Is there a national saying in photography?

Shenche

First of all, understand folk photography from practice.

The formation of a new photography category and the understanding of her often take a long time to practice.

My first contact with folk photography began with the creation of 1980 bicycle travel. After traveling around the world, I came to the minority areas. Simple folk customs, rich festivals for strange people and colorful clothing patterns have made me "fascinated" into the craze of collecting wind photography, and the original one-year bicycle travel creation plan has never ended. Although I paid a high price for extending the collection time, it laid the foundation for my lifelong engagement in folk photography. The next year, I changed "Flying in the Sky" to a deeper choice. By consulting relevant materials, I only interviewed four ethnic minority areas a year, and both the shooting quality and the depth of the interview greatly exceeded the previous year. Practice has made me realize that it is essential to know and inquire about relevant information in order to photograph the local customs of a region and a nation.

1983 I undertook the shooting task of foreign languages press's "Folk Customs in Northwest Yunnan" album. When I was in Beijing, I made an in-depth and detailed understanding of the history, culture, traditions and festivals of the five ethnic groups in advance, and made cards of each ethnic information file, so that the seven-month interview creation did not pay attention to one thing, arranged reasonably, and completed the shooting task to the maximum extent. After tasting the sweetness, it was out of control. After returning to Beijing, I had time to study books on folklore and ethnology, and began to systematically classify, sort out and file pictures according to the classification standards of folklore and the contents of regions and nationalities. Only through learning can I know that the content of folk customs is so extensive, and the visual effects of most folk customs activities are extremely strong, and the shooting ideas are suddenly opened. The world before me is so vast, and the subjects waiting to be filmed are endless. A "fanatic" who loves photography has found his own life value, home and the "iron rice bowl" that he has struggled for all his life!

Second, the characteristics of folk photography

Folk photography mainly belongs to the field of documentary photography, and folk photography should pay attention to the authenticity of folk activities and events. Some reports of folk activities can also belong to the category of news photography, but they can't be manipulated or perverted by photographers in any case. Only when the photographer has done a lot of understanding and interviews on the folk events to be filmed in advance, and with his skillful skills and unique sensitivity and foresight to things, can he shoot excellent folk pictures that can reflect "outstanding events" and "sudden moments".

Different from news photography, folk photography can better predict typical moments of events. The degree of this prediction depends on the photographer's mastery of relevant information and the degree of in-depth interview before shooting. Because any folk activity will have a certain historical development context, folk culture will appear year after year through written and oral communication, and this repetition always extends on a main axis, which is more easily expected by photographers. Folk photography should belong to academic photography, and experts engaged in folk photography should also be scholars.

Folk photography is different from ordinary folk photography. Now, many photographers turn to take some photos that reflect the customs and feelings of the Han nationality or ethnic minorities. Most of these are confined to a certain region, a certain nationality and a certain custom, and folk photography is to raise all folk things to the height of folk culture, and carry out planned, purposeful and comprehensive excavation, shooting and sorting work from a macro perspective. Professionals engaged in folk photography not only look for what to shoot from a single folk activity or event, but also look for a broader thinking and visual world of "comparative folklore" from years of accumulated folk knowledge and shooting experience, so as to broaden their shooting ideas and establish richer shooting subjects with higher research value.

Another feature of folk photography is that it is more social. However, because folk customs involve people's life customs such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, weddings, funerals and ceremonies, and the visibility of folk customs is extremely strong until production, labor, religious beliefs and cultural activities, it is necessary to show a wider world of folk photography to friends who are active or interested in taking photos of folk customs, so as to achieve a higher cultural level and a broader understanding of shooting folk customs.

Many photographers have actually started to shoot folk customs for a long time. Because we don't realize the significance of folk photography, a new category of photography, and we don't understand and know our own works from a macro perspective, and we can't consciously reflect the greater benefits beyond photography creation, so this regrettable phenomenon often appears.

The sociality of folk photography is also manifested in that any folk thing can find its corresponding or comparable folk thing. Many folk activities are also frontiers, which provide more visibility for photographic works. Therefore, folk photography needs the cooperation of a large number of professionals and amateurs to complete a more systematic, complete and valuable interview and shooting work of folk activities. Sometimes, in order to report a large-scale folk activity or collect folk information at the same time, it is often necessary to organize a dozen or even dozens or more folk photographers to interview and shoot at the same time.

