When the rows of photos with gold frames on a red background were hung on the display board, many elderly people flocked to the front of the display board, "appreciating" one by one, and from time to time they also joked with each other: "Look at this laughing mouth can't close" "Hahaha, look at who it is, the eyes are sewn"...
This scene is a picture posted by Yang Xin, a post-85 girl, on her douyin number. In the video, the "film festival" that the elderly are enjoying is actually a photo taken by Yang Xin for free for the empty nest elderly in the mountainous area, in Yang Xin's camera, more than 2,000 elderly people's smiles have been frozen, and she has recently become popular on the Internet because of her own good deeds.
Yang Xin (left) and Dong Rong, an old man in the "Old Remember" public welfare activity
Germination: A chance, found the "bitterness" of empty nesters
Why did you choose to take a photo of the elderly? When asked about this question, Yang Xin admitted, "This is actually due to a chance. ”
Yang Xin is a photojournalist for a local media in Shaanxi, and at the same time, she also has a identity - the head of the Rainbow Public Welfare Center in Shangluo City. According to Yang Xin, in 2017, she registered the Rainbow Public Welfare Center, the organization is not large, counting her a total of 18 people, including housewives, industrial and commercial owners, and unit employees.
Yang Xin said that in a small city to engage in a public welfare activity, the ability and coverage is often limited, can only through daily observation, to find the needs: found that the children in the cold winter still bare ankles, wearing tattered single shoes, they raise cotton socks, cotton shoes; see the children in the mountain village school futon light, they raise bedding ... At first, Yang Xin focused more on the left-behind children, "Also as a mother, whenever I see the childish faces of the children in the mountain villages, I wonder how I can do my best to let the children have no worries, this is the so-called 'maternal brilliance'!" Yang Xin quipped.
"Until one time, when we went to the countryside to visit, I took a picture of an old man. When I washed the photo out and gave it to the old man, I casually asked: 'What are you going to use this picture?' Unexpectedly, the old man replied, 'Wait until I die and put it at home', I was actually quite shocked. ”
Later, during a visit to a mountainous area, Yang Xin saw a vertical strip of cardboard in the home of an old man, with a white paper on it and a name written on the paper, which was the "tablet" of the old man's deceased wife. "We have a custom here that after the old man is buried, he needs to put a tablet, which can be wooden board or cardboard, and after a period of time, remove the tablet and replace it with a photo to continue to worship." Yang Xin told Zhengguan News reporters.
However, with Yang Xin's in-depth investigation of the local area, she gradually found that this photo was not actually in the homes of the elderly in many remote mountain villages. "In some remote villages in the mountains of Shangluo, it is not easy for the elderly to take a decent photo, there are not many people who use smart phones, it is inconvenient to go to the city to take pictures, and many people may not be willing to spend this money, so many elderly people have taken an ID photo in their lives." Even when someone died, the family could not even find a photo used for the memorial, and could only use cardboard to make a tablet offering. ”
The "bitter" experience behind the old people deeply stung Yang Xin's heart, and in this way, an idea sprouted in her heart: to take a photo of the empty nest elderly in the mountainous area.
Worried: Worried that the elderly have some taboos about "posthumous photos"
Yang Xin, who had this idea, did not gain inner peace. "Rural elderly people are actually taboo about 'death', so how will they react to taking photos of them?" To be honest, my heart was also very worried at that time. ”
But nervous, recalling the first time he organized a photo of the elderly, Yang Xin told the Zhengguan news reporter, "The effect is still quite unexpected." ”
According to Yang Xin, in 2018, the China Welfare Lottery Public Welfare Fund supported social organizations, and their Rainbow Public Welfare Center was also among them, so they took photos of the elderly for the first time and gave this activity a very warm name: "Old People Have Memories". "The event was done jointly with other agencies, they did safety training, and they also prepared a lot of performances, which was very lively." Yang Xin said, "And our side, that is, we set up a background cloth next to the stage to take pictures of the elderly, and this photo is not a common use, so at that time we were very worried that no old man would come over." ”
The old people on the shooting scene
But to Yang Xin's surprise, their public welfare activity was unexpectedly popular. "First there were a few elderly people who came over, and I didn't have a finished product in my hand at the time, so I even introduced our activities to the elderly with a description," Yang Xin told Zhengguan News reporter, "At the beginning, some old people didn't believe it, and confirmed with me many times that 'it's free,' right? ''Picture frames don't charge money either?' Later, after I explained it to them clearly, they were relieved to take pictures. ”
The news of "free photography" spread quickly in the small local mountain village. Elderly people in need came from all over the village, and even some elderly people came from a few kilometers away by tricycle to take pictures. "Our event should be the largest number of people on the day, the old people have lined up in a long line, some are even watching the show, heard about our activity, immediately came to us to line up, so that in the end the volunteers of other activities also helped us to maintain order."
Results: Photographs of more than 2,000 elderly people
After completing the first shooting "test the waters", Yang Xin's heart was more determined to take a photo of the elderly. In this way, starting from 2018, Yang Xin and her public welfare team officially launched the "Old Remember" public welfare activity of taking photos of empty nest elderly people. There is no fixed time for the event, depending on how much money they raise. "As much money as you can raise, take pictures of as many elderly people as you want."
