TIBET. Grandfather and his granddaughter. 2002.
Granddaughter and sleeping grandfather 2002
1994, Lu Nan became a Magnan photographer. Someone asked Martin Parr, chairman of Magnum Picture Club, who is most likely to become Magnum's first Chinese member. He replied: "Taiwan's Zhang Qianqi is a member of Magnum, isn't that China? In addition, Magnum has a special correspondent in mainland China, and his name is Lu Nan."
Let's enjoy it together below: 109 works by Lu Nan's works "Four Seasons: Daily Life of Tibetan Farmers", and the article "Lu Nan's "Four Seasons" makes me respect" by artist Li Xianting:
Lu Nan's photography works "Four Seasons: Daily Life of Tibetan Farmers" cover image
(Instructions: Pictures below , except for the works mentioned in Li Xianting's article, the rest are defaulted to the order in "Four Seasons"
0 Lu Nan spent 15 years alone, enduring the difficulties and hardships that ordinary people cannot bear. His footprints have been spread across more than a dozen provinces and cities. He filmed a series of works in three parts: "The Forgotten Man", "On the Road" and "Four Seasons". With a complete and grand and epic scale, it seems to symbolize the "spiritual status" of mankind today and the trilogy of the author's expectation of "the great spirit of mankind".
I doubt there is a second artist in this world who can treat artistic creation with such a solemn attitude? So, when Lu Nan puts it When these three works were placed in front of me, the shock I did not dare to write for a long time. For his 15 years of uniqueness, any of my words were insignificant. Fortunately, his works could be printed into a book for everyone to watch carefully.
Lu Nan spent a full seven years shooting this set of "Four Seasons" reflecting the lives of Tibetan farmers. From spring sowing to autumn harvest scenes, from eating to family affection, many details and aspects of Tibetan farmers' lives. In 7 years, he shot the complete autumn harvest for four years, and he shot the spring sowing for two years. The last time, he worked in Tibet for 9 months. He relied on maps to choose the shooting location and used the comparison The examples are used to calculate and choose the villages that can be reached by walking. He walked from village to village, and he walked for 7 hours in the farthest village.
And almost every afternoon he braved sandstorms and traveled back and forth to different shooting locations and residences. In the rest of the shooting, he still had to spend 4 to 6 hours studying the works of Plato and Goethe and listening to Bach's music. It is this religious piety that has made him turn such a boring and lonely work process into a way of dialogue with the great spirit of classicism, and turn shooting into a solemn and solemn spiritual experience.
TIBET. Village life. 2001.
Village 2001
"Four Seasons" consisting of 109 works. In the order of one year, the daily life of Tibetan farmers is turned into a "classic" of labor and daily life: both complete structure and can withstand viewing and careful consideration like great Western classical paintings and sculptures. Complete structure refers to one hundred and nine works, combined like a great epic and symphony of daily life, both in the theme and in the rhythm of the grandeur and details. For example, the first picture starts with an ordinary Tibetan house, bringing people into a simple and peaceful environment.
TIBET. Chongye, Lhoka. Women building a summer sheepfold. 1997.
Women going to build summer sheepfold 1997
followed by various working scenes in spring soaring, and then the camera brings our sight from far to near, bringing our sight to various details of daily life. Finally, the camera goes from near to far, a picture "Women Who Go to Build the Summer Sheep Fold" is presented to us with a grand scene: the distant mountains and the sky are integrated, setting off the working posture of the main theme and color blocks in the picture, and the unevenness of the wooden poles adds a lively factor to the picture. A white cloud floats out from the mountains, like the sound of a trumpet suddenly appearing in the music, the whole picture is poetic, like the author's look back when he reluctantly leaves - the distance that is about to disappear, a new hope begins again.
The classic I understand is that Lu Nan can turn labor, daily life and daily emotions into a kind of beauty with "eternal meaning". Because "Four Seasons" transcends the curious angles we usually see about Tibet such as prominent religious activities, primitive feelings, stout bodies, and beyond the usual photographer's attention to an event. And with a sense of awe, it highlights the poetic and divine nature of the labor and daily life of Tibetan peasants. The poetic and divine nature of the photos is based on the author's ability to remove all the dynamic and accidental factors similar to emergencies when capturing the object, emphasizing the relationship between labor, daily life and daily emotions and the universal human emotions, and expressing them in a stable and perfect composition similar to ancient Greek and Renaissance paintings and sculptures.
If I asked him what was the difficulty of shooting Tibet? He replied: The difficulty is that it has no event, it is so common that it cannot be more common, all family environments are the same, and all the work done by families in the same period is the same, which is particularly difficult." However, the ability of "Four Seasons" to turn this ordinary into extraordinary and daily life into "classics" is because Lu Nan realized that "their labor is 100% for themselves.
For the first time, I saw turning labor into labor itself. Van Gogh said that under the strong sunshine, it is solemn and solemn. It is too right. . In Tibet, there is no side facing the soil and suffering, they do it for themselves, so labor is happy to finally become labor. Just as art becomes art itself, great things can appear. Once there is secularity, it has nothing to do with greatness. "As the eternal goal of mankind, labor transcends the usual sense of family support and hard work and becomes poetry with a divine feeling. It is not only Lu Nan's experience in filming the daily life of Tibetan farmers, but also the process of Lu Nan's continuous dialogue with the great classical tradition of the West.
TIBET. Mother and son picking edible plants. 2004.
Mother and son digging ginseng fruit 2004
"Four Seasons"'s expression of the divine poetry of the labor process is first reflected in labor scenes such as spring sowing and autumn harvest. In this type of work, the "sovereign and solemn" of the worker is emphasized by Lu Nan very much. For example, in "Mother and Son Digging Ginseng Fruit", the viewing line is slightly lower than the main characters, making the faint horizon cross the middle of the picture, half of which is the mountains and the sky, and half is the land, forming the main gray background of the picture, making the mother and son with heavy tones very prominent. At the same time, the mother and son stand and squat one by one, break through the horizon and stand between the heaven and earth, especially the mother's movement, choose the pickaxe to hold it high and is about to fall, shaping the action like a classical sculpture.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. A husband and his wife scattering seed. 2001
Couple sowing 2001
Another example is "Sowing Couple", the yak in the picture, one suppresses and one rises, adding contrast to the coordination, making the labor dynamics of the entire picture both stretched and clear. Especially the wife's movement of sowing seeds is light and agile, but not exaggerated. Moreover, due to the large area of gray tones, the heavy tone movements set off by them, and the heavy dress, the picture processing of "The Sowing Couple" does not show joy and vivid feelings in the general sense, but rather emphasizes the power and sense of stability.
TIBET. Women gathering ears of wheat. 2003.
