A chat about photography: Chinese photography art should learn "East" instead of "West"

A chat about photography: Chinese photography art should learn "East" instead of "West"

Art Qiang: Did you participate in the Songzhuang development discussion last night? Huang Hua: No, because I am still a marginal person in the art circle (a non-professional artist, and must have other livelihoods to support my family). The expressionist style ink painting that I started 7 years ago has long since stopped painting, because I insist on No, photography art is too small circle in China. Fortunately, I moved to Greece two years ago, and now I am mainly trying to find galleries or photography festivals in Europe and America to show my work. Art Qiang: Photography is a physical activity. Huang Hua: The Chinese photography circle has made it a physical task. Of course, because of the mention of photographers in China, they subconsciously think that they are either shooting portraits in the studio or doing scenery outdoors. In fact, if you look at Japan, which is a big country of photographic equipment, except for a few Japanese photographers who specialize in art photography, most of the photography is based on documentary, that is, small cameras. In Europe and the United States, everyone does not have big bags and small bags together. Basically, one or two cameras are fixed to go out. Because of landscape photography, they are no longer the mainstream of photographic art. Art Qiang: The Japanese take photography to the extreme. Huang Hua: So, I appreciate the style of Japanese photography more. In China, people who blindly imitate Western photography often only learn external things such as light and shadow composition and even so-called storytelling. Art Qiang: Photography is poor for three generations, how do you make money? Huang Hua: Japan has a very complete publishing system for photo albums. With such a huge photography group in China, the equipment dealers and the old masters finally make money, and if they are allowed to take the lead, photography can only be a manual job. I am now working hard to focus on the publication of photographic collections as the main income direction. In order to increase my personal reputation, the idea of ​​whether I can sell limited edition collections during the exhibition is not strong. Art Qiang: At the earliest, there was a group of people who specialized in taking pictures of scenic spots. They paid 100,000-200,000 for a year of taking pictures of scenic spots, and they could get 200-300 photos. Huang Hua: When I was a travel expert a few years ago, I was familiar with such business operation routines. Art Qiang: All photos are sold now, and landscape photos are also very good. There are copyright platforms. Huang Hua: I am now a contract photographer for Tu Worm. I have uploaded less than 300 documentary works, and I have sold them for a year and a half. The copyright income is pitiful. Landscape films must be sold better, but if a photographer wants to sell his landscape works, he must shoot in large and small packages, and a camera like me will definitely not be able to sell it. Plus, there are too many domestic photographers who shoot landscapes. There are many messages from photographers who have signed contracts with the photo library on social media. Those photographers who have signed contracts with the photo library very early are very few who can earn more than 1,000 RMB a month. Therefore, playing photography may still be a matter of three generations of poor people, but the key is that if you go down the old road, Chinese photography will reach a dead end. Art Qiang: It's like this, the best photographers are the first to lead the class, and the second is to lead the team. Huang Hua: Now the photographers of Magnum Photo Agency have started to use master classes as a major profit direction. This is actually a helpless move after the Internet has greatly impacted the publication of print media. On the other hand, Japanese photographers do not have this problem, because they did not rely on apprentices to earn income from the beginning, but have always relied on publishing photo albums to bring popularity and considerable copyright income.

(Responsible editor：Retro)