For amateur photographers, weekends and holidays commonly mean another form of work: striving to make the best use of their time off to foray about, eyes open, camera at the ready, in search of scenes to capture and record. The vast majority of amateur photographers on Taiwan during the 1960s and 70s belonged to this category of enthusiasts, holding full-time jobs during the week and devoting leisure hours to their hobby.
Weekend landscapes, weekend street scenes, weekend boredom, happiness, or loneliness--the world of the weekend photographer has a characteristic feel. The bulk of Li T'i-ch'in's work consists of similar weekend scenes, but his pictures are distinguished by sincerity, warmth, and faith in the value of the ordinary.
Li T'i-ch'in, born in Taipei in 1928, has led a simple and uneventful life. He graduated from the National Taipei Institute of Technology in 1944 with a degree in chemistry, and two years later he joined the Tatung Company, where he has worked for over forty years, his current position being general procurer.
In 1960, while he was still a section chief, Li was chosen to head the company's recreation group, as part of which, at the request of several camera buffs, he founded a photography club. He bought a Ricohflex 6 × 6 and began to take pictures himself, his duties as club founder and an innate artistic bent setting him off on the road of amateur photography.
While starting out, he asked for advice from such older experts as Li Tiao-lun, Teng Nan-kuang, Yang T'ien-szu, and Chung Chin-ch'ing. They rejected salon photography, admired naturalism and realism, and encouraged Li to follow the path marked out by the Liberty Exhibit of 1954 and the Photographic Society of Taipei.
"Lovers" and "Sunday" display some of the style and features of realistic photography prevalent in the early 1970's. In "Lovers" a couple cuddles together on the steps as a girl behind them talks on the telephone to her boyfriend. With their contrasting postures and half-hidden expressions, the girl and the couple provide two separate focal points of interest, while the simple lines of the composition as a whole create a touching and tender portrait of first love. "Sunday" shows a family passing a quiet afternoon in the park, the father and son dozing peacefully as the mother supports the one and leans over the other. Li used a 135mm lens to catch this shot, leaving them undisturbed by the click of the shutter.
During the 1970s Li took many pictures with children as subjects. In "Scamps in the Temple" the silhouettes of the children exude rhythm and energy, their motion and stillness offsetting each other in a composition that displays order in confusion. Taken against the light, the picture exhibits an organic arrangement of light, shadow, and form, combining a quality feel with a wonderful spontaneity.
"On the Way Home," taken from behind and above, adopts a viewpoint that is cool, calm, and observant. The two spots of light shining on the pavement, which look like strange beacons pointing the way, add an eerie, imaginative touch. The uneven slabs, the faint shadows from the setting sun, the Teddy bear's expression, the child's gait, and the feet of the anonymous person ahead of her . . . all are simple and unforced: loneliness imbued with a vein of warmth.
"Watching the Show" and "Mischievous Kids in the Country" aptly portray something of the innocence and concentration of children at play and at rest. Over the five mischievous children smiling and making faces at the camera hangs a surveyor's pole covered with a plastic bag, an image which adds an air of apprehension to the picture, a feeling of discomfort and strangeness to the naivete?
"Hurrying Along" clearly shows signs of influence from the early school of pictorial photography. A girl carrying her little brother walks along a road at noon, the lonely shadows and out-of-focus scenery in the distance forming a poetic backdrop to the familial feelings at the center of focus. The composition has a classical simplicity and clarity, while the tilt of the little brother's head adds a realistic touch that frees the picture from the cliches of the salon.
The leisurely reverie of "Separate Interests," the tart humor of "Open-Air Cosmetology," and the easygoing contentment of "A Short Break" . . . scenes of life from the past decade, all of which we can still bump into in the towns and villages of Taiwan today--only the styles and fashions of the people have somewhat changed. How would photographers handle these scenes encountering them today? Is there still room for creativity? These photos provide us with material for examination and reference.
Of even greater significance, of course, is that Li's "weekend chance encounters," like the works of his contemporaries, preserve for us the feelings of days gone by, the footprints of passing time. Fragmented and unextraordinary they may seem, yet, steeped in the developing fluid of time, these glimpses of the ordinary acquire a commonality and universality that speaks to the heart of what we are.
[Picture Caption]
Lovers, 1975.
Li T'i-ch'in, at age 35, with his two sons, 1969.
Sunday, 1973.
Separate Interests, 1973.
On the Way Home, 1974.
Scamps in the Temple, 1967.
Open-Air Cosmetology, 1969.
A Short Break, 1969.
Mischievous Kids in the Country, 1972.
Hurrying Along, 1968.
Li T'i-ch'in, at age 35, with his two sons, 1969.
Separate Interests, 1973.
Scamps in the Temple, 1967.
Open-Air Cosmetology, 1969.
Mischievous Kids in the Country, 1972.
