some of this information during your book signing speech, however perhaps you would be good enough to reiterate your story for the online community.

Tom Carter: My pleasure. Basically, at the end of my travels across China I had this massive collection of photography and everyone I showed them to had the exact same suggestion: “Tom, you must publish these pictures!” Of course I never set out to be an author or photographer, I was just a dusty backpacker with a little point-and-shoot camera drifting across the frontier. But at their insistence I researched the idea, and I saw that even though there had been dozens of photo books on China already published¹, it seems no single photographer had ever photographed the entire nation of China. Right there I had found my niche. So I contacted a number of publishing houses in American and UK, and their rejections returned swiftly and mercilessly, and I cursed them all and swore my literary revenge, but still I remained unpublished.

Wang Zheng Rui Why do you think they rejected you if you had accomplished something seemingly no one else in China’s recorded history has ever accomplished?

Tom Carter: Who knows. Probably because I didn’t have a literary agent, or because I didn’t have National Geographic in my portfolio. I mean, few publishers want to take a chance on an unknown artist, no matter how talented he or she may be. Unless you have industry connections or name recognition, you are just one of millions of artists across the world trying to be noticed. So in a way I can understand why I was rejected by Taschen and Phaidon and Thames & Hudson², but it still sucks.

Wang Zheng Rui Speaking of Taschen, there are rumors spreading on some Chinese photoblogs on Sina.com that Taschen ripped off your book’s theme and released a similarly titled photo book on the same date as you, to kind of steal your thunder.

Tom Carter: I can’t comment on that because I don’t want to fuel the rumor mill or validate people’s gossip. And you Chinese love to gossip³. I will just say that, yes, I did send Taschen a query letter a couple years before they published their ‘China Portrait’ book, so if it is a coincidence, then the coincidence is uncanny. But the content of our photo books are completely dissimilar: mine is street photography from across the 33 provinces, and theirs is old archival stuff compiled by a bunch of editors. Nothing alike.

Wang Zheng Rui Well I am sure they are regretting sending you that rejection letter. Taschen’s book might have received a lot of coverage in the media, but that book’s sales rank on Amazon is appalling. So tell us what you did after the rejections letters began piling up.

Tom Carter: Actually there weren’t many actual rejection letters. Mostly I was flat-out ignored by the publishers I queried, which is even more of an insult, like being an “untouchable” of the literary world. If Angelika Taschen had had the common courtesy to send me a rejection letter, I probably would have framed it (laughs).

Wang Zheng Rui That would have been acknowledging your query letter and your idea, thereby making it legally harder for them to rip off your book.

Tom Carter: Tsk tsk, you really need to drop that subject. There are several similarly-titled books: The Chinese: Portrait of a People (1981); China: A Portrait of the People, Place and Culture; China, Portrait of a Country… Looking back, CHINA: Portrait of a People is not a title I should have used, and I wonder how many people have mistakenly bought those books when they thought it was mine? At that time my book went into production, the Taschen and Dorling Kindersley⁴ books had not been released yet, so I could not possibly know that in 2008 there would be this flood of “China Portrait” photo books. It’s just the gods once again messing with me (laughs). Actually, alternate titles for my book were “Round Eye” or “Watching Me Watch Them” or “Watching Them Watch Me.” I should have gone with one of those titles, but, you know, what can you do? Shoulda woulda coulda…

Wang Zheng Rui So you contacted some Chinese publishers, right?

Tom Carter: Yes, I queried the publishing houses in Mainland China because at the time I was based in Beijing, so it was easy for me to meet with them personally. And actually I was almost published by Foreign Languages Press⁵, except they were going to have to censor over half of my images according to the rules set forth by the Communist-run publishing industry. There was no way I would allow that: I’d rather not be published. Then I was introduced to Blacksmith Books, which is quite well known in Hong Kong for their catalog of non-fiction literature. If you are an author with an Asian-themed book, definitely query them.

Wang Zheng Rui So Blacksmith Books agreed to publish CHINA: Portrait of a People in its entirety exactly as you had conceived it?

Tom Carter: For the most part. A couple shots that might have been sensitive to Chinese readers⁶ were excluded, but the book is still 640 pages and over 800 images, making it one of the thickest China photo books on the market, so I can’t complain.

Wang Zheng Rui Your book must have broken some kind of size record, not just physically but the sheer scope of the subject matter: I don’t think there is any aspect of life and humanity in China that you did not capture! It’s a shame it has not been submitted it for any literary awards.

Tom Carter: We were going to submit it for the Kiriyama Prize, but that group shut down in 2008 right after my book was published. Bad timing. And, well, I don’t have the time or money to be mailing my book out for lesser prizes, so, that’s that.

Wang Zheng Rui What was the production process like? Did you just hand over all your photos, sign on a dotted line and walk away to rest on your laurels?

Tom Carter: I am sure that’s what it would have been like had I gone with a larger publishing house, but one of the reasons I signed with Blacksmith Books is because they gave me the option to be involved in production. So I went down to Hong Kong and together Publisher Pete and I sifted through tens of thousands of my photos to choose the best ones. It took me 8 hours per day, 7 days a week for one whole month. I had to take up residence at the infamous Chung King Mansions⁷ just to afford to stay in Hong Kong because it’s so bloody expensive there. Then I went back to Beijing and I spent another month writing all the captions and chapter introductions⁸. At the same time I also arranged the layout of the images myself, which was not unlike a puzzle in trying to determine which photo would go on what page. That was the most difficult part of the process, but there was no way on God’s earth that any editor could have done that; only a photographer knows how to arrange his or her images so that they tell the story you want to tell. So for any photogs reading this, if you get published I highly suggest you put a clause in your contract specifying that you are present during the layout and design process. This is vital!

Wang Zheng Rui Did you have any problems with the editors or designers while they were putting your book together? What should new authors expect?

Tom Carter: I mean, look, what artist isn’t going to be overprotective of their art? And what publisher isn’t going to put the interest of their company’s bottom-line before the interest of some eccentric artist? It’s just the contentious nature of the industry. It’s like a hostile holy trinity between author, publisher and retailer. You see duels between rock stars versus managers versus record labels, move stars versus directors versus producers, all the time in the tabloids. The only difference with literature is that it all takes place behind the scenes. There is an artistic gulf between artist and executive: we create art and they commoditize it. So, you know, when an editor turns your manuscript into some heartless, soulless piece of shyte that you can’t recognize anymore, it’s just a part of doing business with the beast. It’s up to you to handle the situation with dignity and grace and try to convince them where they are wrong, so that you guys can compromise. But you will definitely have to make compromises; expect you and your editor to engage in a colorful and heated debate for weeks if not months over the final outcome of your book.

Wang Zheng Rui You submitted your book to your publisher in the fall of 2007, however it was not published until the summer of 2008. CHINA: Portrait of the People was late for the summer Olympics in Beijing, which was a missed opportunity considering how many foreign tourists were in China at that time.

Tom Carter: Heh, I am flattered that you have followed my work so closely. But, yes, there were some delays that I am still unclear about which prevented my book from debuting when it was originally supposed to debut. I don’t want to think about all those missed sales because it’s depressing…and I’m still broke (laughs good naturedly).

Wang Zheng Rui You are being too nice about this, Tom. It’s now 2010 and your book is still not sold hardly anywhere in China or the world except in Hong Kong! Meanwhile, generic photo books about China that aren’t worth the paper they are printed on populate the bookshelves from Shanghai to San Francisco! What’s going in with your book and why can’t the international audience have access to it? Or is it your publisher’s intent to give CHINA: Portrait of a People a sort of cult-status by making it impossible to buy?

Tom Carter: That would be kind of clever, but the reality is that finding distribution is probably the most difficult part of publishing. Just because you got your book printed does not mean that any book stores will want to carry it. In my own publisher’s case, they are based in Hong Kong, which is in neither Mainland China nor the west, so they had not only one but two massive cultural, commercial and geographical obstacles to overcome in finding worldwide distribution. Not to mention that I am in China, a Communist country where authors used to be executed not but 30 years ago, where books are publicly burned to this very day⁹, and where literature is still considered a kind of novelty by the greater public. So the lack of bookstores, and the lack of distribution channels to bookstores, in the PRC, makes it extremely hard for anyone to navigate, let alone a foreigner. Alas CHINA: Portrait of a People was finally picked up by NBN and is debuting in America and on Amazon.com worldwide this June! So if someone living in Italy or Germany or France or UK or Japan is reading this, you can order my book by ISBN number from your local bookstore, or more easily, and probably cheaper, just buy it on Amazon.¹⁰.

Wang Zheng Rui Speaking of reviews, you’ve already received endless accolades from the online community for your photos, and I daresay you have mastered viral marketing by the sheer volume of positive word-of-mouth of your book. But are any real newspapers or magazines ever going to review CHINA: Portrait of a People, or will this be a silent release?

