tranquility - Xuhua Qin

January 3, 2021March 8, 2023

Xuanwu Lake after the heavy snow

The scene presented in these two pictures is the Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing and the nearby landscape. After a heavy snowfall, the sky is as clear as a mirror after the snowfall. Xuanwu Lake, which is usually a vast lake, has also become clearer, and the mountains not far away form a beautiful and pleasant landscape painting.

Xuanwu Lake after the heavy snow

In order to avoid the picture tone too cold and dull, I deliberately included the nearby boats and water splashes into the frame. These small boats have been docked consistently due to the weather. The orange hue of their hulls forms a stronger visual contrast with the surrounding environment, injecting a touch of warmth into the picture. At the same time, the wind on the water gradually squeezes the nearby lake water into a water wave, which keeps rolling over and over, just gradually rubbing those blue lake water into a small piece of faint splash. They make the picture look more vivid.

For the second picture, I changed the camera position and perspective, and incorporated the tree branches above my head and the bridge covered with snow into the composition, in order to show the depth of field and three-dimensional effect. In fact, the branches and the bridge also play a role in balancing the picture. It makes the left and right side of the picture look more harmonious. Of course, you may have a better way of composition.

Both images express the same theme in different degrees: the tranquility and distance after the snow. For a long time, people have been familiar with this kind of subject matter, and it seems to have gradually become a pattern of composition. But nonetheless, just like the mother theme of literature, people have been trying to explore the same kind of things for thousands of years. This explains why classical literature, the literature of different peoples, can be widely interpreted.

The same is true for photographic creations, I guess!

January 2, 2021March 8, 2023

A mountain village at dusk

The story in the photo takes place in an unknown mountain village in Jiangning, Nanjing. Here surrounded by mountains, rolling, the mountain is not high, there are immortals are famous. Nearby there is an abandoned quarry and some scattered pear orchards. They gave the pear garden a very beautiful name: pear valley.

Quarry abandoned barren mountain is the above-mentioned “bald mountain”. So these scenes together constitute the entire landscape of this mountain village.

When I photographed these scenes, the afterglow of the slanting sun was gently sprinkling on this large area, thus forming the effect of shadows of varying intensity and density. Although it is still far from the oil painting-like texture, it expresses the tranquility and serenity of the mountain village to a certain extent.

People who are tired of urban life have always longed for an idyllic life, where they can spend the rest of their lives in peace and settle their hearts. Some of them have spared no expense to buy properties in the remote countryside, and they have made a lot of extravagant construction. For those peasants who were born and raised in the mountain villages, perhaps they are tired of the comfortable life in the mountains, and escaping from the ravine to work in the city is their biggest dream. Just like what Qian Zhongshu described in his novel “The Siege”: people inside the walls want to go out, and people outside the walls want to come in.

A young man from Maanshan talked to me about his hometown. He said his hometown is full of mountains, more mountains than here and higher. But he didn’t want to stay there for the rest of his life. He said that life is too comfortable. From his words, we can detect that he seems to be very satisfied with the current life of the city to fight.

I only silently said: comfort may not be bad.

January 1, 2021March 8, 2023

Qinhuai river scenery snow

I know that a good photo is often the result of various coincidences, which of course does not exclude the role of the photographer’s personal qualities. But it is an indisputable fact that a good scene is half the success. Of course, I am not saying that my work is good or successful. Rather, from my personal experience, the importance of the subject matter and the shooting environment for a photo is indeed indispensable.

The Qinhuai River after the snow, the water and the sky are one color

The air in the Fuzimiao Scenic Area after the snow was unusually clear, which is undoubtedly an excellent weather for photographers. Because this can reduce the pollution of the picture due to dust, better restore the original appearance of the subject, so that the picture is more pure and transparent.

And it lived up to the expectations! I tried to take a few photos, they are indeed very different from the usual effect of shooting, the picture is more clean. In order to better express the three-dimensional effect of the Qinhuai River, I removed the telephoto lens and replaced it with a 16mm wide-angle lens to increase the depth of field effect. In addition, I adjusted the camera’s visual mode to “Clear”. In this way, the blue sky and the river surface will show a consistent tone. In order to prevent the tone from being too monochromatic, I also let the nearby boats and the buildings along the river into the picture to make it match the warm and cold.

Please remember that good weather is the only way to get good shots.

October 20, 2020March 8, 2023

Changshu Shanghu Lake

Poets always sigh with the variability of the climate and weep over it. They are angels who have fallen into the world, with their sensitivity, kindness and innocence, feeling the joys and sorrows of the world.

Visit Shanghu Fushui Villa and feel the color and classical meaning of late autumn

The gift of nature makes life full of freedom, but it also gives life a tragic color. So the Chinese poet Li Shangyin finally wrote the famous line “Leave the remnant lotus to listen to the rain”. Look, how spectacular this lotus leaf is about to wither!

It was a twilight in late autumn, but the sunset had not yet subsided. The afterglow of the setting sun cast a ray of light into the grass, which seemed warm and full of reverie. On the right side of the screen is a shadow. And in the distance is the vast blue sky and patches of white clouds. You stop and stare, this situation seems familiar.

People are always accustomed to comparison. This is not only due to the weakness of human nature, but more importantly, there are deeper philosophical thinking behind it. People find that things are always in a universal connection, so people invent concepts as a tool to understand the world. More importantly, this relationship embodies such a characteristic: strengthening, weakening, inclusive, complementary, etc.

In my opinion, the pavilion and the blue sky in the picture reflect this subtle relationship: enhancement. But you may have different opinions. This is normal, because everyone sees things differently.

In the Chinese literary tradition, parting is a big poetic motif. Those sentimental poets always take the trouble to create poems about parting. The pavilions and white clouds are the most common images in these poems. It is true that literature is related to people’s production and life and nation, but more essential is related to universal human nature. Therefore, a dialogue about us is possible.

This is an artificial scenery arranged in Fushui Mountain. You may have different opinions about artificial scenery. For in-depth discussions on these topics, we can have a separate chapter for dialogue. But what I want to say is that this kind of artificial scenery is the most typical in Suzhou gardens. It can almost be said that they represent the aesthetic tendency of traditional Chinese gardens like Suzhou gardens.

The pavilion in the distance forms a perspective relationship with the stone in front of you, and the high-light area of the sky and the shadow area under your feet form a contrast of light and dark, which increases the depth of the picture.

Fushui Villa is located in an area of Shanghu Lake in Changshu and is an integral part of Suzhou gardens. On its periphery is a large landform composed of lakes and islands. The lake is vast and blue, becoming one with the deep blue sky.