Extraordinary lives on camera
Photographer snaps the social changes across China over the past 30 years of reforms, opening-up
Editor’s note: Kang Taisen, a photographer who is over 60 years old, worked as a photojournalist in a newspaper in his early days, and he developed acute observation and photographing skills. He is keen on photographing ordinary people, and he is good at expressing the dramatic and vivid scenes in our daily life. His photography is not only imbued with the imprint of the times and humor, but also with a thoughtprovoking life attitude. Kang has been constantly on the road, using his lens to take us face-to-face with the normal life of people in remote areas, without interference and exaggeration. His photos have become a true portrayal of the different stages in the process of our social development.
Istarted using my camera to create my own art in 1985 — seven years after the reform and openingup officially took place. At that time, I was deeply inspired by the works of some famous foreign photographers, especially their works on China.
You must be curious about how I operate the camera. There is nothing strange about it — I just have my own technique.
In the following 30 years, my lens has always been focusing on ordinary people. I realized that the most intuitive changes in China’s reform and opening-up should be reflected in people’s lives and the betterment of mankind.
I have become accustomed to integrating the people I want into my photographs in my own way. Many people do not know that I am just like them — an ordinary person busy working for a living all day long, with the same happiness and sorrow.
Recording their lives actually
reflects my own life. I also believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
For many years, I have repeatedly gone to Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hubei, Sichuan and other places in
China for on-the-spot observation. Photographing people is an artful endeavor.
When I went to these provinces 30 years ago, many places were still poor, and I could clearly feel the huge gap
there compared with the economically developed regions. This also prompted me to make up my mind to explore and record as many times as possible.
I wanted to see changes, especially unpredictable changes at the time. This idea is full of inexplicable challenges and deep temptations. I did not use a specific person or a specific family as the entry point of my photos, but instead focused on the people as a whole.
The bottom line is not to interfere, not to whitewash, and not to exaggerate. In addition to professional reasons, it is more out of my concern and compassion for the people.
One of the subjects I am most interested in is the local farmers’ market. The local fair is a gathering place for the people in the outlying villages and towns to trade and purchase.
I have photographed hundreds of bazaars in the past 30 years, and I can clearly feel the huge change from material scarcity in the past to material abundance today.
People’s transactions range from mostly self-produced agricultural products, agricultural tools to clothing, food and electronic products, besides the upgrading of transportation vehicles used by people in the market. The change is immediately noticeable.
In recent years, I have been consciously capturing the fashion elements that are appearing more and more in small counties or towns. The kind of mix and match and the sudden appearance of dramatic elements often fascinate me.
All that I can do is to use my lens to preserve as much of these real changes as possible. I do not deliberately use light, shadow and photo composition to create a sense of beauty, but I am used to using the most direct and simple images to simply present the situation I see.
Although one can only catch a glimpse of the life in it, as time goes by, I have accumulated many such photos. At least it is a true portrayal of people’s life in a period of time, and it can be regarded as a photographic archive.