How is the official "photographer" tempered?

Xinhuanet Beijing, September 23rd ("Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Guo Jiuhui, Li Jinfeng, Zhang Lina and Wang Min) On September 2nd1,the website of the Supervision Department of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection released a message that Qin Yuhai, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Henan Provincial People's Congress, was under investigation for serious violation of discipline and law. Apart from nine years' experience in charge of Henan Provincial Public Security Department, Qin Yuhai's status as "director of China Photographers Association and honorary chairman of Henan Photographers Association" is remarkable.

In fact, the "elegance" of photography has appeared many times in the corruption cases of fallen officials. What are the "chemical reactions" between photography and officials? How are those highly acclaimed "official photographers" tempered?

"Official photographer" is frequently sought after by the industry.

On September 22nd, Qin Yuhai's office in Henan Provincial People's Congress was sealed, and the staff kept their mouths shut. Jiaozuo, 60 kilometers north of Zhengzhou, is where Qin Yuhai is the mayor and secretary of the municipal party committee. Some cadres and the masses expressed dismay at Qin Yuhai's "double regulations".

Qin Yuhai said in an interview with a certain media in October/July/Kloc-0, "After working in Jiaozuo, I fell in love with photography because of my work needs." 1998 Jiaozuo, Qin Yuhai, put forward the urban transformation development strategy of "changing from black to green", developing historical and cultural resources and focusing on developing tourism.

"In fact, it is effective for him to take scenic photos to promote Jiaozuo tourism," said a tourism cadre in Jiaozuo.

According to the data, when Qin Yuhai was the secretary of Jiaozuo Municipal Party Committee, he held the "2002 China Jiaozuo Landscape International Photography Festival". It was also on this festival that Qin Yuhai became the director of China Photographers Association. In 2005, Qin Yuhai won the highest award in the national photography industry-the gold medal for organizational work; In April, 2007, a special photo exhibition of "True Water Without Fragrance" was held in China Art Museum, and its works were collected by China Art Museum. In the same year, his series of works "True Water Without Fragrance" won the National Photography "Artistic Creation Award".

In fact, Qin Yuhai is not the only official who is sought after by the industry because of his personal "hobbies" and wears the aura of "everyone".

For example, in February this year, Sharla Cheung, the former chairman of Wuhan Gas Group and Natural Gas Company, was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment 10 year and 6 months in the second instance of Wuhan Intermediate People's Court. Among the more than 300,000 yuan of bribes, including more than 80,000 yuan of photographic equipment.

A person familiar with the matter told reporters that Zhang has always been keen on photography. He is not only a member of some industry photography associations in Wuhan, but also the vice president of the staff photography association within the group. His works not only often appear in internal publications of enterprises, but also win prizes in the photo art exhibition sponsored by Hubei Photographers Association.

A hobby of burning money and wasting time

According to professionals, Qin Yuhai's "True Water" series of award-winning works "show the abstract beauty of water and light by taking advantage of the high latitude of 8x 10 large format camera film", and the Hasselblad large format and medium format camera body only costs 200,000 yuan, and the supporting telephoto and wide-angle lenses cost several hundred thousand yuan, and the special reversal film is also quite expensive.

Who pays for these expensive equipment? An insider said that the equipment used by Qin Yuhai to shoot Jiaozuo scenery in his early years was equipped by Henan Yuntaishan Scenic Area Administration and Jiaozuo Yuntaishan Tourism Development Co., Ltd. "It seems reasonable to shoot with the equipment provided by the tourism department and use the works for the promotion of tourist attractions." However, in July of 20 1 1, Qin Yuhai publicly admitted that "others" provided help for photographic equipment. It is understood that this "other" is a well-known local businessman.

Members of Jiaozuo Photographers Association told reporters that at first, Qin Yuhai's photography level was not high, but he was very interested and worked hard. No matter spring, summer, autumn and winter, he often goes into the mountains with local photographers on weekends and holidays to learn skills, so he makes rapid progress.

Some cadres of the Henan Provincial Public Security Department said that under the influence of Qin Yuhai, several leading cadres of the Public Security Department have also become "enthusiasts" of photography, some of them specialize in taking pictures of birds and some of them specialize in taking pictures of flowers and plants. On weekends and holidays, I will go out for sightseeing.

Photography is considered an expensive hobby. According to industry insiders, taking the current high-end Nikon SLR camera as an example, the market price of two D4s bodies equipped with a "big ternary" lens combination is 1.3 million yuan; If equipped with advanced lens, flashlight, tripod, tripod, UV mirror, memory card and other supporting equipment, the market price of the whole set of equipment is at least 250,000 yuan, equivalent to the price of a Volkswagen medium-sized car.