Organized and planned shooting is often better and more effective than shooting by individual photographers themselves, which can really achieve twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a professional folk photography organization to directly manage the city, guide the academic research and organization work in this area, and make the folk photography work in China more effective and formal.

In addition, in order not to cause the fault of our generation of folk culture, and to save more endangered folk culture, China not only needs an authoritative folk photography organization to organize folk photography activities, but also must set up a folk photo library as soon as possible to collect and sort out all kinds of folk pictures in a planned and step-by-step manner, and systematically classify, sort out and archive them. This is a complex and grand job, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources, but it is very meaningful. China, a "superpower" in folk cultural resources, should be unparalleled in world folk photography!

In folk photography, we have to pay attention to accumulation. Both folk knowledge and interview skills of folk activities are closely related to the author's salary calendar. As long as the preliminary investigation and research are done according to the unique laws of folk photography, the failure rate of folk photography is almost zero. Any experienced folk photographer can find substantive content from various common folk activities, so as to make full preparations for shooting in advance. Once the predictive ability is combined with the technical preparation of shooting, we will not lose the opportunity to shoot the essence of folk things because we only pay attention to the effects of light and shadow and composition, nor will we lose the watermelon because of sesame seeds. The accumulation of folk photography experience often determines the creative quality of a photographer. On the same occasion, some photographers may have endless content, while some novices can only hear the shutter click of others, but they can't press the shutter for a long time.

Engaging in folk photography, in-depth interviews and series reports are essential means. In folk photography, it is particularly important to go deep into life. Only by knowing the preparation, stage, climax and ending of various folk activities can we take convincing and research-worthy photos that are more easily accepted and liked by readers. In folk photography, there are many concepts of "series", which can be a series of folk activities of a nation and a region, or a series of a topic that runs through many nationalities and regions; It can be a series based on a folk custom comparison or a series based on different folk customs comparison. In short, as long as the work of taking folk photos is promoted to the macro level, the realm of "horizontal arrangement and vertical proportion" can be formed.

Third, the function of folk photography.

As the main means of folklore research, folklore photography has strong visibility. A well-trained folk photographer has "forgotten" the photography technology when shooting on the spot. Their eyes are always fixed on the key to the evolution and development of folk things. They always hope that their pictures are more knowledgeable and academic, and that the environment and characters in the pictures can reflect the essential significance of folk activities. A real folk photographer is not only a scholar who studies with photography, but also a learned photographer. The rich content of folk things provides unlimited opportunities for folk photographers. Judging from the worldwide folklore research activities, more and more researchers use photos to demonstrate their research topics. It can be predicted that in the worldwide folklore research, a new type of "Pictorial" without ethnic, nationality and language barriers will be concerned, and more and more people will take to the forum of folklore research. As an effective means to save endangered national culture, folk photography has its unique function. With the development of economy and transportation, the impact of modern culture and civilization will soon make the traditional customs of some remote ethnic minority areas (including some remote mountainous areas of Han nationality) disappear, especially those ethnic minorities who have no writing and spread culture orally, and will assimilate with Han nationality faster. It has become an urgent and important task for contemporary folk photography to rescue, collect and sort out the folk culture of these areas and nationalities by means of photography and accumulate a treasure house of folk culture with a sense of scene and strong visibility for future generations. This form will be more acceptable to readers than a simple written investigation record, and the more series and complete the content, the more valuable it will be for research.

Folk photography is more national, so the cultural exchange activities of folk photography works are more cosmopolitan and not affected by fashion trends. The exhibition of folk photography works will be a patriotic education that is not boring in China, which is conducive to enhancing the understanding among all ethnic groups, promoting the unity of all ethnic groups and contributing to the stability and unity of the motherland. The exhibition of folk photography works to the outside world is conducive to our friendly exchanges with all countries and nationalities in the world, and can carry forward the excellent traditional culture of 56 nationalities in the motherland.