Tom Carter: Despite the growing popularity of blogs and online webzines, there are still hundreds of thousands of books published each year. And out of that pile of books, the New York Times and Publishers Weekly, et al, are only going to read titles that either their friends in the big publishing houses personally persuade them to review¹¹ or that they think will help sell papers. They have no incentive to waste space on an unknown author, even though, ironically, a majority of authors are unknown. Not to mention the fact that it costs publishers an obscene amount of money to ship books to newspapers with absolutely no guarantee that they will even do so. Only a big publishing house can afford that kind of coverage. But, hey, there are still several weeks remaining before CHINA: Portrait of a People’s debut in the west, so I remain optimistic that the New York Times Book Review will show me some love.

To conclude, while publishing houses and newspapers certainly have their bottom lines to consider when deciding on which artists to accept into their ranks, they could stand to divide the contracts and coverage amongst high-profile and lesser-known authors a bit more evenly. After all, the face of traditional publishing is changing as we speak: self-published authors are on the rise while print-media has seen a detrimental decline in readership as more people turn to digital formats. Amazon.com is leading the pace, not only in Kindle sales but with their new self-publishing tool, CreateSpace. Will this spell an end to traditional books? Or will mega-publishers and mainstream newspapers finally open their hallowed doors to unknown artists in an effort to save their fading industry. In less than 5 years we will probably find out the answer.

Please visit Tom Carter’s official homepage or purchase CHINA: Portrait of a People on Amazon.

Editor’s note: National Geographic, Lonely Planet, etc.
Editor’s note: the ‘big 3’ art book publishers.
Editor’s note: this is true!
Editor’s note: travel guide publisher.
Editor’s note: one of the oldest and largest publishers in China.
Editor’s note: a Tibetan sky burial; some frisky Shanghai girls showing their panties.
Editor’s note: setting of the 1994 Wong Kar-wai film.
Editor’s note: a blend of historic overviews, poetry and narratives.
Editor’s note: Wei Hui’s Shanghai Baby a notable example.
Editor’s note: if you do, please be sure to write a customer review for it on Amazon, because those reviews really do go a long way in influencing potential buyers.
Editor’s note: in Chinese this is called “guanxi”.

Conversation between Christian Erroi and Deirdre Donohue

Fabiano Busdraghi — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:41:54 +0000

The following was a conversation after-dinner in Harlem recently between artist Christian Erroi and librarian Deirdre Donohue.

Deirdre Donohue: Christian, you are having a New York moment right now! Your work is seen in both “Now You See It, Now You Don’t” at the Camera Club New York, and also in “Transmutations” at Michael Mazzeo Gallery at the same time! Tell me how did you come to the attention of Bernard Yenelouis, curator of the Camera Club show, and gallerist Michael Mazzeo?

Christian Erroi: Well, I have known Bernie for many years at the International Center of Photography, and admire his work as artist, thinker and curator greatly. It’s a privilege to be included in a show with artists whom I particularly appreciate: Marina Berio, Laura Larson, Tim Lehmacher, and Egan Frantz, to name my favorites. The theme of the show is about illusion and inclusion, and that is also, it turns out, a common thread that ties together artists in Michael Mazzeo’s show “Transmutations.” He found out about me from Evan Mirapaul, a great friend who collects and has been an advocate of my work for some years.

Deirdre Donohue: Well, you were selected for two group shows that furnished you with some notice as an Art + Commerce emerging artist in 2004 and 2005, a number of solo shows in Switzerland, and last spring a solo show that was part of Houston’s Fotofest. Do you think that there is something unique about participating in these two current group shows?

Christian Erroi: Thank goodness, after so many years of hanging around New York [my adopted home], I can be in exhibitions here where I feel inspired by the content, pleased with the modest scale, and that my work is well-suited to the themes. Of course it is gratifying anyway to be in a gallery in Chelsea and in the historic and important institution of the Camera Club.

Deirdre Donohue: Talk me over the bridge that connects the notion of photographic illusion of the Camera Club Show and the abstraction of nature in the Michael Mazzeo show.

Christian Erroi: I love the liberty that one has viewing something abstract. It allows for aesthetic pleasure without any rigid proscriptions. I don’t want too much information in an image because it might be a burden, in a sense. I am looking for a little information. What matters to me, as I analyze an image, is that it is not tiring to the viewer or me. I just need a spark. The Camera Club show is about adaptations photographers make through interventions like erasure and selection, which, in my case, leads to an abstraction of nature. A number of the artists in “Transmutations” end up with their abstraction through the rigors of selection and denial, despite the fact that nature is so much about coincidence. I try to marry the two.

Deirdre Donohue: OK, so your method is both extreme editing and accepting some of the serendipity of nature’s little surprises? Tell me where all of this appreciation of happenstance and selection comes from?

Christian Erroi: It’s the opportunism of me trying to learn from whatever I can, and employ it in my work. The genesis for the “as above” pictures was my own MRI’s – images of my thoroughly-examined brain – and how fragile and gestural its branches are. Gradually, I developed a vocabulary from nature that was adopted to express this. As the work progressed, layers of subsequent meaning were overlaid, and now it is a long way from those MRI’s, as am I.

Deirdre Donohue: They do look like botanical illustrations from a century or more ago, so I get the scientific vocabulary, but the materials you use tend to differentiate what you are doing from other photographers – who do “works on paper.” Talk about why you’ve made these material choices.

Christian Erroi: I am taken with transparency, because it looks extremely fragile, but is extremely elegant at the same time. I also like it because it permits me to create a three-dimensional world that is extremely flexible, so that I can, by changing sequence, change the narrative, as well.

Deirdre Donohue: Can you give a little perspective on the translation of artistic ideas into materials that are usually used in commercial industries, for example, the one inch thick plexi-glass objects?

Christian Erroi: This originated in the traditional natural history specimens of my youth, which sampled information outside of its context, detailed but divorced from reality. My thoughts about depicting scientific forms are related to the way that the eye feeds data to the brain – our little sophisticated camera obscura – ever baffling and alluring.

I tortured a number of fabricators into getting these plexi things to be realized to an art connoisseurship standard, as opposed to a window display level, and it was an expensive and educational process. The final iteration, the ones mounted on zebra wood, ultimately are the fruit of some five years of R&D.

Deirdre Donohue: Enough about production! Whose work do you love?

Christian Erroi: Golly, never ending and ever changing! I grew up in fertile soil: adoring photographers Mario Giacomelli, Gabriele Basilico, and Mimmo Jodice, as well as Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, and artists like Modigliani, Andrea Mantegna, Caravaggio, Giacometti, Paul Klee and Egon Schiele.

More contemporary influences include Gerhard Richter, Thomas Flechner, Axel Hutte, Cy Twombly, Elgar Esser, Thomas Struth’s forests, Reineke Dijkstra, Francis Bacon, Paul Graham and so forth.

I should say that in many of these cases I love more than just the pictures these artists make. I read them, and attend their talks curiously. For a while I carried that Vic Muniz Reflex book around like a bible. Now I am on a Modigliani kick. Next week, who knows?

Deirdre Donohue: Yes, you do make full use out of New York as the big art incubator, hitting galleries and museums, bookstores and libraries. Increasingly, as you spend more time here, I sense a better perspective on your sources of inspiration from being both Swiss and Italian. Would you say that you are communicating Swiss or Italian-ness more now than when you had your first show in Lugano in 1999?

Christian Erroi: I am Swiss and Italian, but my sensitivity to nature is a more universal impulse, and, although some of the camera captures happen in Italy and Switzerland, many are in Harlem, the Rockaways, community gardens, parking lots, bridges and other places in New York. My wellsprings of naturalism were Gerald Durrell and a junior high school mentor in Riverdale, NY named Mr. Mueser, who first encouraged me to use a camera for science.

Deirdre Donohue: So, you are a New York artist in the sense of your inclusion of all stimuli from wherever/whenever/whomever?

Christian Erroi: Ever more so, as time goes by, and I am more adaptable, and receptive. I don’t think that is from my Swiss or Italian backgrounds. It strikes me that it is a New York trait I most admire in my friends.

Any males, by Didier Illouz

Fabiano Busdraghi — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:57:38 +0000

Didier Illouz works with photography, graphics, digital manipulation and movies.

In his series “Any males” he photographed people from his entourage, and than -thanks to the possibilities offered by digital editing- he mixed their faces with that of an animal of his choice.

The result are hybrid beings, part man, part beasts, which recall the mystical visions of shamanism traditions, the metamorphoses of Lycanthrope, mysterious therianthropy dreams.