Woman picking ears 2003
Such pictures that emphasize the "sovereign and solemn" of labor are everywhere in labor scenes such as spring sowing and autumn harvest. You will feel that these labor scenes are not the moment they were taken, but are drawn repeatedly. For example, "The Woman Picking Ears of Wheat", which reminds people of Miller 's " Gliding "; "The Descendant and the People Who Come to Descend" reminds people of Rembrandt 's "Professor Tilp's Anatomy Lesson".
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains.An oracle. 1997.
Submitted Master and the People who came to Submitted 1997
Although it seems familiar, it is very different.The familiarity lies in Lu Nan's control over the main mood of the "sovereign" picture; the difference is that you cannot really find a few works similar to Western classical paintings in "Four Seasons". The similarity is just feelings, because what Lu Nan cares about is the excavation of the "great truth" from the daily lives of Tibetan farmers. It is specific and real and different from the life of any region, but it has a humanistic feeling that is common to Western classical art and even all good works of art.
TIBET. An old man digging potatoes. 2003.
The old man digging potatoes 2003
In addition, in the pictures of family work such as twisting threads and making tea, Lu Nan emphasized more about the movements of the characters when working, especially the relationship between the movements and expressions of the hand. In conjunction with the posture of the hand, it is the pleasure, concentration, or calmness and firmness of the expression... For example, in "The Old Man Digging Potatoes", his hands, especially the firm eyes, and the calm and solemn expressions stimulated my feelings, making it impossible for me to use words that are too emotional, such as hardship and poverty, to describe the psychological relationship between labor, food and this old man in the picture. This is not something that we, like the city people who are busy with material desires and suffering, can understand.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Mother and children spooling yarn. 2002.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. 2002.
Mother and son twisting threads.2002.
In fact, the rare expression of the mainland farmers discovered in the picture does not require us to understand, but we want to pay tribute! In "Mother and Children Who Wrapped in the Line", the mother and her children are focused; in "Mother and Son Who Wrapped in the Line", the son falls asleep peacefully on the legs of the mother who is twisting in the Line. The warmth and peaceful atmosphere of the whole picture touches us.
TIBET. Wife and angry husband. 2004.
His wife and angry husband. 2004.
Almost half of the total number of "Four Seasons", the work that shows the family affection and harmonious relationship between people in daily life. In such works, Lu Nan is very good at grasping moments that can reflect the relationship between characters and highlight the love and intimacy between characters. For example, "Wife and Angry Husband", on one side is the husband who is still angry, with his eyes wide open, and on the other side is the wife's kind expression and the movement of stroking her husband's hands. This moment can remind people of a complete story of love and family.
TIBET. Mother and daughter in autumn harvest. 2003.
Mother and daughter in autumn harvest 2003
Another example is "Mother and daughter in autumn harvest". Next to the haystack of the autumn harvest, the underage daughter snuggled in her mother's arms with her body exposed. Perhaps because of the author's appearance, the daughter lowered her head shyly and smiled. The two smiles conveyed the kind and harmonious communication between the mother, daughter, and the author who did not appear in the picture. This type of work is the most common in "Four Seasons", and it focuses on the relationship between people in various life details such as love, family affection, understanding, care, and harmony.
TIBET. Grandmother got headache suddenly and her grandchild were astonished. 2001.
grandmother got headache suddenly and her grandchild were astonished. 2001.
TIBET. Sisters putting on make up. 2003.
TIBET. Grandma and grandson. 2000.
Grandma and granddaughter
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Grandfather and his granddaughter. 2001
Grandfather and granddaughter 2001
TIBET. Grandma and granddaughters applying facial cream. 2004.
Grandma and granddaughters applying facial cream. 2004
such as mutual care in "Grandma with a headache at the neighbor's house and frightened grandson", the shared wish for beauty in "Cousin Dressing", and a lot of pictures of "Grandma and Grandson", "Grandpa and Granddaughter", "Grandma and Granddaughter with Oil on Face", which show the filial and harmonious relationship between generations, and the picture is very touching.When dealing with such works, Lu Nan inherited the tradition of Western realistic painting from the Renaissance to the 19th century. He was good at grasping the psychology and themes of the characters through typical moments, that is, the great human love shown by small people in daily life, love labor, love relatives, love everyone, and even love the grass and tree of nature among small animals...
When chatting with me, Lu Nan specifically mentioned a life detail he noticed in Tibet: " For example, there is a kind of respect for life. There is a village where all the cats are skinny and have no energy and even walk. One day, I just went to a villager's house and saw his thin cat sneering a mouse. The cat finally got something to eat. Do you know what he did? He let the mouse go, and the cat wanted to chase it, but he blocked it, and the mouse ran away. "This kind of treating life equally comes from both religion, and a harmonious relationship formed between Tibetan farmers, and between natural animals and plants. This is what Lu Nan experienced in filming the lives of Tibetan farmers.
The author's filming process is also a process of education. In other words, the process of Lu Nan's filming of "The Forgotten People", "On the Road" and "Four Seasons" in the past 15 years is a process of loving education. When Lu Nan first filmed "The Forgotten People", something happened, which still makes him remember it deeply: "When I first went to the hospital, I treated them as terrible people. In Anding Hospital, when I entered a ward, a patient was looking out. I wanted to take pictures of him. When he came over, I stopped taking pictures.
That person was very strong, and I could only reach his shoulder. At this time, I wanted to run away, but I was afraid of hurting others. Just when I thought about it, he had already arrived. When I came forward, I protected my head with my hands, thinking not to get me out of concussion, my mind was blank, but in an instant, I saw him stretching out a hand to shake hands with me... After that, I never had the concept of mental illness again. He was just such a type of person, and this idea was implemented throughout Tibet." Lu Nan also talked about the education he received during the filming process. He said, "China's national conditions do not allow religion to be used to do anything.
So they can only do one thing, which is faith, which is love. Their strong belief and gentleness surprised me. When someone in the family is about to die, others will say it is too good. They are not afraid of death, and of course they also have fear. When the soul and the body are about to separate, what they are afraid of is that the soul cannot go to heaven. What is love? Our current emotions have always been influenced by opposing emotions. If you are good to me, I will be good to you. But love is not like this. Jesus is to His disciples The emotions are different from others, but the love given is equal. I have no religion, I just have faith, it is best not to have religion if an artist wants to have faith."
Lu Nan was infected by the solemnity, piety and love in reality, but he did not convert to religion because of shooting religion. Religion is just the subject he chose. The subject matter is not important to Lu Nan, or the importance of the subject matter lies in whether it "can help me solve problems, it is just my means to solve problems." The problem Lu Nan wants to solve is whether a photographer can grasp something deeper and greater in reality in the fleeting moments. This is the reason why photography becomes art and the reason why photographers become artists. This is Lu Nan’s belief and Lu Nan’s religion.
What is the "reality" of reality? Different artists not only see different reality, but also the feelings caused by reality are very different. The value of art, not all photographic pictures, lies in the different choices of real scenes and moments of life, and the different expressions of different feelings. Looking at art is to look at the images in the eyes of different artists and the author's feelings implied by the images.
