Gu Xiaofeng: Smuggling to the "Left Bank"

On the eve of the Spring Festival in 20 17, a reporter came across a photo album "Camel to the Left" while browsing books on Dangdang. The price was 158 yuan. Although it was a little expensive, the design of the book caught my eye, and then I read the comment, "It's a good book to purify the soul." "I always wanted to go to the northwest. After seeing it, I even dreamed of living there. Really beautiful! " "In an impetuous society, this is a rare quiet book." "I can't wait to go to that beautiful place at once." ..... The more people read this book, the more they like it. Unfortunately, the online display is out of stock, and several other websites have been searched, but they are out of stock. Fortunately, I know Gu Xiaofeng, the author of the book, so I had the cheek to ask the author for one!

I have known Gu Xiaofeng for many years. He is a well-known entrepreneur in Zhongguancun. Greenwell, founded by him, has nearly 20 years of experience in supporting and serving telecom operators. Its products cover hundreds of operators' customers in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China, ranking the top two in the market share of government-enterprise access of the three major operators, and the market share of home broadband access of resident network operators, such as Dr. Peng and Great Wall Broadband, exceeds 50%. But I never knew he was a photographer. Until September, 20 16, at the annual meeting of the calligraphy and painting photography association in Haidian district, CPPCC, the reporter saw two large-format photographs hanging in the most eye-catching position of the Manet Grassland Art Museum, where the event was held. The author signed "camel to the left", and the reporter was dubious. At the right moment, Gu Xiaofeng also came to participate in the activity that day. It turns out that "camel turns left" is him! I was shocked. On the one hand, the two works are presented to me with a 90-degree visual rotation, which makes me see another angle of the world. On the other hand, although I have known Gu Xiaofeng for many years, it seems that I don't meet the same person every time. No matter what topic I talk to him about, he seems to be very good at it. He likes art collection, and his level of art appreciation is simply amazing. He likes food, and food, wine and coffee are indispensable spices in his life. He loves his job and has been in business for nearly 20 years. He led the team from a little-known small company to the top five in the industry. He is also obsessed with photography. The world under his lens is gorgeous and mysterious, and he opened another door for us to see the world with his unique artistic concept. ...

In the eyes of reporters, Gu Xiaofeng is an entrepreneur and an artist. He knows art best in business and is also the best businessman in art circle. But Gu Xiaofeng said, "I'm just a science man."

I have never seen such a book.

The designer of Camel to the Left is He Jun, the winner of "The Most Beautiful Book in the World" in Leipzig, Germany in 2005. He subverted people's reading habits with some handy elements.

When I first got this book, the first thing I saw was an envelope made of exquisite paper wrapped in e-mail. When I opened the envelope, a yellow soft cover book appeared in front of me, as heavy and leisurely as an old journal, waiting for me to read. The cover of the book is made of jeans, and no designer has made it into the cover of the book before. The skin of each camel on the left has been rubbed and cleaned, so the folds of each skin are different. The two camels on the cover are drawn by a three-year-old child. Two camels were decorated with gold powder by designers, and the walk in tandem was simple and naive.

The inside pages of the book turn yellow, and the degree of yellowing will change with time. These design elements are undoubtedly to express the texture of life and highlight the profoundness that has been stirred by time. You will feel these textures when you touch camel to the left.

The format of this book is also very interesting. From right to left, you will only see pictures and blank horizontal pages, which will remind you of your childhood exercise books, while from left to right, you will see words and pictures. So you can start reading from any page at will, and of course you can stop at any page. The designer also specially adopted the method of rivet binding, so Camel Left is a detachable book. You can copy one or two or more camel lefts at will.

None of this is surprising. It is hard to imagine that the pictures and words in this book are completely irrelevant. Words are not used to explain landscapes, and landscapes are not used to embellish words. However, mixing them together is so harmonious. "This seemingly chaotic mashup is precisely the essence of life. Therefore, this is not a photo album, nor is it a travel manual. It is an expression of our feelings about life and life, and an attempt to correct the dislocation between process and result. We are being bound by more and more realistic goals, and the connotation of life, or the value of living, is gradually ignored. In fact, life can be better than this. " Gu Xiaofeng's words are intriguing, just like the name of the book Camel to the Left.