Usually over retouched projects end up with images that are clearly false and bad, but in this case the photograph by Didier Illouz are very elegant and well balanced, with a beautiful black and white to sepia tones, a gray-scale reminiscent photos from the pre-exposing to make a gray paper base. A great way to walk around between the visionary imagination of digital photography and traditional one.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Can you tell your story as a photographer?

Didier Illouz: I have always been enticed by pictures, and the fact of wanting to make some myself came naturally and gradually.

By the end of the 80’s, I could spend days working on my computer, drawing and trying to reproduce pictures with the first softwares for images.

Then, as I met people, I started taking pictures and practising black and white printing what brought me to experiment printing, toning and coloring techniques.

After a second year university diploma of sciences, I spent 2 years studying cinema and video and I obtained a Master’s degree in Sciences and Techniques.

Then, during several years, I made numerous round trips between the photography, graphics, the shootings of short films, digital standardization and Vjing. It was difficult for me to choose among those disciplines.

I currently spend my time taking and touching up pictures, and working on graphics.

Fabiano Busdraghi: What is for you photography?

Didier Illouz: To me, photography is a great means of expression and exchange. It is a means to make an idea become real, to create and suggest a universe, to give a message, to testify, to mark the spirits or simply to immortalize and glorify the Beauty.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Can you tell about your Anymales series

Didier Illouz: To begin with, the idea of this series consists in suggesting to persons I know choosing an animal, then being shot to allow me to merge the faces. This idea appeared to me as I discovered the North American shamanism and the parallel which these people make between the characteristics of an animal and what an individual can cross during his existence.

Parallel of the Man with the Animal – Parallel of the Man With Nature.

Find a way to reveal the animal within each of us.

In parallel, during my studies of sciences, I spent years studying biology, zoology, botany, genetics, crossings and mutations… I grew up in this scientific approach which made out my vision of the processes of creation of life.

Nowadays, we are witnesses of the intervention of man on his environment at numerous levels, and of the turnovers which come along: on Monday, May 19th 2008, the British Parliament authorized the research on hybrid embryos stemming from the integration of human DNA in ovules of animals.

My images anticipate the more or less risky and\or disastrous consequences of this type of manipulations.

It is a matter here to bring a reflection on the positionning of Man in front of the Nature, on his power, and the possible consequences resulting from the disruption of the natural processes.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Your images are often dark and disturbing. We have the impression of seeing the monsters of our own nightmares, nasty beings, half beast, half human. Why are attracted by this dark side of humanity? What does this represent for you?

Didier Illouz: I don’t see my images as dark, and I don’t think my creatures are nasty. I try to highlight a certain melancholy in these portraits.
It is what the current situation of our time evokes me. As for the dark side of humanity, I see it as much more obvious in the relationship which man maintains with the animal.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Your series Any Male reminds me partially the work of Daniel Lee, but your images are even more dreamlike and more unreal. What are according to you the differences and the analogies in your works?

Didier Illouz: I didn’t know the work of Daniel Lee. I like it very much, especially the series Manimales. It is moreover the first title I had chosen for my series.

To me, his work is more pictorial. He does not hesitate to deform these faces in order to get closer to the animal facies, and this without making use of any animal attribute. His series is also more homogeneous.

I am very admiring.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Concerning your personal work, do you photograph only professional models or also friends, persons met in the street, etc.? In that case, what is the difference when you work with somebody who is not used to pose?

Didier Illouz: All the persons who posed for the Any Male series are part of my entourage. There is no professional model. Therefore, those persons are not quite used to pose.

The next step consists in approaching persons in the street but I don’t feel really ready yet. Most hard is to begin.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Many people think that a retouched photography is not a true photography any more, generally these persons think that the photography should exclusively be a faithful representation of the reality. Personally I think that a faithful representation of the reality is impossible and that a “true” photography is nothing else than an illusion. Do sometimes people tell you that you do not make photography but something else? What then is your answer?

Didier Illouz: Last summer, I took part in a competition where my images were spread on the web and anyone could write comments. One of the participants wondered if it was still about photography, because of the importance of the retouching. Personally, I think that any image is retouched. To play on the color rendering of an image for me is retouching in a certain way. To show a color scene in black and white is far from being a faithful representation.

To use such or such focal also transforms the vision of the reality.

I take pictures and do retouch some of them. Both are for me additional means of expression, what allows me in the end to create pictures. Even though the photography plays the role of raw material, I consider that the result remains a photography.

Fabiano Busdraghi: So what do you think of the digital manipulation of images?

Didier Illouz: At the beginning of the history of photography, photos existed under the shape of glass sheets. Nowadays, photos are digital. And at any period in History, photographers have tried to manipulate their images by using the techniques of their time. Today, computers allows us to realize special effects which would be impossible to obtain otherwise. And I am happy I can take advantage of it.
On an other side, I am not attracted by excessively retouched images. When I retouch a fashion portrait, I work to embellish the model, but I absolutely avoid deforming the face, straying from the natural lines.

Fabiano Busdraghi: The photos of your Any Male series are argentic photos, digitally retouched. Why don’t you work directly with digital material? what attracts you in argentic photography?

Didier Illouz: Until now I have worked with a leica RE argentic reflex then I have digitized my films. This allows me a specific result and to reach a sufficient file size to print my images in a consequent size (60x80cm).

It is a rather long, tedious and expensive method, but in order to get this quality using digital material it was until now necessary to work with professional numeric cameras (what I could not afford).

Thus I decided to wait for some years until the camera of my dreams would appear on the market – full frame with many pixel. This day finally arrived (recently) with the release of the eos 5D mkII. I just bought it.

It upsets quite a lot of things. He(it) is going to need me certain time(weather) of adaptation but at the moment, I see only of the check there.

It is quite a change. I shall need some time to get used to it but till now it’s just great !

Fabiano Busdraghi: At the moment on which subject are you working? How does it differ in regard to your previous works? Have you some project for the future which you have not begun yet?

Many projects in mind. For the moment I have not decided yet, I experiment tracks.
Most hard being to choose.

Tempt a parallel between the human being and plants, here is a possible track. Either work on the landscape…

In any case, develop my way of working beginning with getting used to the digital tool. Then, everything is going to go much faster (I hope so).

Fabiano Busdraghi: Does the distribution of your work especially remit in Internet or they follow more classic ways? Do you regularly read on-line magazines or blogs of photo?

Didier Illouz: My work is shown at the same time via my website, publications in the press, photo competitions, exhibitions and auctions.

Of course every day I discover new websites, on-line magazines and blogs about photography. I visit them in a rather unpredictable and irregular way “so many things to be seen and so little time”. I am very curious but concerning photography, I can’t watch too many of them alternatively. I just can’t spend hours looking at hundreds of photos. Naturally at one moment I have enough and stop. The overconsumption of images is not my thing.

Fabiano Busdraghi: All the photographers have “ever made photo”. I Imagine that for technical limits of the moment, slowness, lack of equipment, faults etc. were never taken, and are lost for ever. I often become attached in never made photos they become a very good memory. Can you tell us one of your “ever made photo”?

Didier Illouz: Many of my pictures projects correspond to “ever made photos”.

During those last years, I have had many ideas or concepts that never got real.

Be it in a cinema, on Tv or in an exhibition, you realize that somebody have had the same idea as you and that this idea was realized.

This is a feeling that can be extremely frustrating. Then, either you get rid of this idea, either you try to bring it further up.

Fabiano Busdraghi: And the story of one of the pictures that comes with the interview

Concerning the picture “Christophe” (the eagle/man), the model, who is a friend, is a medium: he can have visions spontaneously. And The eagle in shamanism happens to be the spirit, corresponding with visions.

Fabiano Busdraghi: A photographer whose work you particularly like and why

Didier Illouz: To choose only one is very difficult. One among so many: Mark Holthusen.

I like his scenery, the sizes of his works, his colour palette, his universe, his looks, his mastery concerning lights.

I am as well very admiring and sensible to another category of photographers : cinematographers. I could give you many names of those I am really fan.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Have you a photographic dream? Which thing have you never made and you cannot make, something that you hope you’ll see one day, an invention which has to be born…

Didier Illouz: My dream: to be able to dedicate more time to my art, materialize my ideas, produce more.

And the invention: a large format view camera with a digital back for less than 1000 euros, it would be nice.

Fabiano Busdraghi: What book you are reading at the moment? What music do you like? Some favorite films?

Didier Illouz: The book I read: The essence of the Tao by Pamela Ball.

