friendray的部落格

圖：當年第二次跟小臻見面就拍了這套轟動武林驚動萬教還爭相模仿的專輯（我在香港討論區看到很多人學我）

Dear Shengyuan,
 
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. Your book certainly sounds interesting, but after discussing it with my manager we feel that the subject matter may be a little too controversial for the British press.
 
We will however include an item about your success in the next edition of our alumni magazine. My colleague Angela Chadwick will write an article and send you a draft to look at.
 
Kind regards

Adam Ross
Press & PrR Officer - UCA

What's the story there? What is the theme of  the book?
 
Everything starts from a girl named "yan", my first model and with the longest model-photographer relationship. Like the famous Japanese photographer Araki Nobuyoshi says in his book LEÇON DE PHOTO寫真的話, “My life is essentially formed by these lively women. I follow them, and photograph them.” This girl, Yan, when she asked me to take a portrait of her 10 years ago, I started to fall in love with her and photography. She becomes the reason I want to pick up my camera and keep the moment forever. It is her, my desire for love, my passion for photography, empties out my heart and digs a deep hole that until now I can still not climb out. All because that she doesn’t love me no matter how hard I try for so many years, she can show her brightest smile at my camera but when it moves away, we are suddenly like “strangers”, the illusion occurred while I was taking pictures for her made me think I can be close/important to her, but in the end, the distance from the smile never gets closer.
 
That is the real story behind my book “strangers” and the reason for the title, too.
 
After Yan, I become obsessed to the girls, my hunger for love only gets stronger and stronger, and I realized I have got the talent to capture the most natural side of them, the sense of humor I have is very unique, like Nan Goldin once explained why she can be very close to her subject, “I think it has to do with the kind of person I am. I put out a lot, I demand a lot, and I do make quick connections that go deep, and I think that carries into the work, but I don’t do it just for the work, I’m not some sort of documentarian of other peoples’ world.”. Because of that, the “strangers” contains 28 different other girls’ portraits during different periods for total 8 years in my life, I am just like Araki Nobuyoshi who is honesty claimed he is enjoying by taking girls’ pictures, every time he presses the shutter of the camera is like making love and ejaculate. Also, the same to me, my models are all so happy (having an orgasm?) in my pictures but oddly none of them falls in love with me and becomes my girl friend, I am always the best male supporting role not “the one” in their love movies. I have to accept that seeing them come and leave over and over again, how ironic is it? This repetition strongly motivates the sadness and loneliness for my self-portrait “protective colouration”.
 
"My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph." -Richard Avedon
 
This book builds up a persona for me, or to say, I build up the other face for myself in order to comfort the trauma inside my heart. It is a mystery, people are curious about how and why I can know so many beautiful girls and even ask them to do nude portraits for me, they admire my ability and I create this fame on the internet for constantly posing pictures on all kind of photography forum. But, the more I rely on this, the more clear that I know it is all a big lie.

How did you come to have a book published? Is the first work you have had published?
 
In June 2009, my book “strangers” is republished by a legitimate publisher for which they specialize toward design and art area in Taiwan, unlike being funded individually by my own for only 500 copies in the last time (2006), it took me 2 years to sell the 500 copies.

the only medium I have to promote the book and myself is the internet, which is the most convenient and efficient, too. After working on it for so many years, the chance finally came, in 2008, my book “strangers” had luckily won the third price in the 2008 PX3 award, because I am the first Taiwanese has won this price, thus a fan of mine who works in the biggest national news paper, Apple, in Taiwan, she found out this on my blog and decided to have an interview with me. Like the zonezero event, all in a sudden my face showed up at the front page of the news paper, and it follows the TV news report. It is the first time that my fame on the internet turns into the real world, on the mass media, and they give me this name- “The Honor to Taiwan, The Master Photographer of Beautiful Girls”. Therefore, my other persona/surface was officially born.

Do you have a favourtite one or two pictures that you could tell me about and send me pitcures of to see by email?
 
please see the attached files.
 
this series is the first time I had a chance to take nude pictures with an experiment (cover model with the roll tissue paper), it was very succesful and the model "Jen" became quite famous because of it.
 
Also it is the cover of the book because it is wellknown by the audience (who constaintly viewing my work).

Where can people buy the book?
 
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010439633
 
The book is in English and Chinese and is for ordering via this site. Regrettably, the site is in Chinese only (but shiping worldwide).

Are you a foreign student? If so, where are you from? What course have you been studying on? What will you do after graduating?
 
I am from Taiwan, 26 years old, MA PHOTOGRAPHY (full time) in Rochester, I will go back to Taiwan to start the new project- "the second chapter of STRANGERS", because the book contains all happy, smiling girls, I am now going to take pictures of the opposite emotion- sadness, the crying beautiful girls, I am very interested in the relationship between the photographer and the sitters, if the model is willing to reveal the sadness in front of me, a stranger, that means she trusts me, but is that so? it can always be acting of sadness, it can be the faked tear, and maybe we are not close in fact. The truth is, you would never know!!  (me neither)
 
MANY THANKS!!