What is the "reality" in farmers' lives? Perhaps the dull eyes, numb expressions, the hardships and painful movements and expressions of labor are all real. They exist in any region, even in the subjects taken by Lu Nan in Tibet. But what photographers want, choose or even dig for what kind of moments they are crucial.As Lu Nan said: "I have always believed that cameras are just tools. If the things made with this tool do not reach the level of other fields, then it is not that there is a problem with the tool, it must be that there is a problem with the person using the tool.
For example, photography includes the understanding of reality. Camera is often the most deceptive, and what is really needed is mining. The way a photographer works determines that the image must be formed in an instant, but it does not mean that the photographer always has to capture fleeting moments. The thinking of the mind is inevitability, not accidental. I need to care about people's fundamental, lasting and essential things. What photos convey is an uncertain thing, always accidental appearance, and I hope to solve these problems."
The problem that Lu Nan wants to solve is also the problem that photography history needs to solve. I agree with Lu Nan's opinion: " Susan Sontag in photography theory says that in a photography exhibition, there is a huge gap between subject matter and subject matter." "Art speaks to the world in a whole, and it cannot form a whole." Photography used to "survival can only work for newspapers and magazines. Only by accepting someone's delegation can you take photos and survive. He faces such a dilemma.
In fact, photography did not find this problem at that time, but photography was in 2 When television appeared in the 1960s, it was liberated, but it was also difficult. By the 1980s, some people had accumulated works, and individuals had continuity. You can talk about photographers, such as Cindy Sherman. " "A major event can be discussed, but not photographers." "Photography always talks about photos, but not photographers." Here, Lu Nan involved two issues that are very important, one is the photographer's personal feelings, as well as related language and style factors; the other is the so-called "reality".
The first question is, the importance of artistic personality involves the general laws of art, so I will not elaborate on this. The photographer proves that he is an artist, not just a photographer. You have to rely on the uniqueness of personal feelings and the uniqueness of language to bridge the "giant gap between subject matter" as Susan Sontag said and obtain the "integrity" that Lu Nan said - that is, the personal characteristics of the whole.
Of course, being a photographer - a photographer in a photo studio and a considerable number of news photographers is another problem. The second question, "reality" is a concept for me. No work has an empty "reality". You must give the specificity of "reality" in your work. Although this specificity involves the sociological analysis of reality, in my opinion, photography becomes art, and its "reality" mainly involves a photographer's personal position.
If an accidental event happens, and you accidentally hold the camera, you take one or several photos; or, you take novel real scenes and people that ordinary people cannot see, because it becomes a unique witness to the event, making the photos appear "precious". Perhaps this authenticity is still unquestionable in the sense of social archives and news. All the differences lie in who is more professional - focal length, aperture, tone, composition, etc., but in my opinion, photography can only be called art when it is "hired" relationship beyond the social archives.
means that truth, even if it involves witnessing an event, as an artist, the photographer’s personal position and unique perspective are the primary criteria. Because in every period of time when humans survive, most individuals are just individuals who are spoken by specific ideologies, so the true personal feeling and free state of mind involve the "reality" of art.
I asked Lu Nan whether he noticed technical issues in tone or composition and styling during the shooting process. He replied: "I can't see anything, and I can't see anything from the beginning when I started. What I see is the whole. What my works require is depth of field. Everything is meaningful. It is difficult for people to deal with this whole. I may have to shoot several films in one shot. And my photos are not cut." But the overall feeling is a process of continuous selection, choice, and condensation.
TIBET. An old woman making tea for the harvest. 2000.
The old woman making tea for the harvest. 2000
is like the autumn harvest. He took photos four times, which means that he will shoot the same scene continuously within four years. I roughly calculate the autumn harvest scene in "Four Seasons". Lu Nan chose about twenty pictures. We cannot know how many photos Lu Nan chose, but we will know that this ratio is amazing. What I mean is that the process of an amazing number of shots on a scene is a process of constantly highlighting and perfecting one's own ideas. This process is not only a dialogue process between Lu Nan and the subject, but also a dialogue process between Lu Nan establishing expression language and his own inner soul. It is also a dialogue process between Lu Nan and the great classical tradition of the West.
These three processes are indispensable, making Lu Nan gradually understand what he wants - labor becomes labor itself, love, family affection, etc. This is what is gradually disappearing today, but it is the extremely prominent human "great sentiment" in the daily lives of Tibetan farmers. Therefore, for Lu Nan, only solemn and solemn can express the "reality" he sees. If one day we can compare the photos of Lu Nan "eliminated" in the same scene with the photos he chose, we will see more clearly how Lu Nan finds the moments in his heart with the "solemn" feeling in a series of accidental moments in daily life. I thought this was a "key" that "Four Seasons" can maintain the overall feeling.
TIBET. Sisters seeing the fields in the spring. 2004.
Sister sowing in spring
Soul of solemnity requires the picture to be simple and steady, such as scenes such as spring sowing and autumn harvest. The character labor plot of each scene highlights a kind of labor. The sowing picture is just the plot of sowing, and the picture of picking wheat ears is just the plot of picking wheat ears. Perhaps the picking wheat ears and the person who harvests wheat are in the same scene, but every kind of labor is simply produced by Lu Nan. Moreover, the characters are mainly one or two to three or four, and there are almost no lively scenes with big scenes. Labor movements do not specifically emphasize dynamics, and always choose the most stable posture that best illustrates the action in the dynamics.
All the family scenes are also very simple, highlighting the plot that best explains the family relationship between characters, and there are no unnecessary actions or extraneous plots. "Four Seasons" mostly consists of close-up composition, and most characters in the picture have a characteristic of eye contacting the center of the picture. This is mostly determined by the plot of the picture, which always determines the center point of the characters' attention, which makes the composition of such works stabilize. The sight of the medium-scene composition is mostly in the middle of the picture, dividing the world in half. The large area of gray in the tone alone forms a complete and unified background, revealing the movements of the main characters, and most of the characters occupy the main position of the picture. The simplicity of the movements also brings a stable feeling to the overall composition.
tone processing is the most fascinating feature of "Four Seasons". Large and medium-sized scenes under outdoor light mostly emphasize strong sunlight effects, like the ones we usually see shooting Tibetan works. Lu Nan always integrates the sky and the earth as a gray background to highlight the generally unified dark blocks of the characters to highlight the character's weight. Works with indoor light mostly have a dark background similar to Rembrandt, highlighting the gray blocks of the characters, especially the light gray blocks of the face. Lu Nan said that the strong sunshine in summer makes the indoor light contrast strong, which makes him rarely choose to shoot indoor works in summer.