In order to raise more funds, Yang Xin and the volunteers thought of many ways. "We do what we do best, the easiest thing we do. Volunteers go to the roadside stalls at night, holding exhibition boards, appealing for donations, and we will also send green baskets and longevity flowers to collect donations for offline photo activities. In an interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily, Yang Xin said frankly.
Volunteers take pictures of the elderly
That's it, while collecting donations, I shot it. In the past four years, Yang Xin has traveled to more than 10 remote mountain villages to take photos of more than 2,000 empty nest elderly people. According to Yang Xin, the subjects they photographed basically lived in the villages below Shangluo City, and most of them were over 60 years old.
In order to let the elderly better "appreciate" their photos, every time the photos are taken and sent to the hands of the elderly, Yang Xin will always simply organize a film festival. Saying that it is a film festival is actually to put the photos of the elderly on the shelf in an orderly manner and hang them for the elderly to enjoy. This seemingly simple sense of ceremony is enough to make the elderly happy for a long time.
"I remember the time when I sent photos in 18 years, considering that some old people's legs and feet were inconvenient, the documents in the next village carried a back basket to take it, the photo was full of baskets, looking at the photos of the old people, the documents also evaluated several times from time to time: 'This old man's photo is good' 'The photo is very spiritual'", recalling the scene of taking the film, Yang Xin introduced to the Zhengguan news reporter, "Another time, there was an old grandmother, standing in front of the exhibition board, looking at her own photos, and the villagers who went with her all agreed that she took the best shots. I also think so, it is a kind-eyed old man, presumably when he was young, he was also a beautiful billet. ”
After the shooting, Yang Xin entered the later stage of the retouching work. Retouching the old people is not like what young people are pursuing now: skin grinding, whitening, bright eyes.... "We mainly do some light adjustments without removing wrinkles, so that we can maximize the preservation of realism."
Harvest: Being moved and healed during filming
Recalling more than 4 years of shooting, Yang Xin said that in the process of getting along with the elderly, he was constantly being moved and healed. An old man named Dong Rong impressed her. "That time she wore a purple dark flower cotton jacket to take a picture, at first I didn't notice her, but then when the event was over, she ran to say hello, and I realized that she had been waiting by the side since the shooting, and when she saw me finished, she came up to talk and pulled us to her house to drink water." Yang Xin introduced that the old man's son was disabled due to brain injury and lost the ability to work, and the old man has been living with his son and taking care of his son's diet and living, their home is in the mountains, and the car cannot reach. "I've seen her before when I've done activities, and I've given her a down jacket and rations like rice and flour and oil, and every time she receives something, she's grateful and gives us the only walnuts, flapjacks, and other things that she thinks are precious in her house."
The old man in dongrong wearing a new down jacket
The sincere emotions and simple actions of the old people deeply infected Yang Xin. "Every time in the process of taking pictures, no matter which old man, I would joke with each other, it seemed that I did not feel heavy because it was a posthumous photo, and the optimism of the old people deeply infected me." At the same time as the infection, Yang Xin was also being cured. "Whenever I encounter difficulties and setbacks, I think of the old people I have photographed, they can face death so calmly, what reason do I have to be anxious? When you think about this, you will feel that everything in your life is unsatisfactory and not worth mentioning. ”
In an interview with Elephant News, Yang Xin once revealed that the first photo she took was for her grandmother. In the photo, Grandma stands in front of the earthen wall of the old house, her white hair pinned behind her ears, and her smile is bright. Yang Xin's grandmother died at the age of 88, and the funeral was based on this photo taken by Yang Xin. Later, when taking photos of the elderly in the mountain village, Yang Xin would always think of his grandmother, smiling like a chrysanthemum, with the small feet of the memory of the times, permeated with the kind hometown sound of the Western Shaanxi dialect, and the flow of emotions spanned time and space.
Persistence: I hope to retain the beauty for more elderly people
On Yang Xin's Douyin, the Zhengguan news reporter found that she recorded the moments of taking pictures of the elderly in the past four years through video. Recently, Yang Xin's affairs have also been paid attention to by more and more netizens and the media, and there are also daily private messages on Douyin.
"Recently, our activities have received unprecedented attention. Every day I can receive a lot of private messages, some asking how to join our volunteer team, some saying that they are also public welfare people, want to copy this public welfare model in their hometown, I reply carefully every time, and I am happy in my heart. Yang Xin said that the more people do this, it means that more elderly people can realize their dreams.
At the beginning of this year, Yang Xin and the volunteers of the team visited several villages one after another and selected several places where activities could be carried out, but due to the impact of the epidemic, this year's activities have not been carried out. "When the conditions permit, we will immediately carry out activities, and now I have a new goal, I want to take pictures of 20,000 elderly people, and do my best to leave the most beautiful smiles for more elderly people." When talking about the next public welfare plan, Yang Xin said so, and the tone was full of determination.
In the message area of Yang Xin's Douyin video, a netizen said that Yang Xin brought a beam of light, a warm light, for the empty nest elderly. "Man is dust and light. And I, we, are more willing to be a bridge and a glimmer of light connecting life and death, so that the elderly can laugh at life and death, and leave the most beautiful smile in the world for them! ”