Born in March 1928 in Yueqing, Zhejiang Province, Zhang Houquan began photography in the early 1950s, and in the 70 years of his relationship with light and shadow, he has photographed more than 5,000 unique light and shadow works, recording the beautiful natural scenery of West Lake, Yandang and other places.
Suddenly, I saw the | of the Heavenly Xiansheng Gate (taken in Yueqing Yandang Mountain). Zhang Houquan
In 2021, through Zhang Houquan's dictation, Zhang Zhijie and Shan Ling's oral history "Long Sky Long Lens: Seventy Years of Me and the Camera" was published, recording the changes of the times in the eyes of this veteran photographer.
The book is called Long Shot, which is a term borrowed from cinema. In a movie, a scene or a scene is filmed continuously, and a complete shot passage is formed from one boot to the time the camera is turned off.
From Zhang Houquan's first childhood knowledge of the existence of a "hand-photographic machine" to his real involvement in landscape photography. Now, because of his physical inconvenience, he can only take pictures of small landscapes in the garden, and he has completely experienced the era of mechanical cameras and films from "luxury goods" to popular products, and then to almost being replaced by digital products. This is a long shot of Zhang Houquan's photographic career.
The past few decades of life, in his view, is also a long lens, storing memories of different periods of time, connecting these memories, and recording an era.
Zhang Houquan has been very interested in technical things since he was a child, and in order to take graduation photos when he graduated from primary school, he entered the photo studio for the first time in his life to take photos, which is his initial fate with photography.
When he was in elementary school, Zhang Houquan began to love painting and joined the school's woodcut group.
From the perspective of pattern design method, that is, simple paper-cutting, the difference is that the paper-cutting is the yang plate, the printing plate is based on the negative version as the master, and then with a hard-haired small brush, like a toothbrush or anything, dipped in pigment on the edge of the hard material to pull, scattered dots on the paper under the master printed out of the pattern.
When zhang Houquan grew up, he worked as a teacher in a primary school and also did propaganda work, and it was already 1951 when he really picked up the camera.
Group photo of members of the fine arts group of the Wenzhou Prefectural Committee Cultural and Labor Troupe (1950) (Zhang Houquan, back row, third from left)
At that time, in order to leave some clear photos of the meeting, it was necessary to find someone with a "hand-photographic machine", which used soft film and a much more complex mechanical structure. The camera we now know as a camera only appeared after the invention of Kodak film, and there was no such thing at that time.
Later, after experiencing the experience of Nissan imitating the German Zeiss Ikon camera, the Soviet-made Zorki camera, and the Lycra C-type 135 camera, Zhang Houquan became a photojournalist, leaving more and more deeply rooted works.
Chen Jin, a teacher at Zhejiang Mechanical and Electrical Vocational and Technical College, once wrote a book review titled "A Thousand Sails Read all and Returned" for "Long Sky Long Lens: Seventy Years of Me and the Camera", interpreting Zhang Houquan's photographic life.
Mr. Zhang has encountered many major events in his life, and he has also come into contact with many celebrities, and his photography has also made certain contributions to Sino-foreign exchanges. For example, his winter 1963 film "Morning Sun at West Lake" was used as an envelope (later selected as a cover) for a set of postcards published during Nixon's visit. His unit, Zhejiang Slide Studio, also undertook the cultural projects needed by the Ministry of Culture for external propaganda, filming customs and natural scenery and making slides into slides for the embassies abroad. But when he narrated these stories, he was light and breezy, without a hint of complacency and pride. It was the blandness after a thousand sails were read.
West Lake Morning Sun | Zhang Houquan
Landscape photography has always been Zhang Houquan's area of expertise, and his hometown of Yueqing Yandang Mountain and Hangzhou's West Lake water are his sources of material.
In the spring of 1958, Zhang Houquan filmed in the Bai Causeway, the foreground was peach blossoms, and there was a cruise ship on the lake surface, so he captured a picture of the lake and mountains with great artistic conception.
Su Di Spring Dawn Smoke Willow | Zhang Houquan
On a cloudy day at the turn of the summer and autumn of 1958, Zhang Houquan rode home on his bicycle and passed by Baoshan Bridge. On the same day, I happened to borrow the Lycra camera of the unit to carry with me, and seeing this scene was very picturesque, I parked the car on the north side of the bridge and captured a picture.
At the beginning and end of the river is the | of Iekawa Zhang Houquan
When photographing natural scenery, time and weather are important constraints.
Chen Jin said that Mr. Zhang photographed the scenery, studied the Song Dynasty and painted landscapes, and pursued the artistic conception. In order to achieve better artistic results, there will always be several searches.
For example, when he filmed "Rain Jihua Double Rainbow" in the West Lake, he said: "Shooting two rainbows in one day, this is also once in a lifetime." "Filming "Ruixue Ying Qiantang", not only is there snow, but also because I already know that there is a high-voltage line tower base available at the top of the mountain, "otherwise it is useless to go up the mountain."
Rain ji double rainbow | Zhang Houquan
And in the Yandang Mountain Baixi steep door to shoot "Moonlight Like Water Like Heaven", it is to seize the fleeting opportunity. There are also positive performances of Yandang Mountain's "White Clouds And Mist Full of Mountains", "Ten Thousand Mountains Want to Float", "Tiankai Picture Divine Brush", etc., countless times of searching, time and place plus people are diligent, in a certain month of the year at a certain time or even a few minutes, find the best position, seize the best time, explore and coincidentally.
Moonlight is like water and water like the sky | Zhang Houquan
In order to shoot the sunrise at the West Lake, Zhang Houquan copied the sunrise and sunset schedule of Hangzhou from an astronomical popular science book, and kept it in a notebook, re-copied it when it was broken, and updated it several times.
In the book, he records his early morning observations of daylight as follows:
The light changes quickly during the minute of sunrise in the morning. When the sun is about to rise and when it has just risen, the brightness is enough, the contrast between the brightness of the sky and the earth is not large, and the exposure is relatively easy to grasp. In the next certain period of time, the sun rises, but the angle of illumination of the earth is relatively small, it is oblique, the light ratio contrast between the sky and the ground is relatively large, at this time it is best to use a polarizer, which can reduce the contrast. However, after the sun rises, the contrast with the brightness of the ground is getting smaller and smaller, but the sun itself is getting brighter and brighter, and it is difficult to shoot the effect of sunrise.
In addition to landscape photos, Zhang Houquan has also recorded many customs and customs, and in "Long Days and Long Shots: Seventy Years of Me and the Camera", he also has his memories of his homeland, his childhood and adolescent schooling.
Leave a late photo in the "flower room" | Zhang Houquan
"Mr. Zhang's memory is really good. For example, when I was a child, the name of the photo studio, the surname of the owner, the street and alley, the place name, the primary school and the teacher training teacher, the books I read, the personnel I interacted with, the specific date and place of the incident, and so on, I remember them all clearly. These memories reveal Mr. Zhang's deep attachment to his hometown and his deep affection for the deceased. These stories, transformed into hundreds of billions, 'scattered to the peak and look at the hometown'. Chen Jin concluded in a book review.
Source: Thoughtful Shanghai