The music I listen to: Boards of Canada, Beck, movie tracks… At the moment I listen to the last album of The Raconteurs and that of Friendly Fires…

Some films: so many films… The murder of Jesse James, Amateur, Lord of the Rings, Into the wild, Other Worlds…

Same same but different, the backpack travelers by Jörg Brüggemann

Fabiano Busdraghi — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:32:21 +0000

The series “Same same but different” by Jörg Brüggemann portrays young backpacking travelers from western countries, which -from an alternative form of traveling- today represent a new form of mass tourism, with its codes, its recurring traits and its diversity.

It is a topic that particularly interests me, because when I travel I always do backpacking, even though I try as much as possible to leave the beaten circuits. Furthermore I love Jörg Brüggemann color palette and style. Here an interview about his photographs and travels.

Fabiano Busdraghi: How did you start taking pictures? What is your history as a photographer?

Jörg Brüggemann: In 2003 I did an abroad term studying graphic design in Buenos Aires. Back then I visited the typography classes and all of that, but what really thrilled me was wandering around the city and taking pictures. Back in Bremen where I studied at the University of the Arts I took my first serious photography class with professor Peter Bialobrezski. And from then on I took the straight road as I finally found what I really wanted to do.

Fabiano Busdraghi: What is photography for you?

Jörg Brüggemann: Manly a way to tell stories and to confront myself with the world outside of my private life and give a statement about it. But I am a visual person not a writer. Photography just came naturally to me as I ma also not that good at drawing and so on. Apart from that I love to work for my own accounts. Photography gives me a maximum of personal freedom.

Fabiano Busdraghi: How the idea of “Same same but different” was born? Can you describe this work?

Jörg Brüggemann: After the abroad term in Buenos Aires I went traveling around South America for 2 month. That was the first time I got in touch with the backpacking scene. I was fascinated about the dimensions the alternative travel industry had reached. Two years later I had the chance the fly to India and I remembered this idea. I had heard that the backpacking scene in India should be even bigger then the one in South America. It turned out that I underestimated that. But the best or worst was still to come… Thailand.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Backpack travelers often has a distinctive look, that usually is very different from the main style at home. But as you show in you series, at the end everyone looks the same. Do you think that it is just a question of trend but differences exist or there is no hope of personality and individuality?

Jörg Brüggemann: Yes, you are right, fashion is a very strange part of backpacking. I never understood how all these travelers can take off their Levis 501 and put on ridiculous puffy trousers that they will never wear again in their life. Some say they want to dress like the locals. But no locals wear these cloths. It is probably really a question of trend and maybe group pressure. Which also answer the question about personality and individuality.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Backpack traveling was born as an alternative form of tourism. More freedom, less expenses, more contact with the local population. Respect for traditions and environment. Do you think that today backpack travelers has loosed those values? Why the situation has changed?

Jörg Brüggemann: I think these values are still the main reasons why young westerners go backpacking. But do they still find them when they are on the road? Freedom and less expanses, yes. But more contact with local people and respect for traditions and environment, no. The main reason for that are the masses that go backpacking nowadays. You can’t be individual when you are one of millions who go backpacking every year. And the locals have reacted to these masses. They offer the travelers what they want in order to make money. In that way it has become a tourist industry.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Sometimes when you travel it looks as everyone goes in the same youth hostel. You go on the other side of the world just to find yourself in a restaurant where everyone has his lonely planet posed on the table. Do you think that this kind of trip can still be interesting or it would be better to live all the guides home and just travel outside of those circuits?

Jörg Brüggemann: The Lonely Planet can be a helpful tool when you are in country like India. It really makes things easier because it is a thoughtful edited travel guide. The problem is that a lot of people rely too much on it. Some even call it “the bible”. It is really no adventure to travel through Thailand with the Lonely Planet. It is more or less like a packaged tour. So, if you want to see something else leave the Lonely Planet at home. But I prefer to take it with me and then I don’t touch it for weeks or so while traveling. And when I feel like banana pancakes and beautiful beach I look up where the best places are. It just really depends on you what you make out of it.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Yes I understand. I traveled 3 times in South America, the last one without any written guide, and it was a completely different trip.

But let’s go on with the interview: can you choose one of your photos and tell its history?

Jörg Brüggemann: The picture “New Year’s Full Moon Party”.

The Full Moon Party on Ko Pha-Ngan have become legendary. Once a month about 10.000 young traveller gather on Sun Rise Beach in Hat Rin in the South East corner of the island to party all night long. The event is very well organized by the local bar and hotel owners. It is also them that clean up the beach the next day like the woman on the photo. The party crowd has already gone to bed or to one the numerous After Full Moon Party in the village. I took this photo just after sunrise on the 1st of January 2008. In the night a storm had flooded the beach and left not only the rubbish but also a lot of seaweed. The trees were just decoration for the party. Their leafs are made out of paper.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Can you speak about one or more of your favorite photographers and tell us why you love his/their work?

Jörg Brüggemann: Well, it is quiet obvious that Martin Parr has been a big influence, although I claim for myself to be fairer to my subjects. But I simply love his irony and his everyday themes that relate so much more to my own life then most other photographers’ subjects. Same for Joel Sternfeld, Steven Shore and Lars Tunbjörk. My professor Peter Bialobrzeski influenced me as well. His passion for photography and the straight and consequent way in which he works were impressive for me.

And I worked two years in the office of Ostkreuz – Photographers’ agency in Berlin where I learned a lot about editorial photography and about attitude.

I probably admire any photographer whose personality can be seen in his work, because that means that his is passionate about what he does. But it has to be an interesting personality, because otherwise the work will be boring as well.

Fabiano Busdraghi: What are your favorite photography and art sites? Do you read any photo e-zine, blog or online art magazine?

Jörg Brüggemann: Yeah, I am actually quite addicted to photo blogs. There are about 30-40 that I read regularly. I find it very interesting what is going on there at the moment. However I am still not sure if this is not just another bubble because the whole scene is very self referential. I can’t really tell which ones I like the most because they are all very specified. Unfortunately there are very few good ones from Germany.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Do you have any photographic dream? Something you want to shoot and you can’t, some camera you dream to have, some place you want to go…

Jörg Brüggemann: There are a lot of photographic dreams I have, but none that I couldn’t put into reality. It is more the other way around. I need these dreams to make them my next project.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Wonderful answer Jörg! Thank you very much for the interview and good luck making your dreams reality.

Self-portrait and human sculptures by Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:08:46 +0000

Landscape I
© Levi van Veluw

Levi van Veluw is a young artist that works on self-portrait. But it does not simply photographs his face or body, he add on his skin and visage a lot of heterogeneous elements, building a complex sculpture and transforming his face in a miniature landscape. All the process is a self man work, and there is digital addition.

Fabiano Busdraghi: How did you start taking pictures? What is your history as a photographer?

Levi van Veluw: I was born in the Netherlands in a small town named Hoevelaken, 19-04-85.I graduated cum laude from Artez’ School of Arts in 2007. I started out mainly wanting to be a painter but during my time studying I started experimenting with other mediums such as video art and photography. The selfportaits started as a practical choice, but developed as a main concept in the last 3 years.

Landscape II, III and IV
© Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi: What is photography for you

Levi van Veluw: For me it’s just a medium. I use photography to registrate the sculptures on myself.

Fabiano Busdraghi: How the idea of building “landscape portraits” was born? Can you describe your work?

Levi van Veluw: I’s not just one idea. But one old fascination with cheap landscape painting. I hate all the symbolic they contain. The scenery is so predictible and boring. But in another way, I really like the simplicity of the traditional landscapes. It’s nice and ugly at the same time.

Gravel
© Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi: Describing your work you insist on the fact that it is a one man work. Can you explain in some details why this is so important to you?

Levi van Veluw: The work is created through several combinations of idea’s. I started experimenting with portraits a few years ago. After every photo, I analyze the work and discuss with myself what is good and what is not. Therefore it is not really a portrait, but more a series of experiments. Creating the work, is a one man process. It is very important that I make every decision while I am creating the work itself because the process is part of the work. The objects really exists on my head and not though the use of a computer.

Fabiano Busdraghi: This is another point on which you insists. Why this is so important? Is the final result or the proceeding that makes the art? What would be the difference in using a pc?

Levi van Veluw: In most cases it is my head that is the carrier of these transformations and combinations. The expressionless, and almost universal face, allows the viewer to project himself onto the work. Because the works have really existed and have not been digitally manipulated, each image contains a short history of a performance.

Natural transfer I, II, and III
© Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi: In one of your interview I read: “I tried to make my landscapes with as little symbolism as possible. So I kept the nice aspect of a landscape and removed all the kitsch, glamour and traditional aspects.” Can you develop this point explaining why you made this choice?

Levi van Veluw: I became more and more aware that all objects, materials, events are assigned a commonly held value, but that this valuation could just as easily be different. It was those elements that nobody had an opinion about that then became most interesting to me. Because they seem to contain little meaning to people, they are malleable and can easily have their perceptions about them altered.

