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Photographer finds perfect subject in Xixi Wetland
By Xu Wenwen |
November 23, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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XIXI Wetland is well known for its beautiful scenery that lures 1 million visitors every year, including many shutterbugs. Zheng Congli loves the wetland so much he has taken countless photos of it.
For the past 22 years, Zheng carries his camera and other photography equipment to the wetland when the weather is good for taking pictures. On such days he often stays from dawn to dusk and "sometimes an 8GB memory card is not enough to hold all the photos I take in one day," Zheng says.
Last weekend, the 64-year-old photographer published "Xixi Wetland - Then and Now." It consists of 130 photos as well as several articles about his experiences in the wetland.
The Anhui Province native took most of the photos with a Hasselblad camera, a Swedish camera widely used by professionals. A Hasselblad was used to record the historic moment when man first landed on the moon during the Apollo missions.
Zheng divided the photographs in the book into four categories - dawn, day, dusk and night - and the pictures were taken during the four seasons. The wetland's temples, wildlife and natural scenery feature heavily in the book.
The former soldier's love for photography dates back to his service days when he was a military cameraman.
He has lived and worked in Hangzhou since 1981, first as a journalist and later as an editor at a local newspaper.
Zheng took many pictures of West Lake in the 1980s and published an album a decade ago.
His interest in Xixi Wetland was sparked in 1989, when he was invited to take photos of a dragon boat competition there. He was surprised by the beautiful scenery and became determined to bring it to life in photographs.
"Xixi Wetland was a virgin land that hadn't been developed for tourism at that time," Zheng says. "It was so original and it featured the vivid lives of local fisherman."
Over the years, he has photographed almost every corner of the area and how it has changed. He has recorded how birds migrate, how green persimmons grow to be ripe red ones, and how the wild wetland turned into Xixi Wetland National Park, the first national wetland park in China.
He says he never tires of his subject.
"Every day the light, the weather and the environment are different," he says.
His knowledge of the wetland also means he knows when and where to get the best photos.
For example, spring is best for taking photos of egrets as they come to hunt for fish.
Zheng also says getting to know locals has been an enormous help because they will take him on their boats to places tourists rarely see.
He says sunrises are especially beautiful, but that if photography buffs want to capture it in the summer, it means waking very early.
"The sun rises between 4:30am and 4:50am during the summer," says Zheng, who says he always brings food and water and arrives around 4:20am.
"That is the moment when the wetland is the most beautiful," he says, "because there is a mist above the water, which the soft sunlight peers through."
Of all the photos he has taken, Zheng says his favorites are those from February 2008 after a heavy snowfall.
After the snow, Zheng decided to drive to Xixi Wetland, but it proved impossible due to thick snow on the road. Then he tried an electric bicycle, but kept falling or losing control because of the slippery conditions. Determined to get there, he walked for two hours, only to find the park closed.
A security guard refused to let him initially, but finally Zheng was allowed to enter the park after he wrote a note absolving the wetland of any responsibility if he got injured.
"Everything was covered by snow without a single person's footprint, there was a thin layer of ice on the water and birds were carefully looking for food in the snow," he says. "It was like being in northeast China."
He snapped away from 9am until 3pm to record the rare snow-covered wetland scenery.
The photographer says he is now working on a new project that will include every aspect of the wetland.
To perfect his project, he has twice paid 10,000 yuan (US$1,070) each to rent a balloon, on which a remote control camera was loaded, to take some panoramic photos.
His work has been noticed. Xixi Wetland National Park has hired him as its exclusive photographer.
For the past 22 years, Zheng carries his camera and other photography equipment to the wetland when the weather is good for taking pictures. On such days he often stays from dawn to dusk and "sometimes an 8GB memory card is not enough to hold all the photos I take in one day," Zheng says.
Last weekend, the 64-year-old photographer published "Xixi Wetland - Then and Now." It consists of 130 photos as well as several articles about his experiences in the wetland.
The Anhui Province native took most of the photos with a Hasselblad camera, a Swedish camera widely used by professionals. A Hasselblad was used to record the historic moment when man first landed on the moon during the Apollo missions.
Zheng divided the photographs in the book into four categories - dawn, day, dusk and night - and the pictures were taken during the four seasons. The wetland's temples, wildlife and natural scenery feature heavily in the book.
The former soldier's love for photography dates back to his service days when he was a military cameraman.
He has lived and worked in Hangzhou since 1981, first as a journalist and later as an editor at a local newspaper.
Zheng took many pictures of West Lake in the 1980s and published an album a decade ago.
His interest in Xixi Wetland was sparked in 1989, when he was invited to take photos of a dragon boat competition there. He was surprised by the beautiful scenery and became determined to bring it to life in photographs.
"Xixi Wetland was a virgin land that hadn't been developed for tourism at that time," Zheng says. "It was so original and it featured the vivid lives of local fisherman."
Over the years, he has photographed almost every corner of the area and how it has changed. He has recorded how birds migrate, how green persimmons grow to be ripe red ones, and how the wild wetland turned into Xixi Wetland National Park, the first national wetland park in China.
He says he never tires of his subject.
"Every day the light, the weather and the environment are different," he says.
His knowledge of the wetland also means he knows when and where to get the best photos.
For example, spring is best for taking photos of egrets as they come to hunt for fish.
Zheng also says getting to know locals has been an enormous help because they will take him on their boats to places tourists rarely see.
He says sunrises are especially beautiful, but that if photography buffs want to capture it in the summer, it means waking very early.
"The sun rises between 4:30am and 4:50am during the summer," says Zheng, who says he always brings food and water and arrives around 4:20am.
"That is the moment when the wetland is the most beautiful," he says, "because there is a mist above the water, which the soft sunlight peers through."
Of all the photos he has taken, Zheng says his favorites are those from February 2008 after a heavy snowfall.
After the snow, Zheng decided to drive to Xixi Wetland, but it proved impossible due to thick snow on the road. Then he tried an electric bicycle, but kept falling or losing control because of the slippery conditions. Determined to get there, he walked for two hours, only to find the park closed.
A security guard refused to let him initially, but finally Zheng was allowed to enter the park after he wrote a note absolving the wetland of any responsibility if he got injured.
"Everything was covered by snow without a single person's footprint, there was a thin layer of ice on the water and birds were carefully looking for food in the snow," he says. "It was like being in northeast China."
He snapped away from 9am until 3pm to record the rare snow-covered wetland scenery.
The photographer says he is now working on a new project that will include every aspect of the wetland.
To perfect his project, he has twice paid 10,000 yuan (US$1,070) each to rent a balloon, on which a remote control camera was loaded, to take some panoramic photos.
His work has been noticed. Xixi Wetland National Park has hired him as its exclusive photographer.
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