It is hard to imagine that Gu Xiaofeng, who claims to have a bad language, can have such a philosophical name. "Camels are not overbearing, nor are they people who drag out an ignoble existence. They bear the burden of humiliation and have a good heart. " Gu Xiaofeng explained, "I prefer camel color. It looks like a monster, but it won't pose a great threat to you. Of course, not everyone can bully casually. " After taking a sip of water, he went on to say, "On the map,' Left' means West. In addition, on the Seine River in Paris, the right bank represents money and power, while the left bank is a symbol of spirit and culture. I sneaked into the left bank. "

Gu Xiaofeng said slowly while cutting the steak. His language is so charming that even the audience's ears can be intoxicated. The photographs of such thoughtful, emotional and attractive successful entrepreneurs are indeed full of attraction. So, after I got "Camel Stay", I watched it many times-when I was under great pressure, I would look through the pictures to find spiritual comfort; In your spare time, bask in the sun, drink coffee, and don't forget to look at the beautiful pictures; In the short journey, I would also like to take the camel to the left and all the way to the west. I seem to be following in the footsteps of the author. That kind of spiritual pursuit makes people feel beautiful ...

A good book is not necessarily a short-lived surprise, but a lasting aftertaste. Camel to the left is such a book, just like Gu Xiaofeng.

Before the publication of Camel to the Left, Gu Xiaofeng always took Camel to the Left as his pen name. Few people know that the photographer camel on the left is actually Gu Xiaofeng, the entrepreneur of Zhongguancun. He deliberately separated his two identities, perhaps to preserve a pure land for his hobby, or perhaps it was a gentle rebellion.

To some extent, rebellion is in Gu Xiaofeng's bones, and rebellion is his nature. But his rebellion is always gentle, or rather, this is his way of building the world. For example, in the early years, when many people were keen to find a good unit, he chose to quit his job as a university lecturer and go abroad; When many people want to go abroad, he has already returned to the sea. "From the initial study of material physics to staying in school to do scientific research, and then choosing to be a businessman, even in the future, I may set foot in areas that I have never thought of so far, all of which are related to rebellion. I always refuse to follow the crowd, at least consciously. " Gu Xiaofeng told his story while eating western food. "For me, rebellion is a positive attitude and expression, just like I will look at the scenery and make movies from different angles. Perhaps my film is the embodiment of my attitude and expression towards life. "

As early as 1980, Gu Xiaofeng fell in love with photography. This is his first year in college. In order to participate in the activities of the school photography club, Gu Xiaofeng borrowed a photo of his classmates and stepped into the door of the photography club. Since then, he has been fascinated by photography. His first camera was Seagull 203 used by his father. That's a folding 120 film camera. There is something wrong with the ghost focusing system. When the aperture is large, the photo is empty. In her sophomore year, Gu Xiaofeng got a new seagull 205. In order to look like a lens with a medium focal length, he always screws on a hood. At that time, Gu Xiaofeng was particularly introverted and not good at expression, and photography became his unique inner expression.

199 1 year, Gu Xiaofeng gave up his enviable job and chose to study abroad. He bought a long-awaited SLR camera in America, but it only followed him for two years. In that era when everyone was eager to study abroad, Gu Xiaofeng returned to China without hesitation in order to start a business. In order to raise money to start a business, he sold his SLR camera cruelly.

In the first few years of starting a business, Gu Xiaofeng didn't have time to take pictures, so he put all his energy into his career. At first, Greenwell had three partners, one was a technical partner and the other was a managing partner, so he lacked a marketing partner. Gu Xiaofeng started his business across disciplines. He didn't know technology and had no management experience, so he volunteered to support the company's marketing burden.

It's hard to imagine an introvert doing marketing. Obviously, marketing has changed Gu Xiaofeng. Since then, his world has become more open, and it is hard for people who know him to believe that he was an introverted person, and his knowledge field is beyond imagination. "There is a saying in China that' read thousands of books and take Wan Li Road'. In fact, contact with all kinds of people can also play the same role-if you talk to a person for an hour at a high concentration, it will inevitably condense the views he has summarized for decades, which is actually no less than reading a book. " Gu Xiaofeng's understanding of marketing goes far beyond marketing itself.

Of course, entrepreneurs will face all kinds of difficulties almost without exception-what ordinary people can imagine and what ordinary people can't imagine. "When the pressure is greatest, my hair will turn white in one month." Gu Xiaofeng is an optimist. It is still easy to talk about the history of hard work in the past, as if telling other people's stories. After "solving food and clothing", Gu Xiaofeng bought a Hasselblad camera and started photography again. Since then, photography has become a comfort to his soul. Whenever he is stressed at work, he will hide at home, turn on the computer and look at the photos he took. "When I look at the photos, my heart will become very calm. This is the influence of hobbies on a person. " Gu Xiaofeng said.

