Because by being behind the cameras, you’d become, only an observer of the goings-on around you??? Translated…
The famous female American photographer, Dorothea Lange has polio, being handicapped, she’d understood the pains of others even better, she’d said, “the camera is an equipment, that teaches people who to look at the world without it.”
Dorothea’s words, made me contemplate for a very long time, I’d recalled a small tale from many years ago.
My college classmate, Bing-Chuan Kao became a movie director, with the nickname of “Cakes”. Cakes’ wife is a film photographer, their jobs were connected. As Cakes got married, I was his best man, the day before he was to get married, he’d, invited me to sleep with him on the same bed, said it would make sure that he and his wife can get pregnant soon. Naturally, in two short years after they were wed, there came the good news, his wife was pregnant with a daughter. I’d asked Cakes if he’d thought of a name, he’d said humorously, “I’ll call her ‘Cabbage’.”
from this…not my photo…
As Cake’s wife was in labor, he’d taken the high end camera his wife worked with a Canon EOS 5D3 into the birthing room, naturally, all of it was, to capture the birth of their darling daughter, he knew, that this time, there’s, NO do-over, there’s no “Cut”, like a LIVE show, with one chance, to get it all correct.
His wife’s water broke, the contraction came faster and faster, the contractions kept pushing “Cabbage” toward the outside of the world, out of her mother’s womb. Seeing how the infant is about to be born, the nurse reminded Cakes, “Quick! Your daughter is about to be born, pick up your camera!”, then, a thought flashed across his mind: “I don’t want the first look at my child to be through a camera.” Then, he’d, dropped his camera, and used the truest, most direct method, staring deep, to witness the birth of “cabbage”.
The actions of Cakes, it’d made me respect him, I can’t tell exactly why, like, he was, some sort of a senior level meditator, who’d suddenly, understood something great, with that invisible aura behind him. I’m a director in a theatre, I’d gotten used to receiving, telling the stories with my naked eyes. While Cakes is a movie director, and he was always thinking of, ways to interpret this world, through the lenses, and as he chose, to drop his camera, I’m sure that his heart must’ve felt, this sort of irreplaceable sense of realness. As we’d both left the viewing window, all other senses besides sight, smell, taste, and touch, will be, magnified, and it’d all turned into, the keys to which we took, to experience this world.
to this…not my photograph
I’m not certain, if I’d, understood or misunderstood Dorothea’s statements, I now have a feeling: when I pick up my camera, I’m introducing the world to others; as I’d put my camera down, I’d become, a part of this world.
So, this, is from two men’s understanding, of being behind the cameras, and, being a film director, you’d gotten so used to, seeing things through your lenses, which is fine, but, it’d, kept you, from being a part of the world you’re observing, and, as, you’d put down that camera, and started participating in the world’s goings-on, everything becomes more real.
Life, the Obstacle Course 