Carpet
© Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi: In your photos you are always at the same time the photographer and the subject. Can you explain what is the meaning of this choice? Why you don’t use other peoples faces as a background for your landscapes?

Levi van Veluw: Repetition is a theme I find very interesting as you can use it for different ends. By for example using the same head and facial expression, the person slowly becomes of secondary importance to the form. The elements that remain constant lose their value and the elements that change, become the subject of the work. In this way I create a shift in the hierarchy of values.

Fabiano Busdraghi: The diffusion of your work is done by galleries, exhibitions, paper publications, etc, or is entrusted mainly to artistic circuits on Internet? What do you think about these initiatives?

Levi van Veluw: The combination of having a gallery, exhibitions, publications and the internet is really important. For instance, a gallery is important to present the work on artfairs and show and sell the work to artcollectors, museums etc. By having a gallery I have more time for making new work, ad that’s most important for me.

Light I, II, and III
© Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi: What are your favorite photographic and art sites? Do you read any photo e-zine, blog or online art magazine?

Levi van Veluw: Most times I read the art section of the dutch newsapers on the internet. And I like these blogs: http://pytr75.blogspot.com/ http://iheartphotograph.blogspot.com/

Fabiano Busdraghi: Do you have any photographic dream? Something you want to shoot and you can’t, some camera you dream to have, some place you want to go…

Levi van Veluw: At this moment I am really spoiled with all the succes. I have everything I want and do everything I want to do. Making new and better work will always stay my main ambition. Although I do have one majore ambition for the future, that’s setting up a new institute for arts.

Blocks, Hair and Dots
© Levi van Veluw

Fabiano Busdraghi: Can you speak about one or more of your favorite photographer and tell us why you love his/their work?

Levi van Veluw: I like artist like, Jeff Wall and Erwin Wurm.

Fabiano Busdraghi: During the past you had been an assistant of Erwin Olaf. Can you describe your experience? How is working with a master of contemporary photography?

Levi van Veluw: Mainly working really hard for 6 months. I liked traveling to the US, France etc. I learned lot’s of things, but you also see things you want to do differently.

Madness and poetry, the pinhole portraits by gUi mohallem

Fabiano Busdraghi — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:44:01 +0000

© gUi mohallem

“When I was a kid my auntie used to take me to those rituals.
I was in the middle of this circle of candles
and these women kept singing
things I could not understand.
I’m afraid they did something to me.”

gUi mohallem is a Brazilian photographer whose pinhole portraits about madness have caught my attention from the very first moment I saw them.

In addition to his dark, intense and blurred photos, I greatly appreciated the accompanying texts: quotes collected during his discussion with the portrayed people. I have always been fascinated by writing, as well as photography, the extracts gUi mohallem combines with images are as intense and lapidary modern poems, a form of poetry that is collectively created by people telling their truth in front of the camera.

Fabiano Busdraghi: How did you start taking pictures? What is your history as a photographer?

gUi mohallem: I think I was 17 when I got my first camera. I went on exchange to Australia to study in high school. That’s when I first studied media and I did a documentary about the exchange program. When I returned to Brazil, I was fascinated by film making and decided to apply for Film School in São Paulo.

© gUi mohallem

“Sometimes I feel detached from myself
and go for days like this, as if I am not really me.
That’s when I need to come here and watch people.
I look at them until I feel I captured their essence.
(or what I decided to be their essence)
That’s the only way to get back to me.”

Photography was already a hobby and I had already started to visit studios and mini labs in my home town. I remember when I first saw an image coming on the white paper inside the last B&W darkroom in town. It was magic! At this time I was already interested in the destruction of the image and I would experiment all sorts of chemicals available on processed paper, to see how they could affect them. Once I could control it I started writing on my images and make customized cards for my friends and lovers.

Photography came to me in University, starting the following year. I was addicted to the darkroom. And I loved testing things and making all sorts of mistakes. I also loved the taste of the chemicals on my fingertips.

I graduated specializing in cinematography and photography. I would spend a lot of extra time inside the darkroom. I was so much in there I eventually got the spare key and the grant to use the special enlarger, an impeccable Leitz.

Fabiano Busdraghi: I love the smell of chemistry too, and I remember that my first print in the darkroom was really a magic moment as you described. And a little bit of that magic is always present today when I shoot or print, even if it is digitally. But let’s go on with the second question: what is photography for you?

© gUi mohallem

“I was a very sad child.
As I grew up I learned to reason
and painted several layers over sadness.
But it is still there, underneath.
And I guess it will always be…”

gUi mohallem: Photography is the way I try to pacify my deepest solitude, I think. It gives me the illusion I can communicate with people, really. I will never know for real, but this illusion keeps me sane.

The other day, very recently, I was in the subway in NYC and I saw this girl with the hula hoop and she looked so sad and so tired holding it in her arms. I took 3 pictures. Then some people came to talk to her. It was Halloween night. And it turned out she was not sad at all and not tired at all. When the train came I started to talk to her. I was amazed by how much of this scene I had build by my own fantasies. She wanted to see the pictures, she was concerned about her image and I replied, without ever thinking about it: “Don’t worry, I didn’t take a picture of you, I only borrowed your body to portrait my own feelings.”

Fabiano Busdraghi: I agree, photography almost never show the truth, but just ours feelings, ideas, and point of view. You also said photography is the way to minimize your solitude. As you I think it is a wonderful way to communicate, to let other people look inside you. But sometimes I think photography increase my solitude, sometimes I am like a slave of photography. During the huge amount of time I spend inside the darkroom, or retouching, or searching the perfect combination to express my feelings, or even writing this blog, I’m always alone. All the time I spend in those activities is time subtracted to my social life. Other people on the contrary are able to use photography to interact with other ones, maybe as you did with the girls in the underground. What do you think about that?

© gUi mohallem

“In my parent’s house we had all these strict rules,
like we were only allowed to use 4 squares of toilet paper each time.
I obeyed them of course. I wouldn’t lie if they asked.
A christian girl must not lie.”

gUi mohallem: I don’t think it worked as interaction. She was not aware and she wasn’t ever her for me. I was interacting with myself. I don’t run away from loneliness. At the same time I search for relief from it I also need it a lot. Hard to explain. In that way maybe that’s why I travel.

Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote

…there is only one solitude, and it is vast, heavy, difficult to bear, and almost everyone has hours when he would gladly exchange it for any kind of sociability, however trivial or cheap, for the tiniest outward agreement with the first person who comes along, the most unworthy… But perhaps these are the very hours during which he grows; for his growing is painful as the growing of boys and sad as the beginning of spring. But that must not confuse you. What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours – that is what you must be able to attain. To be solitary as you were when you were a child…

Fabiano Busdraghi: How the idea of Reharsal to Madness was born? Can you describe this work?

© gUi mohallem

“Whenever I am alone
I have always 911 ready on my phone.
You never know who they are
and when they will attack you.
Anyone can be a psychopath.”

gUi mohallem: That is a tough question. Cause it wasn’t born of a single insight. It came little by little. I’ve had this title for a while ( they usually come first) when I saw one of my aunties having an outburst. I keep my tittles written and all of a sudden I do something that fits them. Usually the tittle comes one or two years in advance.

This one waited 5 or 6 years. I was already experimenting with digital pinhole and motion when I met Juan Betancurth, a Colombian artist based in NY. The first day we went for a walk, we talked for 7 hours and we were talking about very intimate stuff. Two days later we were at the rooftop of his workplace and we had a very nice shoot, although there was very little light for it.

I kept shooting people I fell compelled to do so, but I was somewhat unaware of the reason that was driving me to do it. Till one day at a bar, talking to Juan and his boyfriend that I understood. I was shooting these people because of what they said to me. This work was also about these experiences.

Fabiano Busdraghi: This is a point of particular interest. Why did you decide to combine photos with written words? What are the consequences of this choice?

© gUi mohallem

“There is something inside of me
that wants to get out.
I can’t let myself go
If I do my life would be a mess…”

gUi mohallem: It was natural. It came naturally to the work, as I understood what make me want to portrait some people and not other people.

But this project has been going through different stages of awareness, if I can say that. At first, I only went with my guts. And I remembered the quote by heart, because they were the feelings that were stuck with me. Then, on the process of editing these pictures, choosing and combining them with the quotes I slowly understood I was talking about my madness. Just like the girl on the subway, I was borrowing these people images and words to talk about myself, in some level.

Madness here gets a very specific meaning. Whereas one may use it as distance I use it in a sense of proximity. Mad is what is similar.

Making new work once I was aware of that was really a challenge. At one point I went to my hometown and shot my parents. I was pushing my boundaries. When I had the show in NY I was still uncomfortable with some of the newest images. The work was talking back to me so I spent a lot of time in the gallery just to listen.