Gu Xiaofeng realized the essence of scientific and technological innovation from the cultural behavior of photography. "Innovation is a culture in which human beings challenge their own abilities." Gu Xiaofeng's speech speed is still very slow. He tried to grasp every word accurately. "The essence of technological innovation should not be to make money, but to constantly challenge yourself. If it is simply to make money, people will copy wildly, and fake and shoddy products will follow. When all entrepreneurs regard technological innovation as a kind of self-challenge and spiritual enjoyment, China will naturally become an innovative country. From this perspective, culture is very important for the support of technological innovation. "

Photography has given Gu Xiaofeng a lot. In photography, he realized the significance of culture to science and technology. At the same time, he also realized that the meaning of life lies in experience and experience. "After experiencing great joy and great sorrow, we can fully realize it. Only by enduring the pain of today can we feel the happiness of tomorrow. This view will make us face difficulties very calmly and positively. " Gu Xiaofeng's words are worth pondering

Gu Xiaofeng was interviewed in Manet Grassland Western Restaurant. After dinner, we talked about his 90-degree series of works, which attracted public attention. It happened that the two works were still on display in Manet grassland, so we left the restaurant and came to these two large-format photographs again. Although it is the second time to see these two works, I am still shocked to the point where every hair will stand on end. I exclaimed again, "unbelievable!"

It is not uncommon to look at the photos of Mustag Atta from various angles for countless times, even photos with almost the same angle as Gu Xiaofeng's works, but no photographer has ever thought of presenting his works with a 90-degree visual rotation. Before the rotation, the work is just a pure landscape painting. But after rotating 90 degrees, it turned out to be a portrait with fine facial features, which has nothing to do with mountains and rivers. Gu Xiaofeng named it "Muztag God".

After more than six years, Gu Xiaofeng still remembers the experience of shooting in Muztag Ata. It was in October of 20 1 10. Although Gu Xiaofeng has been to Xinjiang many times, he has never been to Mustagaatta. This time, he will go to Muztagata to see the snow. He stayed in the scenic spot all day without waiting for the snow, but he got an unexpected harvest-after rotating the picture in front of him by 90 degrees, he saw a new scene "Mustag God"!

If the Muztag God presented to the audience is a work shot by a digital camera, it may not bring such a shocking effect. Because this is film photography, the sense of reality is greatly enhanced. Close observation of the work, every detail can be clearly seen, because it is extremely real, so the incredible and almost fantastic image after rotation will have a strong conflict in the audience's mind, which is beyond the reach of digital photography.

Film photography is anti-contemporary art to some extent. Contemporary art emphasizes that media is not important, so more and more people accept media that are easier to express, such as digital cameras. But Gu Xiaofeng prefers film photography. In his 37-year photography career, the main line has always been film photography. He loves film photography, on the one hand, because of a feeling, on the other hand, he thinks film represents an attitude. "The process of film photography is very slow. In fact,' slow' is also an attitude. What people do in the end is correct, not speed. " Of course, there is another reason why Gu Xiaofeng is obsessed with film photography. He believes that film photography has a sense of ritual and control satisfaction. "I only use a fixed-focus lens and prefer the feeling of film. For me, I feel that everything is under control when I set up the shelf, compose the picture, measure the light, film it, and then release it with a cable in my hand. At this time, I will calmly light a cigarette and feel more fragrant than usual. The pleasure of quietly waiting for the light and moving the scene to the expected position is irreplaceable in many other times. " Compared with the impatience of waiting for light in his early years, Gu Xiaofeng now regards the shooting process as a kind of enjoyment. "Sometimes it's fun not to take a photo at the end of the day. Men, who have no goals at first, slowly find their goals, and finally find that they don't seem to like them that much. In fact, it is not to lose the goal, but to turn a specific goal into a hidden goal. This is what you really want to pursue. " He said with great emotion, "Sometimes filming is also a kind of fate, and the gains and losses are accidental."

The shooting of Mustag Atta is of great significance to Gu Xiaofeng's creation. It seems to open Gu Xiaofeng's "third eye" and let him see the world from another angle. For the audience, the significance of this photographic work has already gone beyond the scope of art and extended to philosophical thinking.

Coincidentally, in 20 15, on the way from Shangri-La to Lijiang, Gu Xiaofeng discovered another visual miracle after rotating 90. So he immediately got off the bus, spent half an hour carefully determining the shooting range, and then made all the preparations before shooting, quietly waiting for the light to come. Soon after, a 90-degree landscape picture miraculously turned into a monk standing in front of him-his hat was so vivid, his facial features were so clear and recognizable, and his folded hands were so pious ... I didn't know that he had been on this ancient Silk Road for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years. Now, the hidden monk who was vividly portrayed by nature was finally captured by Gu Xiaofeng and presented to the audience.