In order to better handle indoor light, Lu Nan often chooses to block the windows with gauze to make the light of indoor characters softer. I have never asked Lu Nan whether to use flash, but I can feel that his works have never had an artificial tone feature. The tone of the characters under natural light is real and natural, which is exactly one of the factors he wants. Although we cannot know the details that Lu Nan borrowed from Western classical art, from the composition, tone and simplicity of the "Four Seasons" composition, tone and simplicity, we can guess the author's deep cultivation of Western classical art.
TIBET. Villagers thank the gods for the harvest. 2002.
Thanks God for the people who gave the harvest after harvest 2003
Control the emotions of the picture, which may be an important way for "Four Seasons" to maintain a solemn feeling. Taking the two types of pictures dealing with "happiness" and "sorrow" as an example, "Thank God for the People Who Give the Harvest after Harvest" is a scene where people hold up crops and cheer to the sky, and the sky occupies a large area in the picture. The characters' cheering movements all chose to stand in a stable manner, and they were happy without being excited. Moreover, the expression of joy is unified in the characters' actions of dark blocks and is not very prominent.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. Young women dancing. 2000.
Dancing girls 2000
"Dancing girls" is a scene of singing and dancing, but is placed far away by the author. It deliberately does not highlight the cheerful movements of the dance, but integrates the dance into the sky, mountains and earth, so that the whole picture presents an atmosphere of dancing with nature. Only the girls' white top sleeves, as bright color blocks, have become the most active and cheerful factor in the picture, but because of the small area, the cheerful factor seems very restrained.
TIBET. Chongye, Lhoka. Children jumping rope. 1996.
Children jumping rope 1996
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A mother who learns that her daughter's right eye has lost sight. 2000.
Mother and daughter who just confirmed that her daughter's right eye has lost sight. 2000
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Injured husband and his wife. Carriage attacked him and he cannot walk. Wife composed the sutras. 2001
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Husband and blind wife. 2002.
Honey and blind wife.2002.
"Children Jumping Rope" is also filmed in the same way, highlighting the joyful and harmonious atmosphere of nature. The "sad" picture treatment focuses more on the portrayal of characters' expressions, such as "The Mother Who Just Knows My Daughter's Right Eye Blind", "The Wife and Husband Being Killed by a Carriage", "Husband and Blind Wife". For such a tragic result, the author did not emphasize the miserable atmosphere, nor did he emphasize the painful expressions of mothers, wives, and husbands, but highlighted their care for the unfortunate people and their "bearing" feelings of relatives. The feeling of control of sadness and joy comes from Lu Nan's subject, and is also deliberately emphasized by the author.
This actually conforms to the traditional aesthetic concept of Chinese Confucianism, the so-called "sad but not hurt, and joy but not lust." This control over the emotions of the picture is not only reflected in the control of sad and happy emotions. If we look carefully at all the pictures, we will find that this ability to control is reflected everywhere. Every work in "Four Seasons" can always be unified in a solemn, solemn, grand and solemn overall atmosphere. Control may be Lu Nan's most important language method. TIBET. Grandfather and his granddaughter. 2002. Granddaughter and sleeping grandfather 2002 1994, Lu Nan became a Magnan photographer. Someone asked Martin Parr, chairman of Magnum Picture Club, who is most likely to become Magnum's first Chinese member. He replied: "Taiwan's Zhang Qianqi is a member of Magnum, isn't that China? In addition, Magnum has a special correspondent in mainland China, and his name is Lu Nan." Let's enjoy it together below: 109 works by Lu Nan's works "Four Seasons: Daily Life of Tibetan Farmers", and the article "Lu Nan's "Four Seasons" makes me respect" by artist Li Xianting: Lu Nan's photography works "Four Seasons: Daily Life of Tibetan Farmers" cover image (Instructions: Pictures below , except for the works mentioned in Li Xianting's article, the rest are defaulted to the order in "Four Seasons" 0 Lu Nan spent 15 years alone, enduring the difficulties and hardships that ordinary people cannot bear. His footprints have been spread across more than a dozen provinces and cities. He filmed a series of works in three parts: "The Forgotten Man", "On the Road" and "Four Seasons". With a complete and grand and epic scale, it seems to symbolize the "spiritual status" of mankind today and the trilogy of the author's expectation of "the great spirit of mankind". I doubt there is a second artist in this world who can treat artistic creation with such a solemn attitude? So, when Lu Nan puts it When these three works were placed in front of me, the shock I did not dare to write for a long time. For his 15 years of uniqueness, any of my words were insignificant. Fortunately, his works could be printed into a book for everyone to watch carefully. Lu Nan spent a full seven years shooting this set of "Four Seasons" reflecting the lives of Tibetan farmers. From spring sowing to autumn harvest scenes, from eating to family affection, many details and aspects of Tibetan farmers' lives. In 7 years, he shot the complete autumn harvest for four years, and he shot the spring sowing for two years. The last time, he worked in Tibet for 9 months. He relied on maps to choose the shooting location and used the comparison The examples are used to calculate and choose the villages that can be reached by walking. He walked from village to village, and he walked for 7 hours in the farthest village. And almost every afternoon he braved sandstorms and traveled back and forth to different shooting locations and residences. In the rest of the shooting, he still had to spend 4 to 6 hours studying the works of Plato and Goethe and listening to Bach's music. It is this religious piety that has made him turn such a boring and lonely work process into a way of dialogue with the great spirit of classicism, and turn shooting into a solemn and solemn spiritual experience. TIBET. Village life. 2001. Village 2001 "Four Seasons" consisting of 109 works. In the order of one year, the daily life of Tibetan farmers is turned into a "classic" of labor and daily life: both complete structure and can withstand viewing and careful consideration like great Western classical paintings and sculptures. Complete structure refers to one hundred and nine works, combined like a great epic and symphony of daily life, both in the theme and in the rhythm of the grandeur and details. For example, the first picture starts with an ordinary Tibetan house, bringing people into a simple and peaceful environment. TIBET. Chongye, Lhoka. Women building a summer sheepfold. 1997. Women going to build summer sheepfold 1997 followed by various working scenes in spring soaring, and then the camera brings our sight from far to near, bringing our sight to various details of daily life. Finally, the camera goes from near to far, a picture "Women Who Go to Build the Summer Sheep Fold" is presented to us with a grand scene: the distant mountains and the sky are integrated, setting off the working posture of the main theme and color blocks in the picture, and the unevenness of the wooden poles adds a lively factor to the picture. A white cloud floats out from the mountains, like the sound of a trumpet suddenly appearing in the music, the whole picture is poetic, like the author's look back when he reluctantly leaves - the distance that is about to disappear, a new hope begins again. The classic I understand is that Lu Nan can turn labor, daily life and daily emotions into a kind of beauty with "eternal meaning". Because "Four Seasons" transcends the curious angles we usually see about Tibet such as prominent religious activities, primitive feelings, stout bodies, and beyond the usual photographer's attention to an event. And with a sense of awe, it highlights the poetic and divine nature of the labor and daily life of Tibetan peasants. The poetic and divine nature of the photos is based on the author's ability to remove all the dynamic and accidental factors similar to emergencies when capturing the object, emphasizing the relationship between labor, daily life and daily emotions and the universal human emotions, and expressing them in a stable and perfect composition similar to ancient Greek and Renaissance paintings and sculptures.
