Good vision, physiologically, is easy to measure, but how much we actually perceive psychologically is another question. The art of photography can expand our true "field of vision" and train our ability to see.
The photographer Shih Ch'un-fu uses the technique of soft focus to express his feelings of nostalgia and affection for his hometown and convey a vision of dim and hazy longings for the past. Rather than recording visual sensations, his photographs seem instead to be steeped in those of emotion.
Out of focus and lacking in depth, "Stone House" may seem to resemble a practice shot taken with a toy camera and probably fails to conform to the aesthetic concepts of most professional photographers, but its main point lies elsewhere. A substance placed over the lens has blurred the edges of the objects in the picture, making everything appear as though seen through a mist, in a dream, from a memory of the past. At the same time, the picture's unforced, spontaneous quality adds to its appeal.
In "On the Way Back Home" the view of the figures from the rear, concealing their faces, gives broader play for the imagination, while the shadows of the trees on the road and the dim and hazy buildings in the distance increase the mood of nostalgia and longing.
Born in 1934 in the cultural old town of Lukang, Shih Ch'un-fu was nurtured artistically as a small child in painting and calligraphy by his grandfather, as a junior high school pupil by his art teacher, and as a student at Hsinchu Teachers' School by the elderly painter Li Tse-fan. These artistic training over three stages of his childhood and youth exerted a subtle influence later on his photographic style and orientation.
After graduation, Shih returned to Lukang to teach, where he gradually became interested in photography. In 1961 he spent half his annual salary to buy a top-of-the-line Canon camera, initiating his career as an amateur photographer.
As a beginner, Shih often tagged along on outdoor photo hunts with the photographers Chang Shih-hsien and Hsu Ts'ang-tze, from whom he profited greatly. Chang Shih-hsien, a direct and forceful proponent of realistic photography, has influenced many people. With Chang's stimulus and encouragement, Shih worked hard at picture taking, finally capturing a first prize with the series "Greeting the Dawn" in the Tahua Cup in 1968, and earning a special prize a year later in the Life of Man contest held by the China Photography Society. And Hsu Ts'ang-tze, belonging to the first post-War generation of realistic Lukang photographers, has his own ideals and attitude: pure and simple in method, natural, and casual. Shih studied and learned from both men before finding his own visual space.
Shih's style was also subtly influenced by the works of the Japanese photographer Shoji Ueda. The nostalgia and longing of Shoji's early black-and-white pictures, such as "Seasons of the Children," and the dreamlike yearning for the past of his later works in color, like "White Wind," pointed the way for Shih's evocations in soft focus of his deep affection for his rustic hometown.
Shih's soft focus effects are painstakingly achieved. In "Bemused" the unfocused objects behind the young woman's face make up a fantastic, fluctuating background that sets off the subject and creates an eerie, dreamlike air.
Another photo with a vague and misty atmosphere, "Happy Times" was taken at high contrast into the sunlight, forming weird haloes around the dark outlines of the children and giving the picture the feeling of a distant glimpse of a childhood scene.
In "Praying to Buddha" and "Idle," Shih has used soft focus in individual portraits. The two pictures were taken fifteen years apart, but they both display the photographer's customary feeling for life and powers of observation.
A quiet peacefulness pervades "Greeting the Dawn," another of Shih's pictures of rustic life in Lukang. The figure's shadow seems to hint at a story that the viewer can only surmise.
"Reverently Bearing Matsu" seems to silence the noise and bustle of a religious sacrifice with its cool and sensitive observation. None of the faces of the figures are visible, but their postures and outlines enable us to sense their feelings clearly.
From the 1960s to the present, Shih has tried his hand at several kinds of photography, but his most meaningful and representative style is found in these poetic soft-focus pictures. Their ineffable atmosphere and rich feeling do indeed convey a deep love of the countryside and of the past.
During his photographic career, Shih Ch'un-fu has preferred to go it alone and search out his own direction. In the future he hopes that, rather than casually taking pictures as he fancies, he can concentrate on preserving a more systematic record of the people and scenes of his hometown. We hope that future photographic retrospectives will let us see some of his misty visions of the 1980s.
[Picture Caption]
Shih Ch'un-fu at age 28, 1962.
Stone House, 1971.
On the Way Back Home, 1965.
Reverently Bearing Matsu, 1987.
Bemused, 1969.
Happy Times, 1966.
Village Children, 1963.
Praying to Buddha, 1965.
Idle, 1980.
Clam Cart, 1958.
Greeting the Dawn, 1968.
On the Way Back Home, 1965.
Reverently Bearing Matsu, 1987.
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