The "family portrait" of yang Demao (front row, third from left) family of Xinghua Village, Shidian County, Yunnan Province, was taken on February 7. Photo by Yang Dongqing from Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency, Kunming, February 24 (Reporter Lin Bifeng) "Everyone leans closer, looks at the camera, and laughs!" During the Spring Festival, the family of Yang Demao, a 60-year-old villager in Xinghua Village, was particularly lively, and his daughters took their families home for the New Year. What makes Lao Yang happy is that with the help of public welfare projects, this year, the family took a "family portrait" at home for the first time.
Xinghua Village is located in Shidian County, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province. In 2015, Yang Dongqing, a young man from Baoshan after the "90s", founded the "Family Portrait Public Welfare Photography" project, which takes free photos for the villagers every Spring Festival, and Yang Demao is one of the beneficiaries.
Carry a camera on your back, bring your own dry food, walk around the village... On the third day of the Chinese New Year, at about 8:00 a.m., Yang Dongqing led 9 members of the "Public Welfare Photography" team from Shidian County to start the journey of "visiting relatives". The car followed the rugged mountain road, and after more than two hours, they arrived at Xinghua Village in Taiping Town.
Under the guidance of the villagers, Yang Dongqing and his team came to Yang Demao's home, the double-storey brick and tile house was clean and tidy, and the Spring League posted at the gate was particularly conspicuous. Lao Yang's two daughters are married, and another daughter is in the building materials business in the town, and the family of 13 has never taken a "family portrait".
Old Yang put on a black suit, moved out of his chair, and beckoned his daughter, son-in-law and grandson to come out and take pictures. He and his wife sat in the middle holding their little grandson, and his daughter and son-in-law stood behind them with their children in their arms. The family is smiling and happy. Click... With the crisp shutter sound, there is the first "family portrait" in the house.
Deep in the mountains, full of flavor. During the Spring Festival, in Xinghua Village and Yangjia Community in Yuwang Town, many villagers hung corn on the head of their houses, and bamboo poles in the yard were tied with bacon and sausages.
"When they entered the house, some people asked how to charge for taking pictures, and after learning that it was free, they felt a little too careless to go." Yang Dongqing said. In the Yang family community in Yuwang Town, the villagers warmly invited the photo team to stay and eat, and the villagers Jiang Pengyu's family of 6 and Yang Yourong's family of 5 took "family portraits".
A "family portrait" of jiang pengyu (front row left), a villager in Yangjia Community in Wangzhen, Shidian County, Yunnan Province, on February 8. Photo by Yang Dongqing from Xinhua News Agency
During the day, go to the village to take photos, and return to the city at night to sort out photos. In this way, during the Spring Festival, Yang Dongqing's team visited more than 60 households in Xinghua Village and Yangjia Community, and the family was temporarily uneven, so they took pictures of the elderly at home. In the end, they took a "family portrait" for more than 20 villagers.
After completing the post-processing, printing, and plastic frame of the photo, Yang Dongqing also sent the photo to the village, and then entrusted the relevant personnel to send it to the hands of the villagers. In the past two days, many people, including Yang Demao, have successively received free "family portraits". Old Yang smiled and said, "I will hang the photo in the most conspicuous position in the living room." ”
Small shots record warm moments and also witness the changes in the mountains and villages. Yang Dongqing said that what felt most deeply about "visiting relatives" this year was that the income of the villagers had steadily increased, their lives were getting better and better, some villagers had moved to the city, and some people had bought cars and went out to play during the Spring Festival.
In the past five years, Yang Dongqing's team has taken "family portraits" for more than 400 households in 6 townships, including Taiping Town, Pengluo Township and Mulaoyuan Township in Shidian County, and photographed portraits of more than 1,000 elderly people over the age of 60. For this reason, they were affectionately called the "mobile photo studio" in the mountains by the masses.
In order to let more people pay attention to rural areas, since 2017, Yang Dongqing has joined the volunteer team of Yunnan Station of the "Love Wardrobe" public welfare project. As of January this year, he said, the project had sent donations from caring people across the country to more than 400 mountain children in Baoshan City.
"We're going to keep going." Yang Dongqing is looking forward to holding a "family portrait" photography exhibition in the 10th year of the project, and visiting those who have taken pictures to see their changes.