© gUi mohallem

“I went to court cause I burned down a real state agency.
I broke the window with a brick.
Poured some petrol inside, lit up the fire and walked away.
It felt good. It felt really good.
I remember when I got home I dreamt I killed a snake…
and I had always been afraid of snakes.”

When I was preparing the show, the hardest thing was to decide how to put the text with the images. I like to ask the viewer some kind of attitude, some kind of demand on what he’s looking at. Also, I like to give the viewer the option not to see if he wants to. As these are very intimate quotes I didn’t want them to be taken for granted. People should only see it if they were connected with the specific image. In my website, you only see the quotes of you roll over the image, for example. In the NY exhibition I developed a series of stamps. In order to see the quote, people would have to stamp themselves, get contaminated with madness.

And also, it was hard to see all the quotes from all the images. People would then have to choose with images they were more driven to investigate, to find out about. I was apprehensive with this but the response was amazing. People would stamp themselves all over. They wanted to find out.

In the artist talk we did, Shawn Lyons, the gallery owner who invited me for the show, convinced me to open subscriptions for the project. People who wanted to be portrayed as one of my new madness could sign up for an interview and a possible shoot. People that had come to the show, people that heard about it from friends, new people I met, I started to get these emails asking to be part of the project.

© gUi mohallem

“The great thing about amnesia is that you can start from scratch.
Your brain is like an empty hard drive in a computer.
At 16 I realized amnesia was a lifetime opportunity…
to throw away the bits I didn’t like and build a new self for me,
someone I could be more satisfied with…”

Then, it reached a stage where I was photographing total strangers. I spent the following weeks interviewing and shooting these strangers that now I feel so close to. Out of the 8 or 9 people I interviewed there was only one I decided not to shoot. Because this person didn’t let me close enough.

I am very excited about this new material. That’s why I decided to open subscriptions to the public on my website. Anyone who’s interested in being part of it can fill in this very simple form, and it does not matter where they are from. As I travel quite a bit, next time I am around their city of country, I’ll arrange the interview. Those selected who take part in the project will receive a signed print of their photos in an edition of 01. That’s the way I found to say thank you.

The joy that I get from this experience is overwhelming, it’s amazing. I wanna do this for a while.

Fabiano Busdraghi: I hope one day we will meet and you will accept to shoot a portrait of me! This is a nice example of how photography can let you interact with others people and reduce your solitude!

© gUi mohallem

“After you left I met a boy who looked just like you.
We became friends.
My friend died two weeks ago. The waves took him.
I was so scared I would go down but I didn’t.
Now you are back.
That’s it: the planets must have aligned.”

gUi mohallem: We could surely do. First the talk, then the shoot. The best part from me is the the part where I get to hang out with the person. Because you would have to take me your favorite place, somewhere important for you. In that way I get to know a world I would never have access otherwise. The other person’s world. But this is not where the loneliness ends. It is hard to explain. I get the soothing feeling when we talk and I feel the person is also a little crazy. Then I am not alone. There’s someone out there a little like me.

Fabiano Busdraghi: All the pictures of the series Reharsal to Madness are pinhole ones. Why did you decide to use a pinhole camera for your set of images? What in particular attracts you using this technique?

gUi mohallem: I don’t like the sharpness in digital images. It bothers me. When I shoot pinhole, though, it is much more like what I experience. It is close to my reality, if I can say that. Also, there’s this funny thing: by doing this, one eliminates one more thing between the subject and their represented image. The lenses. There is no chromatic aberration, or lenses distortion. There is light and hole and CCD. I like how simple and somewhat silly it is sometimes. That’s one of the reasons I made a pinhole tutorial in my website. The technique itself is not a big deal.

Fabiano Busdraghi: The pinhole photography seems to give access to a world of fantasy, to overturn the human perception and rewrite what is the reality. I think that photography in any case can never objectively describe truth, a little bit as you said before. Do you agree with this idea? Or do you think that photography can faithfully reproduce reality too?

© gUi mohallem

“I have no friends.
This whole friend thing is bullshit.
It’s all about interest.
The less you expect from people
the less disappointments you’re gonna have.
Take my word.”

gUi mohallem: The only reality one can try to describe is your own internal reality. That’s the only ethical way possible in photography. I give you my reality so you can build up yours.

Fabiano Busdraghi: You mount your pinhole holes on a digital cameras. Is it a matter of convenience, speed in verifying the results? Or is it the only way you can get this special result, for example through the possibilities offered by photo retouching techniques to change color and contrast? Or finally are you theoretically interested in a particular mix of really simple technique like pinhole, with the latest technology offered by digital cameras?

gUi mohallem: Well, to be really honest, I think it is a mixture of all three options. I do all my editing in Photoshop nowadays, even in my work on film, it is very much edited. I don’t use digital to my personal work usually. I think I like the wait. I like that I never know how the picture will come out. The other day I was shooting a friend for his CD cover and did it in both digital and film. Same lenses, same scenes, but the film pictures have a such a stronger feeling. I am still trying to figure out why.

With this project I usually keep the images unseen for a while, I tell people it is baked in slow oven.

I also like the way the grain in those pictures have a lot of digital in it. The camera is at it’s highest speed so there are a lot of artifacts. In Photoshop I control them and dim them a bit sometimes. But there are even some dirt that I leave on. I like some of the imperfections, it’s like life itself.

© gUi mohallem

“I love my lover’s scent.
He could go for days without a bath and I wouldn’t mind.
Actually I feel kinda sad when he showers.”

Digital is also great because it allows me to take a lot of pictures in a sequence of each person. It’s a very cathartic process for both of us. I only know which one to use after I have their quote. This may take up to a few months.

Fabiano Busdraghi: You teach pinhole photography with organizations offering career opportunities to under-privileged youth in Brazil. Can you tell how important is teaching for you? Is there any case in which photography has really changed the lives of these young people?

gUi mohallem: I have taught for about 4 years. I loved it. I was teaching cinematography, electricity and photography to these kids, so that they could get into the film industry in Brazil (more like TV adds and commercials). But what I was teaching didn’t matter really. It was just an excuse to provoke this kids to think for themselves, to build their own learning, to make their own path. Pinhole was the first subject. We would first turn the classroom into this huge camera and understand it from the inside. “So this is how the camera and the eye works” then I would introduce to them the photographic paper, testing the chemicals, making all the possible mistakes in purpose, in a way to build in these kids this passion for testing, and learning from evaluating the tests.

Two weeks of pinhole and darkroom followed and I would only help them from the distance to find the right questions, not the right answers. The great thing about pinhole was that every camera is unique. It has its own hole, it’s own distance from the paper and each student would shoot this one particular subject. They could not learn from anyone else but from their tests. It was a great joy to make their first image. Cause they had no one to thank it for, except themselves and their perseverance.

© gUi mohallem

“I don’t understand why people insist on grief.
Going to cemeteries, visiting graves…
Why putting yourself into that kind of misery?
Make believe they’re traveling.
That’s what I do.”

Once they understood how pinhole worked it was easy to start talking about light and its principles, about the eye, the camera, whatever. But the most important thing from this is that they now understood they were in a search for questions, not answers.

If you wanna know if they became great photographers, I can’t tell you that. I know there is one or two who connected me on their flickr. But many of them started to grasp their own life and grew professionally by being independent from whichever teacher or bosses they might have run into. I heard that two of them got enough money they have a car now.

Fabiano Busdraghi: You live in Brazil, but you’ve traveled also to New York and in several other places. What are the consequences of traveling on your life and on your photographic work?

gUi mohallem: Traveling drives me away of my comfort zone, my friends, my family, my workstation, and in addition to that I usually put myself in difficult situations. I usually stay at a stranger’s place. I don’t plan anything. I never know where I am going to sleep, for example. I also always travel by myself. I think it’s a search for loneliness.

When I am traveling I feel more connected with myself, it’s like an exile.

Fabiano Busdraghi: How is the photographic situation in Brazil? Are exhibitions and photography related events numerous and interesting? Is the cultural life active and interesting?

