Photography on Taiwan during the 1960's developed in three general directions: salon photography, imagist photography, and realistic documentary photography, the latter itself containing numerous styles and schools.
Ts'ai Kao-ming is a post-1960's realistic photographer whose portraits of life in the country possess a smooth and natural realistic style of their own. His easygoing, down-to-earth subjects and conceptions arise both from his empathy with local life and from his honest and straightforward personality. From the simple, realistic black-and-white shots of his early years through the lyrical and humorous sketches of his later period right up to his warm, affectionate color portraits of the past two years, Ts'ai's works confirm him as a powerful and truthful realistic observer.
Ts'ai Kao-ming was born in 1931 to a farming family in Tainan. He liked to cut and paste in school and made complicated toy models for fun. When he was nineteen, he went to work in a photo supply store, where he finally found an appropriate way to develop his fondness for working with his hands. It was his experience experimenting in the darkroom that decided him on his future career.
In 1954, he opened the Hsin Hsing Photography Studio in Tainan and began his formal activity as a photographer. During the next few years he travelled widely around the neighboring countryside in search of shots to satisfy his own creative interests and to submit to magazines and contests. "I was just trying to make a name for myself," he says, explaining that he needed to establish a reputation.
Although they were taken mainly for contests and magazines, some of Ts'ai's early pictures are precious records, in a natural and sincere documentary style, of the determined, frugal, and hardworking aspects of the people of Taiwan.
"Little Schoolboy" shows us a child standing in a corner holding an armful of umbrellas. His innocent, puzzled expression--as though he doesn't really know what he is doing--calls up for us distant childhood memories.
"Two Old Women" reminds us that being a woman in the country requires even more toughness and endurance than being a man. The two figures present an interesting contrast in their paper umbrella and Western umbrella, bare feet and cloth shoes, but what they both have in common is a sound body and an unbroken spirit.
In "Street Fortune-Teller" the fortune-teller's over-the-shoulder glace and the posture of the woman sitting next to him convey the rootlessness and bitterness of their lives as well as their hope to overcome some of the anxieties of the future through prognostication. The paper lantern, the stone blocks, and the sandals have now become symbols of a distant time.
Like other photographers of the time, Ts'ai never realized that his pictures would one day become precious treasures. "It was easy to take pictures of those kinds of things back then," he says. "If you lost the film, you'd just go out and shoot some more; it was no big deal." As a result, photographers of the time concentrated on shooting film and not on preserving it.
A few years ago a typhoon blew the roof off Ts'ai's house and soaked his prints and negatives, destroying many. A number of photographers have had similarly tragic experiences; whenever they think of it, they mutter, "What a pity! What a pity!"
During the 1980's Ts'ai has continued to take pictures and to participate in domestic competitions, generally placing among the top finishers and proving that his skills have in no way lessened with age. His later works are characterized by humor and interesting compositions.
"Passing in Review" and "The Yawn" were snapped at precisely the right moments. The three children and the four ducks form an interesting contrast, and the old fellow yawning and propping up his right leg radiates a warm, comic air.
"A Cow" presents a peaceful side of Ts'ai Kao-ming and his love of nature. The cow resting in the field seems to be waving its tail to say hello!
"Country Fair," with its rows of lanterns and pennants set off against the figures beneath, creates an interesting multifocal composition. In his recent pictures, Ts'ai often looks at old scenes in a fresh way.
Over the years, Ts'ai Kao-ming has continued to devote himself to his art. Besides putting an exhibition of his own on tour each year, he has organized a photography club, an association, and several exhibitions with others. These efforts, together with his modest, unassuming personality, have earned him great respect in photography circles in the south of the island.
What is regrettable is that we cannot see more of his black-and-white photos from the 1960's; such pure, direct, and simple human feelings are no longer found. Facing such raw human material, the photographer need do nothing more than stand quietly aside and snap the shutter.
[Picture Caption]
Ts'ai Kao-ming, 1986.
Little Schoolboy, 1960.
(Above) Two Old Women, 1961.
(Below) Herding Goats, 1965.
Street Fortune-Teller, 1963.
Incense Burner, 1980.
The Yawn, 1964.
Worship, 1979.
Passing in Review, 1980.
Country Fair, 1982.
A Cow, 1983.
（Above） Two Old Women, 1961.
（Below） Herding Goats, 1965.
Street Fortune-Teller, 1963.
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