In fact, the 90-degree rotation series is no longer the traditional landscape photography. According to contemporary art, it should belong to a new landscape, and it is a landscape photography with ideas. Gu Xiaofeng conveyed his thoughts to the audience with his unique artistic concept-"These two works want to convey to the audience a brand-new concept of looking at things. What the human eye sees is synthesized by the brain. In fact, the first image the human eye sees is upside down, and it is the brain that makes us think that what we see is' positive'. Since you can stand upside down, why can't you rotate 90 degrees? " Gu Xiaofeng opened another door for us to see the world.

If you often contact Gu Xiaofeng, you will find that he is very different from other photographers. He is a person who clearly separates his hobbies from his career. He never talks about his work when he takes pictures, and he never travels without a camera. He believes that hobby, career and emotion are the three pillars of life. "With the pillar, people can live; There are two, that is, happy life; The three-in-one life is the happiest and the most dangerous. Emotion and hobby belong to the spiritual category, but the former needs to communicate with others, while the latter simply pleases itself. Hobbies don't need to compete with others, but careers are the product of competition. Hobbies are an important part of life happiness index. Photography is a hobby that can accompany me all my life, a part of my life, and a tool and process for me to appreciate and perceive life and nature. The experience and sentiment in shooting, as well as the expectation and aftertaste of the original visual experience of the image in the later period, brought me great happiness and satisfaction. "

Because of this, Gu Xiaofeng doesn't like to call himself a "photographer". He is worried that being too utilitarian will destroy the innocence of photography as a hobby, so he thinks he is just a person who likes photography. He enjoyed the filming process. Once he shoots amazing works, he regards it as an extra gain, which will make him happier and more satisfied. Gu Xiaofeng said: "Life has many processes and many results. The process of love is more meaningful than the result, and the result of career is more important than the process. When we seek results in a hurry, we may put the process and results in the wrong place and forget that life is a process. Maybe we should slow down, pay attention to the surrounding scenery, understand the meaning of life and pay attention to the harmony between man and nature. " This kind of thinking close to philosophy may be understood only by keeping a pure heart.

We find that in this society with rapid economic, technological and cultural development, people's lives are no happier than when they are poor. More and more people live in a hurry because of work, and almost forget the original meaning of life. "A person's life is very short relative to human history. The earth is so small in space that what we can understand and grasp seems insignificant from a macro perspective. As far as individuals are concerned, the real meaning of individual life is just to experience the ups and downs of life and feel the beauty of nature. " Gu Xiaofeng said, "I especially want to tell people around me that there are so many beautiful things in this world that we should look up, appreciate and calm down." What we need to feel with our heart is the difference rather than the absolute value, in other words, the process rather than the result. Life is heavy, and it is used for discovery, experience and enjoyment. "

As an entrepreneur, Gu Xiaofeng experienced the feeling of being busy and suffocating, but when he left all his work and walked out of the city alone with his camera, away from the noise of the city and those familiar and unfamiliar people, he found happiness and freedom again. "Shooting is just a suitable reason to change and escape, because when shooting, you will pay more attention to and observe nature and the world: the outside world turned out to be so wonderful! Although this escape or return is short-lived, it still brings me a pleasant feeling. "

Many people think that Gu Xiaofeng must have been to countless beautiful places during his 37-year photography career. But touring is not what Gu Xiaofeng wants to pursue. He likes to go to the same place often. As he said, "I don't care how much I see, just watch the wonderful." He always carries his camera back and forth to familiar places, shooting different faces of the same scenery in different seasons and different climatic conditions. Gu Xiaofeng likes the holiness of Xinjiang and the purity of Antarctica. He once boarded the South Pole with a heavy camera on his back. When a captain of the most famous cruise company in France saw Gu Xiaofeng, he was very surprised. Of all the photographers he has seen, no one has ever boarded the South Pole with such heavy equipment on his back. This kind of experience and experience is precisely Gu Xiaofeng's persistence and enjoyment.

In the interweaving of busy work and pleasant photography trip, Gu Xiaofeng gained a lot. "In my life journey, I have done a lot of things that others don't care about, and I feel very happy. In fact, a person's life is bright. You may not be as influential and rich as Liu Chuanzhi, but you can be as happy as him. He has something you envy, but you should also have something he envies. "

Looking back at Gu Xiaofeng's life footprint now, all the way is very leisurely. He has his own dream "Left Bank", but he didn't go so openly because he sneaked into the "Left Bank".

Gu Xiaofeng, member of China Photographers Association, curator of Manet Art Museum, and chairman of Beijing Greenwich Weidi Technology Co., Ltd..