© gUi mohallem

“I’m so normal. Everything I do is so normal,
I think so much before doing it…
Even when I do drugs or sleep with a stranger
it is very normal, you know,
very framed within the borders of normality…”

gUi mohallem: São Paulo is like any big center. there’s so much going on at the same time it is hard to decide where to go, cause you have to make options. I must confess I do not attend many of them, mainly because I am usually so focused in editing my stuff or finishing a project, I hardly leave the studio. I must say I would have to do some research to answer this question properly.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Do you think that to have a good photographic carrier one need to live in New York or London or today thanks to Internet the place where you live doesn’t really matter?

gUi mohallem: I like the Internet and I like all it’s possibilities of connection. I have found really amazing work and people through sites and blogs like yours. But I also think nothing substitute the real experience. I like to be in places and meet the people. I like to see how the work is mounted and presented. Seeing other people’s works, good works, is a major thing on one’s evolution as an artist. Sometimes books give you a fairly good idea, but take the works of Sophie Calle or Gregory Crewdson, for example. They loose a lot in books. To have a good career, I also think it is important to meet the people. To establish the connections, to see the faces behind the names, you know. So I think for me it is important to have access to big centers, not necessarily live there.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Concerning photography and more generally art, do you think there are fundamental differences between Brazil, Europe and USA? Or today there is only a global photography and differences are only due to the individual quest and personality of authors?

© gUi mohallem

“We did it once. He was so gentle, so nice…
But I don’t know what happened
he has been avoiding me since then…
I guess he just can’t deal with his feelings.
But I know he loves me.
Yes he does.”

gUi mohallem: Well, maybe I am not the right person to answer that. I am not an art historian and I don’t look at art in terms of continents and countries. I look at it from an artist perspective, searching for artists and works that communicate to me. There may be differences, but I would not know how to point them, cause I just haven’t looked for them.

Fabiano Busdraghi: The diffusion of your work is done by galleries, exhibitions, paper publications, etc, or is entrusted mainly to artistic circuits on Internet? What do you think of these initiatives?

gUi mohallem: They all have their place in the world and they do not compete, I think. A good gallerist can be like a tutor to the artist, help him find paths and ways within his work, I think this is a very important role, specially to young artists but sometimes also in some more established ones too. The other important thing a gallery could or should provide the artist is to deal with the commercial side of it, promoting, selling, doing follow up with consumers. This is an important part of the game and artist usually are either not good or not interested in playing.

As for exchange, i think Internet is a great thing. Cause you never know what you might run into. I found this artist from Georgia who lives in Argentina on Flickr and this is a great thing only more democratic circuits like the Internet can give you.

Fabiano Busdraghi: What are your favorite photographic and art sites? Do you read any photo e-zine, blog or online art magazine?

© gUi mohallem

“I was doing some stupid things to myself.
That’s why they locked me away.”

gUi mohallem: I am very bad with that. I love printed magazines, like Aperture, but I am not used to follow art on e-zines. I do a lot of search on flickr, though…

Fabiano Busdraghi: Do you have any photographic dream? Something you want to shoot and you can’t, some camera you dream to have, some place you want to go…

gUi mohallem: My dream is to live out of my work, to be able to make my living out of the photography I do.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Can you speak about one of your favorite photographer that use pinhole and tell us why you love his work?

gUi mohallem: It’s a funny thing. I am not usually into pinhole at all. I don’t follow it or look for it. But there is this one guy in Brazil whose work I accidentally know (he’s a friend of a friend) and I love it. His name is Luish Coelho and he has some very interesting projects about turning peoples apartments into cameras and shooting the person with the projection of the landscape inside their apartments. Meta meta photography. He is a master in the pinhole thing, he is passionate about it and know all about it. But it is not the pinhole itself that attracts me. It’s the same thing that drives me to Charlie Kauffman movies like Adaptation, or Synecdoche, NY. It is the simplicity of the idea and the complexity of the result.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Is there some Brazilian photographer you especially like?

gUi mohallem: There’s a lot of great photographers in Brazil that I admire for the most various reasons… I love the way Dimitri Lee makes his moody landscapes in abandoned cities, for example. And I love the intimacy and respect that João Wainer shows people from slums and their universe. He has an amazing work, very hard to find, from this huge prison in Brazil as well.

© gUi mohallem

“I don’t believe in death.
I can’t get my head around it.
No matter what they say, nobody is going to die.
I just don’t believe in death as a possibility.”

But at the same time, and I know it may sound pretentious, but I have often felt like I am walking on a long road with no one ahead, no one to look up to. These amazing photographers whose work I admire are very different from me, as if they spoke different languages that I do. In my last trip to NY, I met this British photographer, Muzi Quawson and I fell for her work. It is like for the first time in ages I see someone speaking the same language as I try to speak, or better said, she is fluent in a language I am still developing.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Just some question about your personal tastes. What are your favorites movies, books and music?

gUi mohallem: It is always hard to do your ranking, cause it changes a lot with time and the moment you are in, but I love Ettore Scolla “una giornata particolare”. This film changed the way I frame. I saw it on the theater one Friday night. The next morning I was getting 35mm lenses. I needed it.

Also, an independent film maker also had a lot of influence in my work. His name is Jonathan Caouette and he has a very strong autobiographical documentary called “Tarnation”.

Aesthetically, I love Won Kar Wai’s composition and patterns and as for Wim Wenders, I love the way he uses colors, specially in Paris Texas.

Some of my favorite writers are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Miranda July, Vladimir Nabokov, Dostoyevsky, Sam Shepard and Sartre.

Music is very hard.

The Asian photography, by Ch’ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:17:00 +0000

© Ch’ng Yaohong

Ch’ng Yaohong is a young photographer based in Singapore.

In addition to photographing for his personal projects and for commission works, Ch’ng Yaohong is also the author of one of my favourite weblog, Asian Photography Blog, and it is easy to understand why. Ch’ng Yaohong site is about two of my great nowadays passions: Asia and photography. Every week you can discover splendid works and incredibly talented photographers, most of the time completely unknown in Europe, even to a specialized audience. Sometimes the blog of contemporary art and photography repeat the same authors, the same styles, the same approach, the same vision of the world. The blog by Ch’ng Yaohong in the current blogsphere is a nice example of novelty and differences.

For these reasons I was very happy when Ch’ng Yaohong agreed to participate in an interview that discusses photography in Asia in general and his personal photographic work.

© Ch’ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: In the Occident word it is now difficult to speak about a European or American photography, contemporary photography is extremely varied. Do you think that photography is pretty uniform and consistent in Asia? Is it characterized by a fundamental uniformity, or contrary is it as varied and diverse as in the West?

Ch’ng Yaohong: From my experience in running the Asian photography blog, I have seen works that vary across different cultures and nations. Asian photographers have very diverse styles, concepts and shoot in so many genres. I believe that it is as diverse, if not more so than work coming from Europe or America. Many photographers return from education outside of Asia and they bring with them the distinctive styles or approaches of their adopted countries. Even within Asia, different countries have their own approaches to photography. This is especially so in Japan, where photography has had many decades of tradition. If one was to enter a room filled with photography from the world, it may be easy to identify the various geographical locations based on subject matter but ultimately, the photographer behind it could easily have been Asian, American, European or African!

© Ch’ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: These differences are mainly due to personality or to the photographers origins? Do you think that one can talk about a Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Thai… photography? Or a distinction based on the countries nowadays makes little sense, and is the personality of photographers who counts?

Ch’ng Yaohong: In every country, photographers work in different ways and it is hard to categorize them in this manner. The subject matter or political background may be the same but it is the photographer’s personality, life experiences and thought processes that shape his/her works. Traces of a country’s history and culture may be infused into certain works but the individual makes all the difference. The stylistic differences may be different, Japanese photographers tend to shoot street photography in the same manner due to heavy influence by Daido Moriyama, Indonesian photojournalists cover the same events as their Western counterparts; yet each image is the distillation of the photographer’s mind and soul and it is futile to say that a particular photographer’s work is Chinese, Indian or Japanese.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: Do you think that Asian photography is fundamentally different than the western one? Or today is the contemporary photography global around the world? Is it now impossible to speak about photo “schools” based on country of origin of the photographers?

Ch’ng Yaohong: I would dare say that specific countries have their own schools of thoughts but the Internet has blurred boundaries between the schools. Globalization plays a huge role in how people thing. We are becoming more westernised; we eat the same kind of food, get exposed to the same kinds of media. Moreover, many Asian photographers are schooled in America or Europe and have adopted similar ways of thinking and seeing. They then infuse their own cultures into their work when they return home. Fundamentally, photography is photography. Schools of thoughts dictate how an individual may approach a subject but it is the individual that makes the difference.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: In Asia traditions are very important, the past still has a very strong weight. As regards China, the country of which I know better the culture, ideas and philosophical theories of art have always confronted with the past, constantly reinventing it, but always starting from the tradition. Over the last century, however, the situation seems to have reversed. It almost seems that Asian countries run a race to deny their past, to innovate, to discover a new modernity, to make a great leap forward. In recent years instead, always in China, there has been a return to the roots and traditions.

Do you think that photography in Asia follow a similar path? Do you think tradition and evolution are equally present, or either one of these aspect is predominant?