Fourthly, the present situation and prospect of folk photography in China.

I have been to Japan and Korea. In addition to the Yamato nationality, Japan also has ethnic minorities, while South Korea is a single Korean nationality. However, even in these two small countries, folk photography activities are impressive. There are more than thousands of folk books and paintings published every year in Korea alone, and folk photographers who are active all over Korea make new contributions every year. They have their own organization and hold various types of shooting and discussion activities every year. I once visited a folk photographer whose home is a small folk photo library. He has published more than 10 series of albums, nearly 100, just for the shamanism activities he filmed in Korea! During my visit to Seoul, he not only showed me around, filmed the wizard's room and ancient sacrificial activities, but also admired China's endless folk photography themes. He said that if filming in China, it is not enough to live to 500 years old.

Since the Ainu people are the only ethnic minority in Japan, the government allocates a large amount of funds every year to protect the traditional life of the Ainu people, which provides good opportunities for Japanese professionals engaged in folk photography to shoot and learn, and there are also many publishing activities about folk books every year. Compared with China, the existing folk cultural resources and the current situation of folk photography in these countries are just the opposite. From the perspective of folk cultural resources, China can be called a "superpower" in the world. However, due to economic and other reasons, folk photography in China started late and developed slowly. However, folk photography has a very broad prospect in China. As far as the Han nationality is concerned, people in Northeast China, Jiangnan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian have their own customs, regardless of language, living habits and weddings. There are 55 ethnic minorities in China, and some ethnic groups have dozens or hundreds of branches. For example, Tibetans in five provinces (regions) in China have not only three dialect regions, but also more than 80 kinds of costumes. Miao nationality has more than 100 branches. Well-known Dai people include Shui Dai, Han Dai and Huayao Dai, not to mention unidentified ethnic groups such as Dengren and Sherpa. Every nation and branch of every nation has its own traditional folk culture, unique geographical environment and living habits. Clothing culture, architectural culture, food culture, transportation, fishing and hunting, religion, festivals, weddings and funerals, etiquette, fairs, etc. Folk photographers of various regions and nationalities have inexhaustible sources of interviews and creations. China's folk cultural materials not only attracted the attention of international folk photographers, but also attracted tourists from all over the world. They took many photos in China, just like professional photographers returning home with a full load.

In recent years, Chinese photographers and professional photographers have turned to shoot local folk customs. In the photo competitions and art exhibitions over the years, the proportion of folk photography is increasing, and more and more folk photography works have been rated as excellent and won awards, which shows that folk photography is being accepted and loved by more photographers and enthusiasts.

The upsurge of folk photography in China is on the rise, showing its unique charm and elegant demeanor more and more. However, due to the lack of understanding of the customs and habits of various ethnic groups, some misunderstandings and even contradictions often occur. This puts forward a very important problem for folk photography, that is, professional or amateur workers engaged in folk photography must first understand the party's ethnic policies, understand and master the necessary ethnic customs and psychological knowledge, so as to conduct interviews and creations and avoid unpleasant things. In folk photography, things that should be published and publicized as internal academic research materials often happen because of the blurred boundary between propaganda content and research materials. These publications use these contents to satisfy the curiosity of some readers and seek to expand their circulation, but they simply don't realize that they will hurt the feelings of ethnic friends, cause dissatisfaction in ethnic areas, and even cause contradictions between ethnic groups.

At present, the research on folk photography in China has not been carried out, the photography industry lacks the study of folk knowledge and ethnic policies and the necessary further study, and the folk ethnology community lacks the training of certain photography skills, so that many photographers make a fuss about the end point in the interview and shooting. Academic circles often lose many difficult shooting opportunities because of photography technical problems in folklore investigation. Therefore, folk photography must encourage photographers to learn folk professional knowledge, delve into knowledge, grasp the camera and pen together, advocate the use of photography, and be a learned photographer.

At present, the most urgent problem of folk photography in China is that there is a social group to coordinate, guide and organize the majority of folk photographers to interview and shoot.

