Kunming, December 24 (Reporter Hu Yuanhang) 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of French photographer Marc Lubb. Recently, his Chinese friend and famous photographer Wu Jialin wrote an article recalling their friendship that transcends age and borders. "Good** is expressed in the language of photography. We can become friends because we have a common photographic language. Wu Jialin said.
The picture shows that in 2010, at the appointment of Mark Lu Bu and his wife, Wu Jialin rushed to Shanghai from the shooting site in Lincang, Yunnan Province to meet them. (*From ***.)
Mark Lubb is a world-renowned master of documentary photography and one of the first Western photographers to be allowed to shoot in China after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Since 1957, he has visited China 22 times, introducing the changes in developing China to the world through images, and leaving many precious visual archives for the changing China.
Wu Jialin, a native of Zhaotong, Yunnan Province, is also a world-famous documentary photographer, and the only Chinese photographer selected for "Bresson's Choice" and the World Photography Masters Series (the famous French photography "Black Book"). Its internationalization is inseparable from the appreciation of Mark Lub.
It was June 7, 1993, and I was introduced by a movie friend, and I temporarily attended the meeting where Mark Lu Bu showed the Chinese photographer. I didn't expect that my batch of slightly shabby ** would be liked by him. Wu Jialin recalled that after that, the two formed an indissoluble bond.
The batch of ** brought by Wu Jialin is the life scene of the mountain people in his hometown that he captured, there are men wearing wool felt, there are horse drivers in the rain, and there are children who meet on narrow roads to drive pigs......It took Mark Lubb more than an hour to seriously divide these ** into three categories: A, B, and C. Two years later, Wu Jialin published the A** in the series as a photo album "Yunnan Mountain People" and sent it to France.
The picture shows Wu Jialin's photographic work "Dashan Bao Shanmin", taken in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province in 1989. (*From ***.)
Receiving this gift, Mark Lubb was thrilled. He has repeatedly praised Wu Jialin's photographic works for "having a strong personal style, strong regional characteristics, and being very Chinese", "neither arranging scenes, nor creating images, not deceiving or falsifying", "presenting people with surprises, humor, and surrealism, and everywhere wonderful is sought by his eyes in reality and life", and actively promoted it to the outside world.
In March 1996, at the invitation of Mark Lu Bu, Wu Jialin participated in the Houston International Photography Festival in the United States and achieved success. The following year, he was invited to France.
Mark Lubb, who was 72 years old at the time, drove to the airport to pick me up. As soon as I arrived at his house, he would reimburse me for the airfare. I happily told him: I have solved the problem of travel expenses by my own works, and I don't want you to reimburse me. Wu Jialin said that when he heard this, Mark Lu Bu, who was happy for him, hugged him.
This time, Marc Lu Bu took Wu Jialin to participate in the International Photography Festival held in Paris and successfully qualified for a solo exhibition. In addition to the exhibition, they also visited the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre-Dame Cathedral and ......
The picture shows Mark Lu Bu in Pingyao, Shanxi Province in 2001. (*From ***.)
Later, the two met many times in New York, Shanghai, Shanxi and other places, participated in film gatherings and took pictures together. When we're not together, we write letters to each other. "Why does Mark Lüb, the international master, like me so much like a mountain man?I think it's because we have a lot in common. Wu Jialin said, for example, both of them like to observe, discover, and capture, not to organize, not to direct, and not to interfere with the subject;They all advocate shooting with respect and love for all life.
Marc Lueb also explained in the documentary: "I am in France, the son of a banker;Wu Jialin is in China, and it is in the poor mountainous areas of China;These are two worlds entirely, and ordinary people often don't understand this. But his ** hit me strongly, communicated our thoughts, and we were like a pair of good brothers. ”
The last time the two "good brothers" met was in 2010 in Shanghai, where "The Flash of Intuition: A Retrospective of Marc Lubb's Photography" was held. At that time, Mark Lueb was 87 years old. Wu Jialin accompanied him to the balcony on the top floor of the Shanghai Building and filmed to his heart's content for more than an hour. Before parting, Mark Lub presented his most classic photographic work "The Painter of the Eiffel Tower" to Wu Jialin. Subsequently, the original correspondence between the two for more than 20 years was handed over to Wu Jialin for safekeeping.
I have copied all these letters, and it is better to leave the originals for you to keep. Wu Jialin said that this was Mark Lu Bu's last confession. In August 2016, Marc Lueb died of illness in France.
In the first letter to me, the first sentence of Mark Lubb reads: The most beautiful things in the world are friendship and culture. Because of the same interests and passions, we became friends. Wu Jialin said that looking back on the friendship between the two, Mark Lu Bu brought him not only opportunities, but more importantly, the vision of identifying photographic works and the spirit of documentary photography.
"Good** is expressed in the language of photography. This photographic language is not only a matter of composition, but also closely related to the photographer's values, worldview and personal character, and finally forms his accurate capture of the moment. Wu Jialin said that this is the consensus between him and Mark Lu Bu.
Wu Jialin believes that in today's continuous development of photography technology, humanistic documentary photography still has unique value and charm. To study photography, you still need to learn from Western masters such as Mark Lubb, while maintaining your own identity. (ENDS).
Written by Hu Yuanhang.