Brief introduction of Wang Kai in Wang Kai photo studio

Wang Kai has caught up with the beauty of Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s, the reform and opening-up of New China in the late 1970s, and the rapid development of the world in the new century. In the ever-changing photography industry in Shanghai and even China for decades, gold began to be seen in waves. In the old photos, there are fashionable gestures and smiles of Zhou Xuan, Ruan, Wang, Chen Yanyan, Chen Shangyun and Huang Liushuang. All kinds of cheongsam are locked in elegant but not artificial, noble but not cold, warm but not sweet and greasy sea light and shadow, which blows away the unknown historical dust of this city.

These news photos were a surprise and gained a great reputation.

When Wang Kai started, there was only one studio and a few employees. Its main business is taking portrait photos, wedding photos and family entertainment, but its business is relatively light and few people come to take pictures. Although Wang Chikai is new here, he is very familiar with management methods. In order to improve his popularity and attract more customers, he spared no expense in advertising and kept close contact with the news media. At that time, almost all stations along the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway had billboards of "Wang Kai", and Shanghai newspapers such as Shenbao and News often published news and advertisements about "Wang Kai". Gradually, people know that there is such a photo studio on Nanjing Road. But "Wang Kai" really became famous by news photos and two "surprises".

1925 something happened. This year, Dr. Sun Yat-sen died in Beijing, and then a grand funeral was held. Through contacts, Wang Chikai sent a photographer to Beijing, followed the person who chose the site for Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum to Nanjing, and then returned to Shanghai to shoot the historical scene of the broad masses of people seeing off a generation of great men. Wang Chi-Kay added the signature of "Wang Kai Photography" to these precious photos, developed and printed many copies, and distributed them to celebrities and middle and high-level military and political personnel all over the country, which had a great influence. "Wang Kai" became famous for a while.

Another thing happened in 1927. This year, the Far East Games held trials in Shanghai. The organizers of the sports meeting invited investment and contracted to shoot the wonderful scenes of the sports meeting by way of bidding. When Wang Chikai learned this news, he immediately felt keenly that this was a good opportunity for Wang Kai to improve its popularity. He won the right to photograph all the competitions in this sports meeting by bidding at any cost. In order to accomplish this important task, "Wang Kai" sent the best photographers, and temporarily recruited some photographers as assistants to form four photography teams, which were active in the competition field. They deliberately used the advanced "Basil Farrix" rapid mirror image at that time, captured many wonderful game scenes, developed them at night, and provided them to newspapers in time for compensation.

At that time, most newspapers in Shanghai did not have full-time photographers, but citizens were very concerned about the information of the Far East Games, especially the live footage on the field. Therefore, major newspapers compete to buy daily news photos from Wang Kai. The photo price of "Wang Kai" is not high, but there is a proviso that the words "Taken by Shanghai Wang Kai Photo Studio" should be marked below each published photo. Because the Far East Games held in Shanghai at that time was the headline news of all newspapers in Shanghai at this stage, the photos taken by "Wang Kai" appeared in prominent positions in major newspapers in Shanghai every day, and even newspapers in other provinces and cities reprinted them one after another, which made Wang Kai Photo Studio show its signs all over the country.

Stars take fashion samples and lead the trend.

The most widely known "Wang Kai" is a star photo taken during the Republic of China. Wang Kai collected almost all the original photos of popular stars on the beach in 1930s and 1940s, including swimsuits and men sunbathing on Huangpu River yachts, and fancy parties in the courtyard of luxury houses, vividly depicting the fashion style of "golden age" on the beach.

Wang Kai has a rule that anyone who looks beautiful in front of the camera will get a set of photos and display them in the window. At that time, many film directors often used these photos to find suitable actors, which naturally attracted a large number of stars and people who wanted to become stars.

Zhou Xuan,,, Ruan, Chen Yanyan, Chen, and other glamorous movie stars on the beach are all frequent visitors to the studio "Wang Kai". Before Zhou Xuan became famous, he took many photos in Wang Kai, and there was a half-length profile photo. Although he is only 17 years old, he is already very handsome and beautiful, with obvious star temperament. After Chen became famous, every new film will go to ""to take modeling photos before the premiere, so as to hold a lucky draw at the premiere. The winning audience can go to "Wang Kai" to take the same star photos, which was very sensational at that time.

At that time, in addition to film and television stars, there were many political and business celebrities, and many of their photos were of historical significance. For example, Zheng is the prototype of the heroine in Zhang Ailing's novel Lust, Caution. The photo she took in Wang Kai appeared on the cover of the July issue of Good Friends Illustrated. 1937. At that time, because of her special status, she only called herself "Ms. Zheng" and did not write her full name.