A person in the photography circle said that photography is very fashionable in the officialdom circle in recent years, because it not only has tall "hardware" to show off, but also contains certain cultural and aesthetic content to add points. But as an official, they may be willing to spend 250,000 yuan on a private car, but few people are willing to spend the same money on a set of photographic equipment at their own expense.

Bao Kun, deputy director of the Theoretical Committee of the China Photographers Association, once mentioned that a government bought a Canon 5DMarkII camera for each of the top leaders of the city in a purchase. At that time, the price of the camera was around 20 thousand yuan.

In addition, a photojournalist told reporters that officials who play photography often set up a stage through various official and private associations to form a "salon" or "official circle". They travel together and hold exhibitions together, which has become the most active element in the photography circle in recent years.

However, there are conditions for joining such a "circle". First of all, the most important thing to play with photography is to play with equipment, which is not only expensive, but also fast to update. In the past, the equipment used by professional photographers in the news media was the most advanced in the industry, but now leading cadres are absolutely superb "big names in equipment". In addition, photography creation activities need to travel across mountains and rivers, and having a good car is an inevitable requirement, which is a piece of cake for officials.

Therefore, the Photography Association has become one of the fastest growing NGOs in recent years. A photography professional told the reporter that not only do all provinces have film associations, but even county-level photography organizations have been set up in full swing, and many industries have also set up photography associations. It is roughly estimated that there are at least 2000 photography institutions in China.

"Photography associations generally welcome leading cadres to join the club and often recommend them as presidents and vice presidents." According to this professional, it is particularly beneficial for leaders to join the club, and their relationship is easy to raise money to handle affairs. In particular, some photography institutions below the prefecture level are purely non-governmental organizations, and they are more eager to attract local leaders to join the circle. As for the creative level of leaders, "most of them still stay at the level of sensory feelings."

When you are in office, you are "elegant and good", and when you fall, you are "elegant and bribe"

In photography activities, it is not uncommon for leading cadres to use public resources to play the privilege at will. A photographer said that he personally photographed a swan in winter in Sanmenxia Yellow River Wetland, and a "big shot" actually used the local police helicopter. As a result, the noise of the helicopter disturbed the swan, and the swan flew away, so that there was no ideal scene for more than half a month.

What is more noteworthy is that the "elegance" of leading cadres often becomes an example of "elegant bribery" when they fall. It is reported that Qin Yuhai removed several million yuan worth of photographic equipment during the interview. An insider said that before Qin Yuhai was detained, the armed police and security guards in his yard had found "abandoned" camera lenses and other photographic equipment or accessories more than once.

A photographer who is familiar with Qin Yuhai said, "Up to now, Jiaozuo has put a lot of Qin Yuhai's photographs in advertisements and publicity materials all over the country. As far as I know, Qin has never received the manuscript fee, but I don't know whether it will be refunded in other forms. "

According to the investigators, Wang Huishi, the former vice mayor of Erdos City, who was investigated for serious violation of discipline and law, had a good photographer, and the investigators found more than a dozen expensive photographic equipment from his home.

Open a list of photographic equipment that accepts bribes, which is a professional photography "enthusiast" configuration. It includes not only Canon's top SLR camera EOS 1DSmark3 commonly used by professional photographers, portable 5DM Mark 2, and four lenses with focal lengths ranging from 27mm to 400mm, but also Hasselblad professional SLR cameras and four Hasselblad lenses worth tens of thousands. These valuable professional photographic equipment are all "tributes" of subordinate enterprises or partners.

In addition to equipment, there are many tricks in the publication and exhibition of photographic works. According to industry insiders, officials sometimes sell photographic works, publish postcards, photo albums and stamps, and then buy them at the expense of stakeholders, and then realize the transfer of benefits by charging huge copyright fees. The author of a work is usually difficult to detect because he usually uses a pseudonym. Individuals who go to various places to hold exhibitions generally need at least tens of thousands of yuan in venue rent, mostly sponsored by enterprises.

In Zhang's case, he used his position to illegally use public funds to make personal photo albums. The court found that Zhang entrusted a cooperative advertiser to make 50 copies of his personal photography works, and the natural gas company spent nearly 30 thousand yuan on the business expenses of making exhibition boards. This advertiser is the natural gas company introduced by Zhang to undertake publicity and decoration business.

Professor Qiao Xinsheng, Dean of the Institute of Integrity of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that after work, shooting some works with good themes such as society, environmental protection and people's livelihood can not only promote local culture, but also increase the cultivation of leading cadres. But this "elegance" has a red line, that is, obeying the law, distinguishing between public and private, and resolutely not letting "elegance" become "elegance bribe" and "elegance rot".