If I asked him what was the difficulty of shooting Tibet? He replied: The difficulty is that it has no event, it is so common that it cannot be more common, all family environments are the same, and all the work done by families in the same period is the same, which is particularly difficult." However, the ability of "Four Seasons" to turn this ordinary into extraordinary and daily life into "classics" is because Lu Nan realized that "their labor is 100% for themselves.
For the first time, I saw turning labor into labor itself. Van Gogh said that under the strong sunshine, it is solemn and solemn. It is too right. . In Tibet, there is no side facing the soil and suffering, they do it for themselves, so labor is happy to finally become labor. Just as art becomes art itself, great things can appear. Once there is secularity, it has nothing to do with greatness. "As the eternal goal of mankind, labor transcends the usual sense of family support and hard work and becomes poetry with a divine feeling. It is not only Lu Nan's experience in filming the daily life of Tibetan farmers, but also the process of Lu Nan's continuous dialogue with the great classical tradition of the West.
TIBET. Mother and son picking edible plants. 2004.
Mother and son digging ginseng fruit 2004
"Four Seasons"'s expression of the divine poetry of the labor process is first reflected in labor scenes such as spring sowing and autumn harvest. In this type of work, the "sovereign and solemn" of the worker is emphasized by Lu Nan very much. For example, in "Mother and Son Digging Ginseng Fruit", the viewing line is slightly lower than the main characters, making the faint horizon cross the middle of the picture, half of which is the mountains and the sky, and half is the land, forming the main gray background of the picture, making the mother and son with heavy tones very prominent. At the same time, the mother and son stand and squat one by one, break through the horizon and stand between the heaven and earth, especially the mother's movement, choose the pickaxe to hold it high and is about to fall, shaping the action like a classical sculpture.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. A husband and his wife scattering seed. 2001
Couple sowing 2001
Another example is "Sowing Couple", the yak in the picture, one suppresses and one rises, adding contrast to the coordination, making the labor dynamics of the entire picture both stretched and clear. Especially the wife's movement of sowing seeds is light and agile, but not exaggerated. Moreover, due to the large area of gray tones, the heavy tone movements set off by them, and the heavy dress, the picture processing of "The Sowing Couple" does not show joy and vivid feelings in the general sense, but rather emphasizes the power and sense of stability.
TIBET. Women gathering ears of wheat. 2003.
Woman picking ears 2003
Such pictures that emphasize the "sovereign and solemn" of labor are everywhere in labor scenes such as spring sowing and autumn harvest. You will feel that these labor scenes are not the moment they were taken, but are drawn repeatedly. For example, "The Woman Picking Ears of Wheat", which reminds people of Miller 's " Gliding "; "The Descendant and the People Who Come to Descend" reminds people of Rembrandt 's "Professor Tilp's Anatomy Lesson".
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains.An oracle. 1997.
Submitted Master and the People who came to Submitted 1997
Although it seems familiar, it is very different.The familiarity lies in Lu Nan's control over the main mood of the "sovereign" picture; the difference is that you cannot really find a few works similar to Western classical paintings in "Four Seasons". The similarity is just feelings, because what Lu Nan cares about is the excavation of the "great truth" from the daily lives of Tibetan farmers. It is specific and real and different from the life of any region, but it has a humanistic feeling that is common to Western classical art and even all good works of art.
TIBET. An old man digging potatoes. 2003.
The old man digging potatoes 2003
In addition, in the pictures of family work such as twisting threads and making tea, Lu Nan emphasized more about the movements of the characters when working, especially the relationship between the movements and expressions of the hand. In conjunction with the posture of the hand, it is the pleasure, concentration, or calmness and firmness of the expression... For example, in "The Old Man Digging Potatoes", his hands, especially the firm eyes, and the calm and solemn expressions stimulated my feelings, making it impossible for me to use words that are too emotional, such as hardship and poverty, to describe the psychological relationship between labor, food and this old man in the picture. This is not something that we, like the city people who are busy with material desires and suffering, can understand.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Mother and children spooling yarn. 2002.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. 2002.
Mother and son twisting threads.2002.
In fact, the rare expression of the mainland farmers discovered in the picture does not require us to understand, but we want to pay tribute! In "Mother and Children Who Wrapped in the Line", the mother and her children are focused; in "Mother and Son Who Wrapped in the Line", the son falls asleep peacefully on the legs of the mother who is twisting in the Line. The warmth and peaceful atmosphere of the whole picture touches us.
TIBET. Wife and angry husband. 2004.
His wife and angry husband. 2004.
Almost half of the total number of "Four Seasons", the work that shows the family affection and harmonious relationship between people in daily life. In such works, Lu Nan is very good at grasping moments that can reflect the relationship between characters and highlight the love and intimacy between characters. For example, "Wife and Angry Husband", on one side is the husband who is still angry, with his eyes wide open, and on the other side is the wife's kind expression and the movement of stroking her husband's hands. This moment can remind people of a complete story of love and family.
TIBET. Mother and daughter in autumn harvest. 2003.
Mother and daughter in autumn harvest 2003
Another example is "Mother and daughter in autumn harvest". Next to the haystack of the autumn harvest, the underage daughter snuggled in her mother's arms with her body exposed. Perhaps because of the author's appearance, the daughter lowered her head shyly and smiled. The two smiles conveyed the kind and harmonious communication between the mother, daughter, and the author who did not appear in the picture. This type of work is the most common in "Four Seasons", and it focuses on the relationship between people in various life details such as love, family affection, understanding, care, and harmony.
TIBET. Grandmother got headache suddenly and her grandchild were astonished. 2001.
grandmother got headache suddenly and her grandchild were astonished. 2001.
TIBET. Sisters putting on make up. 2003.
TIBET. Grandma and grandson. 2000.
Grandma and granddaughter
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Grandfather and his granddaughter. 2001
Grandfather and granddaughter 2001
TIBET. Grandma and granddaughters applying facial cream. 2004.
Grandma and granddaughters applying facial cream. 2004
such as mutual care in "Grandma with a headache at the neighbor's house and frightened grandson", the shared wish for beauty in "Cousin Dressing", and a lot of pictures of "Grandma and Grandson", "Grandpa and Granddaughter", "Grandma and Granddaughter with Oil on Face", which show the filial and harmonious relationship between generations, and the picture is very touching.When dealing with such works, Lu Nan inherited the tradition of Western realistic painting from the Renaissance to the 19th century. He was good at grasping the psychology and themes of the characters through typical moments, that is, the great human love shown by small people in daily life, love labor, love relatives, love everyone, and even love the grass and tree of nature among small animals...