Grassroots photographers have two troubles: one is lack of funds, and the other is that the film has no way out. I think the fundamental problem is to shoot folk activities and things from the perspective of folk photography. The sociality of folk photography is to emphasize the complete series of interviews and shooting of folk customs. Many photographers took dozens or even hundreds of photos, but only one or two were published. If we study and shoot from the perspective of folk photography, but use photography to reflect the various processes of each folk activity and the essential characteristics of folk things, with academic brief text description (which is a simple thing for a photographer who has done more preparatory work before shooting), the amount of manuscripts may increase many times. A discerning editor will never let go of a complete and illustrated report on a meaningful folk activity.

In addition, the establishment of complete folk photo training in China is also an effective way to promote the publication of folk photos, especially the publication. The publication of folk photography works can best reflect its accumulation and sociality, while the publication of large-scale theme series of paintings and calligraphy is far from enough by personal strength. As long as the way out of the picture is broadened, the photographer's financial problem may be solved. Some grassroots "enthusiasts" clamored that with the organization of folk photography association and authoritative China folk photo library, as the "maiden" and "matchmaker" of the majority of folk photographers in China, folk photography will set off an upsurge in a wider scope.

At present, due to economic reasons, the publication of folk books and picture albums in China is still in a "virgin land" state. Although the publication of folk picture books can play a more vivid role in the spread of folk culture, the cost is high after all. Folk pictures in China are mostly submitted by individuals and published by foreign or Hong Kong and Taiwan publishing institutions. However, with the development of economy, China's self-published folk atlases and picture books will become more and more abundant to meet people's demand for cultural and spiritual food.

Five, two feelings of folk photographers

Folk photographers' feelings for their profession and interviewees are important factors that determine whether photographers can overcome all difficulties and take touching photos.

Taking folk photos must go deep into folk activities, especially in remote mountainous minority areas, which often requires the author's persistent perseverance and professionalism. Many comrades think that folk photography should first solve the language problem. In fact, with the rapid development of economy and transportation, translators and tour guides can be found even in remote villages, and it is these three essential elements that test the will of folk photographers in daily life. Do as Romans do in Rome. Can you drink buttered tea and eat Ciba in Tibetan areas? Can you eat potatoes as food for a week or even ten days under bad environmental conditions? Sleeping is an indispensable condition for returning to work, but there are no beds and quilts in poor mountainous areas, and there are even interference from various small animals, or a dozen or even dozens of people enjoy a big tent or even sleep out. Can you keep enough rest to maintain high-intensity work for several days? Let's talk about hiking: crossing zip lines, riding horses, climbing snow-capped mountains, carrying dozens of kilograms of photographic equipment, and hiking for days or even longer-these all constitute the hard portrayal of folk photographers. The harvest of folk photography needs to pay a huge price, sometimes even precious life. If you don't know enough about folk photography and have deep feelings for it, maybe a flea can scare you back.

The second feeling of folk photographers is more important. This emotional problem is actually a matter of position. No matter which nationality, even the poorest, weakest and most remote nationality, the interviewer should hold a sincere, equal and respectful attitude towards them. Only with this attitude can they be accepted and trusted. In a lonely hut, the arrival of outsiders will cause a "sensation effect". After a long time, even for decades or hundreds of years, grandpa will tell future generations that some Han people are my friends and some Han people are liars. Their attitude towards others is serious, even rigid, and they know it by emotion. The best way to treat your interviewee is sincerity. There will be no misunderstanding if there is sincerity. You can make friends with sincerity, and you can cultivate deep feelings with sincerity. Once you have feelings with the interviewee, you won't be curious about taking pictures. Even a shabby hut, a ragged worker, will be full of warmth and human touch. You will find their differences from the reality of poverty, and you will find feelings and trust that are hard to find in modern cities from the relatively backward environment. You won't be too dirty and poor. You will look for every move that can reflect their true feelings with a sincere lens, aiming at their earnest and fiery life. Although they are poor, you will also get sublimated pleasure in such an interview, and more realize the true meaning of life. All difficulties and hardships, all life and death threats, will be beyond your enthusiasm for interviewing above feelings!

Is folk photography really so important and attractive that photographers are fascinated by it? I hope everyone will give it a try, and you can experience the beauty of life from the beginning of the interview and shooting.