Ch’ng Yaohong: I think that the new generation of photographers in China are scrambling to reclaim their traditions due to the Cultural Revolution. Cynically, I would say that they are taking advantage of that to enter the Western art markets, as that is what consumers demand. China’s situation is different from other Asian countries as it is moving forward at great speed, seeking to become a global superpower. This creates an imbalance as the past is quickly wiped out to make room for the future. Some photographers are looking for ways to connect the disconnected, to actively look at the past and make criticisms of the country’s direction.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Despite this, many countries have rich traditions and cultures that have endured millennia, which is being wiped out by a homogenization of culture. Yet, I think that many photographers and artists are striving very hard to preserve their own cultural identity; to make statements against the blatant erasure of one’s past.

I see a greater confluence of photography and tradition recently. While some photographers romanticize about the past, others use it as a springboard to create something new. I think that it is important for us to know about our past, before we can move forward. However, we cannot allow ourselves to be bound by it, refusing to accept new ways of thinking or working. Tradition and evolution exist hand in hand, it all depends on the individual artist. I wouldn’t say that one takes precedence over the other but they are surely mutually influential.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: Who are the Asian photographers whose work you consider more interesting?

Ch’ng Yaohong: You just have to visit my blog! I only feature work that I find interesting.

My preference changes every year depending on what I am currently working on. I like work that is unsettling, things out of the extraordinary. There’s just too much pretty work out there.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Can you describe the panorama of contemporary art photography in Asia? The exhibitions, festivals, cultural events are frequent and followed? The states subsidize the artistic photography?

Ch’ng Yaohong: There are so many events happening across Asia that the sheer number overwhelms me. There’s a plethora of festivals happening every year: Chobi Mela in Bangladesh, Fotofest Beijing and Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, Angkor Photography Festival in Cambodia, Thailand’s Month of Photography, Singapore’s Month of Photography and the inaugural Singapore International Photography Festival. This is excluding the numerous exhibitions across the various cities happening every day in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Manila and New Delhi. Frankly, I think it’s impossible to be there for every single event! I’m not particularly sure about state subsidies in other countries but in Singapore, the National Art Council provides monetary assistance for large nation-wide events.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: Here in Europe a lot of people says that the photo industry is now going to Asia, and that in Europe there is almost no more place for business. How is the situation concerning commercial photography in Asia? Can you find good assignments and under which conditions?

Ch’ng Yaohong: There is definitely work to be done here ranging from editorial to advertising work. Photojournalism is well and strong here, especially in places where social strife is prevalent. It’s pretty much how good you are and the people you know that gets you the assignments here. However, margins are increasingly being pushed down due to the proliferation of digital photography. People purchase a digital SLR and turn into a professional instantly. As supply outweighs demand in the lower rungs, profit margins are lower and competition tougher. But at the top, the big names still command impressive prices.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: Same of the last two questions, but more particularly as regards Singapore, the city where you live. Is there a lot of gallery, expositions, museum, festival dedicated to photography?

Ch’ng Yaohong: Singapore is starting to open up artistically over the past few years and I’ve seen an increasing number of exhibitions being held here. Also, big gallery names like Valentine Willie are setting base here to tap the emerging art market. Also, the government is pushing for the arts to take off here, with an increased focus on art education.

This year’s inaugural Singapore International Photography Festival (of which I played a small role) was perhaps the biggest photography event I have witnessed here. The Month of Photography organized by the French Embassy is well into its third year. Even the National Museum has started to promote photography in its latest Seasons of Photography, showcasing work by Magnum photographer Chien-chi Chang and American Robert Wilson. I believe that as Singapore progresses towards becoming a renaissance city, we would be seeing more galleries opening and events happening within our small city-state.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: A few more personal questions. What is your history as a photographer? How did you come closer to photography?

Ch’ng Yaohong: Like most photographers, I picked up a camera when I was 10 or 11 and made my father buy me an SLR when I was 13. I spent the next 3 to 4 years in the darkroom developing my own pictures and it was an on-off affair when I got into junior college. After that, I was in the army for 2.5 years, where I saved up enough to get myself a digital kit back in 2005. I had just started freshman year in the university. A few months later, I managed to get into Objectifs’ Shooting Home workshop, a mentorship program aimed at developing local talent. That was the turning point for me, as I was introduced into a larger world of photography.

I started freelancing in between lessons, while concurrently heading my school’s photography society. I also had a few group shows and I only started writing about photography last year in 2007. As I am attending a business school, I had to learn many things through my own reading. I devoured books on critical theory, photo history, art history and contemporary art. The web helped a lot as I was introduced to contemporary photography from all over the world; especially from Jörg Colberg’s, Conscientious, and Alec Soth’s now defunct blog.

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: What is photography for you?

Ch’ng Yaohong: An exhilarating way to meditate on life.

Fabiano Busdraghi: What are you working on? What are your current and future projects?

Ch’ng Yaohong: Right now I’m shooting a portraiture series that seeks to explore the individual’s reaction to life’s many uncertainties. I’m also revisiting my previous series on rubbish left behind by people. Next year, I hope to embark on a series to explore my own heritage, which will take me through Malaysia and China.

Fabiano Busdraghi: In addition to shoot your own photography, as we said before, you also write a blog devoted to photography in Asia. What prompted you to write about photography?

Ch’ng Yaohong: Basically, I was setting up my online portfolio and was looking at ways to differentiate myself from the masses. I enjoy writing (I’ve been blogging before it was called blogging back in 1998) and loved to discover work on the Internet. Like a collector, I would save images and link of works that interest me. I saw what Jörg Colberg and Shane Lavalette were doing and it struck me that nobody was writing about photography in Asia. Since I’m bilingual in English and Chinese, I thought that I could do something more. I had everything cobbled together in a month and launched it in Aug 2007. I think I started gaining traction after 3 months and the rest, as they say, is history.

© Ch’ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: Do you believe that the blogging activity is useful for photographic career, the two activities are closely related or completely different? Does your blog has allowed you to find interesting contacts, both human and professional?

Ch’ng Yaohong: Haha! I think it’s rather detrimental actually. I’m known more as a writer/blogger now than a photographer. I haven’t gotten any commercial assignments off my blog but many parties have approached me to write about photography.

However, it has been an excellent conversational topic and I have made many contacts and friends off the blog. I get to shuttle between the different cities and there’s always somebody to show me what’s happening in the photographic scene there.

I’ve just started writing my own column in the Singapore Art Gallery Guide. I’m still waiting for someone to approach me to publish a book on Asian photography though!

© Ch'ng Yaohong

Fabiano Busdraghi: Exactly the same that happened to me! A lot of work, a lot of time spent writing and studying. But at the same time a lot of personal learning, some virtual friends, a lot of contacts and thoughts exchange with interesting people. And this what I really prefer in Internet.

Do you think that nowadays internet can substitute the traditional diffusion channels of photography? Or it is still essential to expose in the real world?

Ch’ng Yaohong: Essentially, it is easier for photographers to show their works on-line now. They are granted an audience without much costs. However, I still prefer looking at photographs in galleries and books. Nothing beats seeing a well-printed photograph on a gallery wall. Having a solo exhibition is still the dream of many and it is a form of saying that one has finally arrived.

Fabiano Busdraghi: Some questions about your personal tastes: what music are you listening? What are your favourite books and movies?

Autoritratto
© Ch’ng Yaohong

Ch’ng Yaohong: I listen to quite an eclectic mix of music, which depends on my mood. I tend to gravitate towards music where lyrics are not that important, as my aural abilities are not very well developed. I find Icelandic bands such as Mum and Sigur Ros to be oddly inspirational. But I’m a big fan of Damien Rice.

I’m an avid reader and my favourite fiction authors include Haruki Murakami, Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Safran. I also read non-fiction books on finance and economics but I totally detest my textbooks. Right now, I’m starting to get into poetry and philosophy again. I’m also quite the movie addict! Some of my favorite movies are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Pulp Fiction, Amelie, Fight Club and Donnie Darko.

Camera Obscura » Interview

﻿Interview with Yuan Yanwu

Interview with Yan Ming

﻿Interview with Li Wei

﻿Interview with Li Jie and Zhang Jungang

Interview with Xiaomei Chen

Interview with Sheila Zhao

﻿Interview with Rian Dundon

Interview with Rona Chang

Tom Carter’s Advice for Aspiring Photographers and Authors, an interview by Wang Zheng Rui

Conversation between Christian Erroi and Deirdre Donohue

Any males, by Didier Illouz

Same same but different, the backpack travelers by Jörg Brüggemann

Self-portrait and human sculptures by Levi van Veluw

Madness and poetry, the pinhole portraits by gUi mohallem

The Asian photography, by Ch’ng Yaohong

Interview with Yuan Yanwu

Interview with Li Wei

Interview with Li Jie and Zhang Jungang

Interview with Rian Dundon