Scenery with Wind

I took this picture in my bedroom when I was in high school in China. This is one of my photographic works won the third prize in the “I Love My Family” national digital photography competition. At that time, I was also preparing for the Chinese university entrance examination which might be the biggest challenge for every student in China. When I felt tired of my study, the only thing could set me free is photography. I’d love to use my digital camera as my third eye to see the world in a different position. I could always understand or interpret something while I was seeing the picture I just made, even if I didn’t mean to represent any specific ideas before I was actually taking the picture.

I shot this picture in a completely dark room. The light coming from the right corner is actually set by a flashlight. I used very slow shutter speed in order to make the objects clearly in the dark environment. Then the light records the movement of the fan and also makes the painting on the wall more concrete. A comparison between the moving fan and the quiet painting turns out to be the theme of the picture. When I saw the picture in the display screen of my camera, a strange feeling suddenly came through my mind. At that moment, I quickly decided to name it as “Scenery with Wind” because I believed this picture had reflected my life during that time. As I was thinking, every teenager at that age should be care-free, just like the moving fan in its free space and the wild wind which could blow to anywhere. However, the fact told us that we had to bear the heavy load of study and also the pressure from our families. This tough situation forced us to become the concrete painting on the wall. We couldn’t move; we couldn’t focus on other things beside study; we even couldn’t do what we like. We were just a painting waiting for being sold. I hope this situation will be improved in the future, so that teenagers in our country will live a happy life.