When chatting with me, Lu Nan specifically mentioned a life detail he noticed in Tibet: " For example, there is a kind of respect for life. There is a village where all the cats are skinny and have no energy and even walk. One day, I just went to a villager's house and saw his thin cat sneering a mouse. The cat finally got something to eat. Do you know what he did? He let the mouse go, and the cat wanted to chase it, but he blocked it, and the mouse ran away. "This kind of treating life equally comes from both religion, and a harmonious relationship formed between Tibetan farmers, and between natural animals and plants. This is what Lu Nan experienced in filming the lives of Tibetan farmers.
The author's filming process is also a process of education. In other words, the process of Lu Nan's filming of "The Forgotten People", "On the Road" and "Four Seasons" in the past 15 years is a process of loving education. When Lu Nan first filmed "The Forgotten People", something happened, which still makes him remember it deeply: "When I first went to the hospital, I treated them as terrible people. In Anding Hospital, when I entered a ward, a patient was looking out. I wanted to take pictures of him. When he came over, I stopped taking pictures.
That person was very strong, and I could only reach his shoulder. At this time, I wanted to run away, but I was afraid of hurting others. Just when I thought about it, he had already arrived. When I came forward, I protected my head with my hands, thinking not to get me out of concussion, my mind was blank, but in an instant, I saw him stretching out a hand to shake hands with me... After that, I never had the concept of mental illness again. He was just such a type of person, and this idea was implemented throughout Tibet." Lu Nan also talked about the education he received during the filming process. He said, "China's national conditions do not allow religion to be used to do anything.
So they can only do one thing, which is faith, which is love. Their strong belief and gentleness surprised me. When someone in the family is about to die, others will say it is too good. They are not afraid of death, and of course they also have fear. When the soul and the body are about to separate, what they are afraid of is that the soul cannot go to heaven. What is love? Our current emotions have always been influenced by opposing emotions. If you are good to me, I will be good to you. But love is not like this. Jesus is to His disciples The emotions are different from others, but the love given is equal. I have no religion, I just have faith, it is best not to have religion if an artist wants to have faith."
Lu Nan was infected by the solemnity, piety and love in reality, but he did not convert to religion because of shooting religion. Religion is just the subject he chose. The subject matter is not important to Lu Nan, or the importance of the subject matter lies in whether it "can help me solve problems, it is just my means to solve problems." The problem Lu Nan wants to solve is whether a photographer can grasp something deeper and greater in reality in the fleeting moments. This is the reason why photography becomes art and the reason why photographers become artists. This is Lu Nan’s belief and Lu Nan’s religion.
What is the "reality" of reality? Different artists not only see different reality, but also the feelings caused by reality are very different. The value of art, not all photographic pictures, lies in the different choices of real scenes and moments of life, and the different expressions of different feelings. Looking at art is to look at the images in the eyes of different artists and the author's feelings implied by the images.
What is the "reality" in farmers' lives? Perhaps the dull eyes, numb expressions, the hardships and painful movements and expressions of labor are all real. They exist in any region, even in the subjects taken by Lu Nan in Tibet. But what photographers want, choose or even dig for what kind of moments they are crucial.As Lu Nan said: "I have always believed that cameras are just tools. If the things made with this tool do not reach the level of other fields, then it is not that there is a problem with the tool, it must be that there is a problem with the person using the tool.
For example, photography includes the understanding of reality. Camera is often the most deceptive, and what is really needed is mining. The way a photographer works determines that the image must be formed in an instant, but it does not mean that the photographer always has to capture fleeting moments. The thinking of the mind is inevitability, not accidental. I need to care about people's fundamental, lasting and essential things. What photos convey is an uncertain thing, always accidental appearance, and I hope to solve these problems."
The problem that Lu Nan wants to solve is also the problem that photography history needs to solve. I agree with Lu Nan's opinion: " Susan Sontag in photography theory says that in a photography exhibition, there is a huge gap between subject matter and subject matter." "Art speaks to the world in a whole, and it cannot form a whole." Photography used to "survival can only work for newspapers and magazines. Only by accepting someone's delegation can you take photos and survive. He faces such a dilemma.
In fact, photography did not find this problem at that time, but photography was in 2 When television appeared in the 1960s, it was liberated, but it was also difficult. By the 1980s, some people had accumulated works, and individuals had continuity. You can talk about photographers, such as Cindy Sherman. " "A major event can be discussed, but not photographers." "Photography always talks about photos, but not photographers." Here, Lu Nan involved two issues that are very important, one is the photographer's personal feelings, as well as related language and style factors; the other is the so-called "reality".
The first question is, the importance of artistic personality involves the general laws of art, so I will not elaborate on this. The photographer proves that he is an artist, not just a photographer. You have to rely on the uniqueness of personal feelings and the uniqueness of language to bridge the "giant gap between subject matter" as Susan Sontag said and obtain the "integrity" that Lu Nan said - that is, the personal characteristics of the whole.
Of course, being a photographer - a photographer in a photo studio and a considerable number of news photographers is another problem. The second question, "reality" is a concept for me. No work has an empty "reality". You must give the specificity of "reality" in your work. Although this specificity involves the sociological analysis of reality, in my opinion, photography becomes art, and its "reality" mainly involves a photographer's personal position.
If an accidental event happens, and you accidentally hold the camera, you take one or several photos; or, you take novel real scenes and people that ordinary people cannot see, because it becomes a unique witness to the event, making the photos appear "precious". Perhaps this authenticity is still unquestionable in the sense of social archives and news. All the differences lie in who is more professional - focal length, aperture, tone, composition, etc., but in my opinion, photography can only be called art when it is "hired" relationship beyond the social archives.
means that truth, even if it involves witnessing an event, as an artist, the photographer’s personal position and unique perspective are the primary criteria. Because in every period of time when humans survive, most individuals are just individuals who are spoken by specific ideologies, so the true personal feeling and free state of mind involve the "reality" of art.
I asked Lu Nan whether he noticed technical issues in tone or composition and styling during the shooting process. He replied: "I can't see anything, and I can't see anything from the beginning when I started. What I see is the whole. What my works require is depth of field. Everything is meaningful. It is difficult for people to deal with this whole. I may have to shoot several films in one shot. And my photos are not cut." But the overall feeling is a process of continuous selection, choice, and condensation.
TIBET. An old woman making tea for the harvest. 2000.