In order to make the star in the photo shine, "Wang Kai" is also good at using special procedures, such as trimming eyes on the negative with a pencil or brush and smoothing the upturned collar. Although the photos of this period are mainly black and white, there are also colors. The manual coloring of "Wang Kai" represented the highest technology of the photo studio at that time. It is slightly different from color movies, paying attention to the natural connection and harmonious transition of light and shadow, and has the effect of oil painting. Even sunset clouds, clouds, willows and other decorations can be added to the base film.

The star photos processed by several masters became the fashion samples of that era. The windows of Wang Kai are specially designed and need to be replaced every month. The boss should personally look at the sample photos and check the renovation and coloring of the photos. These photos put in the window or published in magazines often encounter a "piracy crisis", because the original version of Wang Kai is absolutely not allowed to go out.

In 2007, a large number of old photos of "Wang Kai" sealed for historical reasons were recovered. Qin Yi, a film performance artist at that time, was excited to "recognize people" himself. When she opened the photo bag, her eyes lit up like treasure. "I know this, it's Zhanfei Gao (who starred in" The Empty Valley "with Hu Die). That's Liu Qiong. At that time, Jin Yan had just brought him to the film circle. He was very young and played a clown in Fei Mu's film. This is not an actor, but a famous photographer, who has worked with many directors in movies. " When identifying photos, Qin Yi was very attentive, not only in facial features, manner, eyebrows and makeup techniques: "This photo is a little hazy from the side, but the way to draw eyebrows should be Zhang Zhiyun, and her small nose is also a feature. This photo of Zhou Xuan is really beautiful. Looking at the texture of the clothes and the pattern of the brocade shows that the photography technology is very high. " The 85-year-old Qin Yi not only made the names and writings of these stars clear, but also knew the allusions and details like the back of his hand. "This Bai Hong, singing is very nice, is the Yue Ming Song and Dance Troupe. At that time, stars were not as good at singing and dancing as they are now. This is Yu Liqun, whose stage name is Li Mingjian, Li Minghui and Li Lidu are Li Jiaban and later became Guo Moruo's wife. " Qin Yi also introduced some stars who recognize photos easily to be mistaken: "Gu Lanjun and Meijun Gu are more alike, and their co-star sister flowers caused a sensation in Shanghai;" Xu Lai and Hu Die look a bit alike, so we need to observe them carefully. This (later proved to be an oil painter's pass) looks a bit like Ruan, but Ruan's figure is very thin and not so plump, so this is not Ruan. "

Wedding photos are always there, and the reputation is good.

In 1930s and 1940s, Wang Kai's fist product was wedding photos. Small bouquets, white gloves, pearl necklaces and trailing wedding dresses are commonly used props for young people to take wedding photos nowadays, which are faintly visible in old black-and-white photos of Wang Kai 70 or 80 years ago. In the photo, the couple seldom wear heavy makeup, delicate and dignified, and have a light smile. The scene is simple, but the characters' expressions are subtle, elegant and unpretentious, noble but not cold, warm and not sweet.

Wang Chikai stubbornly believes that a wedding photo is related to the newlyweds' lifelong events and cannot be sloppy. If you shoot well, you can add infinite joy to the couple.

People in China always advocate red when they get married. Before the May 4th Movement, it was not popular for couples to wear white clothes. However, Wang Chikai boldly absorbed western-style dress in wedding photos, which surprised his peers. "Wang Kai" asked the groom to wear a straight black tuxedo and a white-collar shirt with a bow tie on his chest. The bride is wearing a white wedding dress, long white gauze, white gloves and flowers, which is beautiful and gratifying. The appearance of six figures on the screen was also the characteristic of Wang Kai wedding photos at that time: the groomsman and bridesmaids stood on both sides of the bride and groom, plus two bridesmaids, a man and a woman, which not only had a sense of fashion, but also implied the early birth of the baby.

Wang Chi-Kay's other amazing move is to blow his own horn, publicly claiming that his wedding photo will make the bride and groom stay forever and never fade. After a long time, how can the photos not fade? However, history has made a fair evaluation of Wang Chikai's commitment. Today, decades later, a couple of young men and women made a special trip to Wang Kai to take wedding photos, especially bringing photos taken here when the man's grandparents got married. Time flies, but this wedding photo is still bright, without yellowing and fading.

Everyone says that Wang Kai's wedding photos are very beautiful. But I don't know that the secret of this non-yellowing and non-fading lies in Kay's years of painstaking research. The key is that the potion in the photo must be washed clean to remove all kinds of incentives that can cause chemical reactions. "Wang Kai" has a special person in charge of the washing process, insisting on "four-layer washing" to filter drugs until they are completely washed, and the photos can be stored for a long time. Although it takes more time than normal development, it can make photos last as long as new.

For another example, in order to make the photos three-dimensional and distinct, the studio uses dozens of bulbs side by side "stripe light" or "four-beam light" as the light source, commonly known as big light, which makes the light soft and uniform, distinct and without obvious projection. In order to make the photos vivid, all the shops from the stairs to the studio are covered with special rubber carpets, and the staff must be very careful when walking, so as not to be shaken during the photography process and affect the quality.

