For Yang Yuanyi, a 61-level alumnus of Xidian University and president of the China Art Photography Society, photography has become a way of life for him, as indispensable as water and air. Freeze the style of the older generation of scientists with the lens; record the ever-changing scenery of the motherland with photos, and record the scenes around the world. Gradually, photography has become not only an interest that makes him happy, but also a way to arouse people's understanding and thinking about natural and social life.
In 1956, Yang Yuanyi's father brought him a Czech 120 camera from abroad, and Yang Yuanyi used this camera to take family portraits for relatives and friends, and to take big photos of his classmates. By chance, he took a picture of Marshal Zhu De, and Yang Yuanyi was particularly excited, and from then on he took his camera everywhere. At the age of 19, Yang Yuanyi graduated from Beijing and joined the army, and was sent to the Military Telecommunications Engineering College of the People's Liberation Army of Chinese (the predecessor of Xidian University). Yang Yuan, who did not know much about "Western Military Telecommunications" and "Radar," boarded the train to Xi'an with the idea that "national defense needs talents and wants to serve the country." He also took the camera to the school, took a picture of the students in front of the main building of the North Campus, and when the students climbed Huashan Mountain together, he was also responsible for taking pictures of everyone.
Yang Yuanyi and his classmates took a group photo in front of the main sculpture of "Serving the People Wholeheartedly"
After transferring from the army, Yang Yuanyi came to work in the propaganda department of the Beijing Organic Chemical Factory, and on the night of Premier Zhou Enlai's death, Yang Yuanyi used his role as a propaganda officer at the factory to shoot a large number of precious historical shots. In 1978, he was transferred from the factory to the secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology, and in his work, he met many scientists of the older generation. He took photos of Wei Yu, China's first female doctor of electronics and a former vice minister of education; he also took pictures of Qian Xuesen, Zhou Peiyuan, Zhang Wei, Wang Dezhao, Ma Dayu and other scientists of the older generation. Yang Yuanyu now recalls that he was deeply honored and somewhat regretful, and at that time, he should have taken more pictures to record more of their style.
In 1981, Zhou Peiyuan spoke at a banquet meeting with the Japanese economic delegation visiting China
In 1981, when Yang Yuanyi went to Guilin to travel, he took a group photo, and the scenery in the photo was so beautiful that Yang Yuanyi felt that he was really bothering in it. After that, he rarely photographed people and began to focus on landscape photography. From the ancient rhyme of the water town and the ethnic landscape to the desert Xiongguan and the snowy plateau, from the small bridges and flowing water, the beautiful mountains and rivers to the blue river and the layers of forests, the rich life experience makes Yang Yuanyi's photographic works more condensed with a natural atmosphere, romance and dynamics.
Yang Yuanyi,"Hemu in the Snow"
The Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the national strategy of building a beautiful China from the perspective of ecological civilization. In the process of shooting over the years, Yang Yuanyi found that nature has been seriously damaged due to overexploitation, and he wanted to use his own photos to awaken people's awareness of loving and caring for the common home. He went to the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia and found that many medicinal herbs were planted in the desert there, and the sand control effect was particularly good. Yang Yuanyi took many photos of desert governance, which were exhibited and publicized in various photography exhibitions. The publicity of environmental protection has made Yang Yuanyi's humanistic photography get many attention, Canada, Malaysia and other countries invited him to hold a personal photography exhibition, and China's magnificent rivers and mountains and humanistic life can also be shown to more and more foreign friends and overseas Chinese.
Yang Yuanyi,"Desert Knight"
Yang Yuanyi has traveled to 109 countries and regions, 29 times to Xinjiang, 28 times to Yunnan, drove through 47 states in the United States, and also took a boat to the Antarctic And the North Pole. From the Alaska Peninsula in the north, to the small islands submerged by the sea in the Maldives, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, from Eurasia to North and South America, he has left his photographic footprints.
Wonderland of the Sacred Lake
As the president of the China Art Photography Society, there are many people under him, but Yang Yuanyu still likes to do things himself. When he goes out, he orders meals, tickets, and hotels, only chooses the economical, not expensive; when traveling, he lets the entourage sleep in the bed and make his own bunk; when traveling, he is the driver, planning the route, ensuring safety, and the work he does is handled by him. He is not afraid of the cold, he is not afraid of the heat, in minus 30 degrees Celsius, a pair of pants can survive; in Israel at 47 degrees Celsius, he will not feel the heat.
Yang Yuanyi (right) with parents
Yang Yuanyi's frugality, diligence and perseverance all come from his father Yang Xiandong's training from childhood. Yang Xiandong was a doctor who studied in the United States in 1934 and participated in the revolution under the guidance of Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu. After the founding of New China, 47-year-old Yang Xiandong served as vice minister of agriculture until the age of 81, retiring to the second line and always struggling on the agricultural front. Yang Xiandong's life was hard and simple, a piece of clothing can be worn for more than ten years; he did everything at home, planted grapes, planted vegetables, and was self-sufficient, and later even the coal burned at home was transported by himself. Yang Yuanyi's diligence and frugality were learned from his father.
In 1957, Zhu De visited the National Agricultural Exhibition, and Yang Xiandong reported on his work
When Yang Xiandong was in his 80s, he also went to more than 70 counties in the northeast and northwest to investigate agriculture. When Yang Yuanyi was also close to his father's age, he walked all the way along the place where his father had walked, and what he could do was to tell everyone about the current situation in China that had been changed through the hard work of his fathers, and introduce the great rivers and mountains of the motherland to the world.
Yang Yuanyi "Tread"
Recording the people and things around them in the form of images inspires people not to forget their original intentions and forge ahead, and Yang Yuanyi has done it. His works have been exhibited at the Beijing International Photography Week, the Jinan International Photography Biennale, the Lianzhou International Photography Annual Exhibition, and the Dali International Film Festival. He has published photographic collections such as "World of Light and Shadow, Intellectual Life", "Driving Light China, Chasing The World of Shadows", "The World of Shadows", "Selected Photographic Works of Yang Yuanyi Photographic Art", "Shadow", etc., and many works have been collected by museums, art galleries and libraries at home and abroad.
In his lens, the people's sorrow is his sorrow, and the upward goodness is his value direction. His works, full of love for the people and love for nature, show us a future path of photography, but also point out a future path.
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Material source: Xidian University Alumni Association official website, cultural monthly magazine official micro, digital world magazine, China Photography Newspaper