The old woman making tea for the harvest. 2000
is like the autumn harvest. He took photos four times, which means that he will shoot the same scene continuously within four years. I roughly calculate the autumn harvest scene in "Four Seasons". Lu Nan chose about twenty pictures. We cannot know how many photos Lu Nan chose, but we will know that this ratio is amazing. What I mean is that the process of an amazing number of shots on a scene is a process of constantly highlighting and perfecting one's own ideas. This process is not only a dialogue process between Lu Nan and the subject, but also a dialogue process between Lu Nan establishing expression language and his own inner soul. It is also a dialogue process between Lu Nan and the great classical tradition of the West.
These three processes are indispensable, making Lu Nan gradually understand what he wants - labor becomes labor itself, love, family affection, etc. This is what is gradually disappearing today, but it is the extremely prominent human "great sentiment" in the daily lives of Tibetan farmers. Therefore, for Lu Nan, only solemn and solemn can express the "reality" he sees. If one day we can compare the photos of Lu Nan "eliminated" in the same scene with the photos he chose, we will see more clearly how Lu Nan finds the moments in his heart with the "solemn" feeling in a series of accidental moments in daily life. I thought this was a "key" that "Four Seasons" can maintain the overall feeling.
TIBET. Sisters seeing the fields in the spring. 2004.
Sister sowing in spring
Soul of solemnity requires the picture to be simple and steady, such as scenes such as spring sowing and autumn harvest. The character labor plot of each scene highlights a kind of labor. The sowing picture is just the plot of sowing, and the picture of picking wheat ears is just the plot of picking wheat ears. Perhaps the picking wheat ears and the person who harvests wheat are in the same scene, but every kind of labor is simply produced by Lu Nan. Moreover, the characters are mainly one or two to three or four, and there are almost no lively scenes with big scenes. Labor movements do not specifically emphasize dynamics, and always choose the most stable posture that best illustrates the action in the dynamics.
All the family scenes are also very simple, highlighting the plot that best explains the family relationship between characters, and there are no unnecessary actions or extraneous plots. "Four Seasons" mostly consists of close-up composition, and most characters in the picture have a characteristic of eye contacting the center of the picture. This is mostly determined by the plot of the picture, which always determines the center point of the characters' attention, which makes the composition of such works stabilize. The sight of the medium-scene composition is mostly in the middle of the picture, dividing the world in half. The large area of gray in the tone alone forms a complete and unified background, revealing the movements of the main characters, and most of the characters occupy the main position of the picture. The simplicity of the movements also brings a stable feeling to the overall composition.
tone processing is the most fascinating feature of "Four Seasons". Large and medium-sized scenes under outdoor light mostly emphasize strong sunlight effects, like the ones we usually see shooting Tibetan works. Lu Nan always integrates the sky and the earth as a gray background to highlight the generally unified dark blocks of the characters to highlight the character's weight. Works with indoor light mostly have a dark background similar to Rembrandt, highlighting the gray blocks of the characters, especially the light gray blocks of the face. Lu Nan said that the strong sunshine in summer makes the indoor light contrast strong, which makes him rarely choose to shoot indoor works in summer.
In order to better handle indoor light, Lu Nan often chooses to block the windows with gauze to make the light of indoor characters softer. I have never asked Lu Nan whether to use flash, but I can feel that his works have never had an artificial tone feature. The tone of the characters under natural light is real and natural, which is exactly one of the factors he wants. Although we cannot know the details that Lu Nan borrowed from Western classical art, from the composition, tone and simplicity of the "Four Seasons" composition, tone and simplicity, we can guess the author's deep cultivation of Western classical art.
TIBET. Villagers thank the gods for the harvest. 2002.
Thanks God for the people who gave the harvest after harvest 2003
Control the emotions of the picture, which may be an important way for "Four Seasons" to maintain a solemn feeling. Taking the two types of pictures dealing with "happiness" and "sorrow" as an example, "Thank God for the People Who Give the Harvest after Harvest" is a scene where people hold up crops and cheer to the sky, and the sky occupies a large area in the picture. The characters' cheering movements all chose to stand in a stable manner, and they were happy without being excited. Moreover, the expression of joy is unified in the characters' actions of dark blocks and is not very prominent.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. Young women dancing. 2000.
Dancing girls 2000
"Dancing girls" is a scene of singing and dancing, but is placed far away by the author. It deliberately does not highlight the cheerful movements of the dance, but integrates the dance into the sky, mountains and earth, so that the whole picture presents an atmosphere of dancing with nature. Only the girls' white top sleeves, as bright color blocks, have become the most active and cheerful factor in the picture, but because of the small area, the cheerful factor seems very restrained.
TIBET. Chongye, Lhoka. Children jumping rope. 1996.
Children jumping rope 1996
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A mother who learns that her daughter's right eye has lost sight. 2000.
Mother and daughter who just confirmed that her daughter's right eye has lost sight. 2000
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Injured husband and his wife. Carriage attacked him and he cannot walk. Wife composed the sutras. 2001
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Husband and blind wife. 2002.
Honey and blind wife.2002.
"Children Jumping Rope" is also filmed in the same way, highlighting the joyful and harmonious atmosphere of nature. The "sad" picture treatment focuses more on the portrayal of characters' expressions, such as "The Mother Who Just Knows My Daughter's Right Eye Blind", "The Wife and Husband Being Killed by a Carriage", "Husband and Blind Wife". For such a tragic result, the author did not emphasize the miserable atmosphere, nor did he emphasize the painful expressions of mothers, wives, and husbands, but highlighted their care for the unfortunate people and their "bearing" feelings of relatives. The feeling of control of sadness and joy comes from Lu Nan's subject, and is also deliberately emphasized by the author.
This actually conforms to the traditional aesthetic concept of Chinese Confucianism, the so-called "sad but not hurt, and joy but not lust." This control over the emotions of the picture is not only reflected in the control of sad and happy emotions. If we look carefully at all the pictures, we will find that this ability to control is reflected everywhere. Every work in "Four Seasons" can always be unified in a solemn, solemn, grand and solemn overall atmosphere. Control may be Lu Nan's most important language method.
(Li Xianting: a famous art critic and curator, the main promoter of modern and contemporary Chinese art)
TIBET. Three women spreading manure in the fields. 2003.
3.
TIBET. Three women spreading manure in the fields. 2003.
TIBET. Old woman preparing to plow the field. 2004.
old woman preparing to plow the field 2004.
TIBET. Husband and wife plowing the field. 2004.
Couple plowing the field 2004
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. Family working in wind and sand dust. Tibet, 2001
House family working in wind and sand dust. 2001
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. Having rest at the time seeing in spring. 2001
people resting 2001
TIBET. The plow broken at the time of seeing. 2001
people repairing 2001
TIBET. Mother and daughter planting potatoes. 2004.
mother and daughter of potatoes
TIBET. On the way home. 2000.
Boys going home 2000
TIBET. Xigaze. Shaman going through a ritual to get rid of the evil. 1997.
People doing hail rituals 1997
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the range of Himalaya Mountains. 1997.
Women and children washing quilts 1997
TIBET. Xigaze. Two girls carrying water. 1997.