In addition, the photosensitive materials selected by Wang Chikai, such as negatives, photographic paper and developing chemicals, are all real imported brands. In order to resist Japanese goods, he even paid a high price to buy high-grade raw materials and professional portrait lenses from the United States and Germany, and the most expensive was $10,000. Once such high-priced raw materials expire, "Wang Kai" will definitely be scrapped and resolutely used.

No wonder, at that time, the shooting cost of Wang Kai was the most expensive in Shanghai. It took 3 to 6 yuan to take a photo, which is equivalent to the price of a table of dishes. Nevertheless, Wang Kai is often crowded, but Wang Chikai stipulated that it should open at 9: 00 in the morning and close at 9: 00 in the evening. Only shoot 60 pairs a day at most, and strive to ensure the quality, and never shoddy.

The "red sun" rises again

After liberation, Wang Kai experienced a public-private partnership, and its commercial scale continued to expand. Together with China, People and Lovers, it became one of the four super-class photo studios in Shanghai, although the main wedding photos at that time were called "Old Three Articles": "Double Full" (full-length photo of the bride and groom), "Double Half" (half-length photo of the bride and groom) and "Women's Single".

During the Cultural Revolution, wedding photography in Wang Kai was not as prosperous as before liberation. Until March 5th, 1979, major media in Shanghai released a message at the same time: "Nanjing Road resumed the booming wedding photography in Wang Kai Studio". Since then, the wedding photos taken by "Wang Kai" have once again become an important symbol of the wedding scene of an era.

In the early 1980s, color film was just introduced to China, and before Wang Kai took the lead, 1984 invested heavily in Kodak color enlarger, rapid printer and enlarger, and took the lead in developing color photography business in China. At that time, a color photo cost three or four yuan, while others' salary was only thirty or forty yuan. However, people's pursuit of color flooded in, and the color photos of "Wang Kai" were expensive in Luoyang for a time.

In the mid-1980s, "Wang Kai" pioneered the use of large background paper to shoot portraits in advertising photography, which is also the "uniform background" commonly used in photo studios. The most memorable wedding photo of Red Sun is that Wang Kai added a spotlight in the center of Liandi's background and pasted colored paper to create the effect of "Rising Sun". This photo not only won the gold medal at the National Wedding Film Festival for Wang Kai, but also won a net profit of 2 million yuan a year for Wang Kai.

Throughout the1980s, the business of Wang Kai photo studio was very prosperous, especially the business of "taking wedding photos in Wang Kai". Some people even queue up at the door at five o'clock in the morning. If they come back in the afternoon, they can't get tickets at all. Taking 260 pairs a day was an industry record, which was a miracle of China photo studio industry at that time.

Time-honored brand faces new opportunities.

Since the mid-1990s, more and more Hong Kong and Taiwan studios have been stationed in Shanghai, giving a pool of spring water to the old-fashioned "Wang Kai" army that won by traditional technology, making photography more digital. From 65438 to 0996, the sales volume of "Wang Kai" once fell by more than 50%, and fell into a trough for several years, retaining rich photographic experience and cultural heritage, and watching his business be snatched away by others.

2/kloc-0 At the beginning of the 20th century, "Wang Kai" put down its posture and took the road of the market in a down-to-earth manner, instead of blindly following the path of others. Seeing the skin-rejuvenating effect of large plane light and even and soft light and shadow images are favored by customers, "Wang Kai" thinks that although closed lighting can make the images soft and smooth, and the characters soft and young, which conforms to the consumer psychology of customers, it also loses the contrast and the characters have no three-dimensional sense. Therefore, "Wang Kai" improved the large-plane lamp, and appropriately opened the front and rear distance of several lamps, so that the light source did not shine on a plane. In this way, there is a contrast between strength and weakness, and the face of the character also has a three-dimensional sense and texture. Various technical methods and business strategies to meet the needs of the times and consumption also came into being.

In just a few years, Wang Kai has completed three jumps: from negative scanning and digital post-production, to children's art photos, and then to all-digital photography. This means that "Wang Kai" has been fully integrated into the digital process of photography and is facing the opportunity of leaping development.

Things have changed for decades. In Shanghai photography industry, time-honored brands have closed down or changed careers, leaving only the "Wang Kai" family to stick to Nanjing Road with their persistence in quality. Today, there are still elderly people who miss the excellent service they once enjoyed in Wang Kai, and even specify that their children and grandchildren must choose to take photos here in order to "feel at ease".

In the photo of Wang Kai, the words "Wang Kai took a photo" no longer exist, but many young people will deliberately tell them that these four bronzing characters must be indispensable, and they are here for this golden signboard.