Oppose photography

Contemporary photographers like to seek novel photography, but have you ever reviewed the early traditional photographers?

Photography is an academic discipline, from theoretical research to professional photographers, all of them can become photographers, but their positions are different. Lu Xun has his own views on photography. His Theory of Photography, written on 1924, is a famous work of Lu Xun. He saw and heard more about photography than ordinary people at that time, and Lu Xun would also look at photography from the perspective of sociology. The photography part discussed in the famous articles enriches the content of China's photography history.

Photography and 19 was born in the western countries in the late 1930s (1839 August 19, Daguerre Photography was published in French, which was recognized by the world as the birth day of photography), and/kloc-0 was introduced to China in the 1940s.

Ever since photography was introduced to China, there have been endless voices against photography. Scholars in the late Qing dynasty knew little about photography, and because of ignorance, photography, a western equipment, was not accepted by Chinese people.

1895 Before, when Lu Xun was young, there was a photo studio in his hometown of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. When the photo studio first appeared, people went from contempt to opposition and finally to acceptance. One of the most ridiculous reasons is fear of being "taken away" by the camera. Is it like we always feel nervous in front of the camera? It turns out that we are not afraid, and people of that era are obviously more afraid.

Lu Xun hit the nail on the head when he talked about photography, and wrote why the photos people left before were all full-length photos, not half-length photos.

"At that time, some people did patronize taking pictures, but I don't know what characters it was, or it was unlucky, or the new party (reformist figure)." A few people who dare to eat crabs dare not take pictures. At that time, there were full-length portraits and family portraits, and later they developed into costumes, but no one took busts. "It's just that the bust is generally taboo, because it looks like a waist cut. Of course, the waist chop was abolished in the Qing Dynasty, but we can still see Grandpa Bao's nephew in the opera. How terrible! Even if it is the quintessence of China, it is not advisable for others to impose it on me. It is really appropriate not to take pictures. "

Lu Xun wrote such a passage, why not take a bust, the reason is actually related to the background of the times. He thinks it's unlucky and taboo.

Lu Xun introduced the photo studio in his eyes like this: "A big coffee table, a hat rack, a tea bowl, a hookah, a flowerpot and several spittoons show that there are a lot of phlegm in this person's tracheal branches, which must be spit out one by one. Whether a person is standing or sitting, or holding a book in his hand, or hanging a big timetable on his skirt, he can still know when he is taking pictures with a magnifying glass, and he can't use the spotlight at that time, so there is no need to doubt it is night. "

Lu Xun had a keen insight and memory since he was a child, so that by the age of 43, he could still write his childhood memories in words and even remember the time when he took pictures. As can be seen from the above, Lu Xun's research on "magnesium light" is very deep. If you don't understand what the spotlight is for. I believe you have seen people from the Qing Dynasty take pictures on TV. After a flash of light and smoke, the photographer said "all right", which ended the photo shoot. Its function is to eliminate the shadow of the face and make the face evenly illuminated. This is the prototype of the flash.

Before the Republic of China, people were very particular about posture, which can be reflected from "standing as loose as a bell, walking as the wind". Before the Republic of China, the way of taking pictures was too stiff and stiff. People will appear "rigid" when taking pictures, at least in the present aesthetics, lacking vivid and interesting movements and body expressions.

In the early years of the Republic of China, the scale of photo studios continued to expand, and the art of photography was gradually accepted by the world and gradually became popular. It also slowly began to accept new shooting methods, such as busts and artificial scene photos. This is no longer a single portrait of sitting, because this sitting posture is like a sculpture.

Lu Xun talks about "second exposure". The second exposure is to combine two or more photos and finally get a work containing two or more subjects.

Photography is inseparable from innovation. In the initial stage, people's aesthetic level is also constantly improving, especially the literati will be bored with this kind of plain works, and even spit on and reject them. In this context, the older generation of photographers began to innovate and tried to make two exposures on the negative. I didn't expect that this shooting technique was all the rage and was sought after and loved by photographers all over the country.

The widely circulated "self-seeking picture" and "self-seeking picture" are synthesized by the second exposure of the negative.

"Self-help" is the person who is both a slave and a master in the same photo. My left half is kneeling on the right with my head down, and my right half is sitting on the left looking at the ledger.

"The picture of two selves" is a picture of a person as a beggar and savior. His left half knelt down and reached up to the right, while his right half sat with money in his hand and reached up to the left. Lu Xun criticized these two photography methods because they violated the original intention of photography. Photography should be a medium to record and carry beautiful, authentic, interesting and rich cultural connotations, and should not be turned into a tool to satisfy morbid psychological desires.

Under the influence of this positive thought, people also realized the real intention of photography and abandoned it one after another. Most photographers are also aware of their own mistakes, which makes the two shooting methods of "finding themselves" and "finding themselves" gradually withdraw from the stage.

The photography market has a single template. Lu Xun thinks so. Lu Xun has lived in Beijing for 14 years and goes out for a walk every weekend. He noticed a photo studio in Liulichang, Beijing, and every time he passed by, he found that the window displaying photos always changed to photos of different people, except one. This photo is Mei Lanfang's stills "Goddess Scattering Flowers" and "Daiyu Burying Flowers".

Substitute bride

The goddess scattered flowers.

As can be seen from Lu Xun's records, he is quite repulsive to this kind of photo that only imitates appearance but lacks expression, does not show independent personality, and has its own shape but no god.

Mei Lanfang's stills were taken as samples at that time, just like our present wedding photo studio, children's photo studio and * * * photo studio. Can't pose, just shoot according to the sample and imitate the appearance.

At that time, photographers were all rushing headlong into action, taking pictures according to the samples put by photographers, lacking creativity. At that time, Feng, a famous actress in Shanghai, sat on a short railing and took an artistic photo, which instantly became popular. Everyone went to the photo studio to imitate this posture, and the portrait of Feng Ling sitting on the railing was used by a large number of photographers.

Always imitating, lacking innovation, and taking the same photos. What is it like? Is it like the photo studio now? If two people hold the same wedding photos, everything is the same except their faces. As a photographer, we should not only imitate, but also try to innovate and change, take some normal photos that do not violate ethics, pay attention to expressing meaning and truth, and don't cater to some people for the benefit. This is our photographer's pursuit.

Photo (10) Lu Xun (4) Photo Studio (1)