Girls going to fetch water 1997
TIBET. Women at work. 2000.
Women doing work 2000
TIBET. Mother is making a tea in the morning. 2002.
mother making morning tea
girl pouring water 2002
TIBET. Mother feeding her son and a lamb. 2001.
mother and son feeding lamb 2001
TIBET. A girl running errands. 2004.
The girl who picks up something
TIBET. A girl holding a tea cup. 2002.
The girl who serves tea 2002
TIBET. A woman churning butter while eating zanba. 2003.
The woman who separates cream while eating tsampa 2003
TIBET. Mother and daughter shoveling goat manure for cooking. 2004.
Mother-in-law and daughter with sheep dung
TIBET. A young woman spooling yarn. 2002.
girl twisting yarn
TIBET. Xigaze. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law spin and weave. 2000.
mother-in-law and daughter-in-law weave. 2000.
TIBET. Xigaze. A mother and her two daughters separating the milk. 2000.
TIBET. A husband and wife sharing a meal together. 2002.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A woman put sake lees into a container. 2001
Woman pouring wine lees.2001.
TIBET A woman washing dishes.2001.
Woman washing dishes.2001.
TIBET. A grandma and a grand-daughter in tears.2000.
grandma and crying granddaughter.2000
TIBET. A daughter pouring wine for the father. 2001.
The father drinking and the daughter pouring the wine.2001
TIBET. An old couple. 2000.
old couple. 2000
TIBET. Two boys crossing the ditch. 2003.
teenager crossing the canal 2003
TIBET. A family at lunch. 2003.
Family having lunch.2003.
TIBET. A girl gathering crops. 2000.
Girl in harvesting 2000
TIBET. Xigaze. Autumn harvest. 1999.
Girl in harvesting wheat 1999
TIBET. Two men gathering crops. 2002.
Men in harvesting 2002
TIBET. Girls hold up a bundle of wheat. 2002.
TIBET. A girl sharpen a sickle. 2002.
Hair of sickle 2002
TIBET. Xigase. Waking up the husband to work. Men work hard during harvest season, but then it is also their most tiring season of the year. 1999.
Wife who asked her husband to get up and harvest 1999
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A man and a girl during the Autumn harvest. 2002
man and girl carrying wheat 2002
TIBET. Three old women under rest. 2002.
2002
TIBET. A family digging radishes. 2003.
family digging radishes 2003
TIBET. Xigase. A break from the day's work. 1999
family resting 2003
TIBET. Two men turning up wheat heads. 2002.
man turning up wheat heads. 2003
TIBET. Family under thresh. A daughter drives off a horse, and steps on and crushes a bundle of wheat, and it separated a stalk of wheat and a grain of wheat with wind. 2002.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Mother and her daughter separate peas. 2002.
threshing mother and daughter 2002
TIBET. Women chaff the wheat. 2000.
threshing woman Tibet 2000
TIBET. Brother and sister separating the wheat from the chaff. 2000.
Yangmai's cousins. 2000
TIBET. Women separates a pea. 2002.
Woman with peas separated.2002
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Grandfather, his daughter and his granddaughter in the harvest of Autumn.2002
Grandfather and mother and son 2002
TIBET. Xigase. Coming home from work.1999.
Family who finished work 1999
TIBET. Xigase. Serving liquor to her father. 2000.
His father and daughter pouring wine. 2000
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A wife is braiding the husband's hair. A Tibetan man cannot do his hair alone. 1999
BET 1999
TIBET. Mother and daughter washing Qingke barley. 2000.
Mother and daughter washing barley 2000
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Woman is stir-frying wheat. 2002.
Woman stir-frying barley 2002
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A boy uses wheat as powder with a mortar by hydroulic power influence. 2002
TIBET. A young girl pouring out the fertilizer. 2003.
girl unloading fertilizer 2003
TIBET. A girl carrying water. 2003.
The girl fetches water 2003
TIBET. A family gathering around a stove. 2003.
The family around the stove 2003
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Grandmother and her granddaughter. 2002.
Grandmother and her granddaughter 2002
TIBET. Mother and daughter pour the tea. 2004.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Mother and her daughter. 2001
Mother and daughter pour the tea. 2001
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Mother and her daughter. 2001
Mother and daughter pour the tea. 2001
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. 2001
husband and wife who is about to give birth 2002
TIBET. Father and daughter ready to pay New Year's visits. 2004.
father and daughter are preparing to visit friends during the New Year 2004
TIBET. Two your girls during festival time. 2003.
Two girls in the festival.2003.
TIBET. The old man is reading the sutras in the house. 2002.
The old man chanting scriptures at home 2002
TIBET. Xigase.An old lady walks round the holy circular tower. In Tibet, apart from a few holy days, there are some days where you are supposed to walk around in clockwise direction with a Many wheel in the hand. 2000.
turn to the old woman in Mani pile 2000
TIBET. Husband and wife repairing cooking utetensils. 2003.
TIBET. Parents with their daughter. 2003.
Mother and daughter 2003
TIBET. Father and his daughter. 2002.
father and daughter. 2002.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Husband and wife do other work while cooking boiled rice. 2002
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Grandmother and granddaughter. 2001
grandmother and granddaughter 2001
TIBET. Grandpa and granddaughter. 2003.
grandmother and granddaughter 2003
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains.Grandfather and his granddaughter. 2002
Grandpa and granddaughter.2002.
TIBET. Father is sewing a daughter's sleeve. 2002.
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. A daughter broke the bowl. A family -- the wooden bowl used for each everybody, boiled rice, and tea. The bowl of the product made from pork is only two. The bowl made from pork is prepared for the relative or the friend. It is broken and admonished by a daughter's carelessness. 2002
TIBET. A father helping his daughter try on a new pair of shoes. 2004.
2004
TIBET. A mother listening to her elder daughter's complaints. 2003.
sister and two sisters who complained to her mother 2003
TIBET. An elder sister and her brother who want to have some cheese. 2003.
sister and her brother who want to have some cheese. 2003.
TIBET. Mother and daughter lighting a lamp. 2000.
mother and daughter lighting the lamp 2000
TIBET. The family is eating supper. 2002.
family having supper 2002
TIBET. Xigaze, about 300 Km west of Lhasa, in the Himalaya Mountains. Mother and sons spooling yarn. 2002.
Mother and two sons who are wrapping the thread. 2002.
TIBET. Father and daughter at night. 2004.
TIBET. Husband and wife trying out clothes. 2004.
TIBET. Parents and children at night. 2004.
Parents and children at night 2004
TIBET. A woman helped by her daughter preparing wine and food for her husband working in the fields. 2004.
Mother and daughter preparing wine and food for her husband working in the fields. 2004.
TIBET. Father and daughter carrying bundles of grass. 2001.
Father and daughter carrying turf 2001
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