It is not unusual for me that every photographer who comes to the grid has two brushes.

I always wonder how they have stepped out of the ordinary road step by step and become what they are now.

The photographer I want to talk about today:

Deputy Secretary-General of Xiamen Young Photographers Association

Co-founder of Fujian Outdoor Sports Association, Vice President

Chief Planning Director of Food Documentary

Founder of Xiajian Studio

He is Wu Dongjun

Maybe you can't take it lightly here. Yes, Gezi has introduced so many excellent photographers, and they are so excellent that any label halo placed on them seems natural.

However, he is the youngest photographer who has so many titles and is very successful at first hearing. He was under 18 when he joined the grid last year.

I think I'm not the only one who is shocked. How did he get these achievements at such a young age? What are the unknown stories about him?

so I decided to meet him for you.

I wanted to doubt the world the moment I met Wu Dongjun.

Probably because I am shallow, I have never seen such an experienced 18-year-old face.

My intuition tells me that this is a storyteller.

This makes me feel that communication is much more practical.

Unlike most grid photographers, Dong Jun's works are almost documentary photography.

There is a calmness and tension in his works that is out of proportion to his age. Under the frozen and quiet appearance, he always seems to have the urge to talk. It is very consistent with my first impression of him.

This has to talk about his origin with photography.

Before he came into contact with photography, he was an activist who was keen on organizing activities. From the school activities in middle school, to the Pingtan International Cycling Open, the largest in China with nearly 3,111 participants. In these large and small activities, he is an organizer who appears in front of the stage to plan as a whole, a person in charge and leader who can stand on the stage and say something "thank you for your support and participation".

(photo by the old demon)

Holding activities was originally just a way for Wu Dongjun to constantly challenge himself, exercise himself and achieve self-breakthrough. However, with the increasing experience of activities, I am increasingly familiar with and even aware of the various processes of activities. He found that because he tried his best to pursue perfection every time, it was too small to motivate him to pursue perfection in terms of overall planning and details.

I just feel something is missing.

once a perfect activity is over, let it go, and everything will be over.

Being tired is also tiring, but it's always better than being lost.

no one knows better than himself how hard it is to go step by step. What others see is the scenery of flying. As for whether flying is tired or not, it probably doesn't matter much.

Keep this man's well-known scenery, but also keep these unknown bitterness behind him. Wu Dongjun thought, it is not enough to know all this, but to find a way to keep it.

by photography.

But documentary photography is different from portrait photography. Portrait can be tried again and again, and time, place, Pose and mood can be flexible and varied with many opportunities.

And every moment in the activity belongs to this moment. Once it is over, it will never come back.

This is the difficulty of documentary photography and its charm.

in order to learn more about the details of the event and know the key nodes of the event to find the best seat, he often joins the team one week in advance. In case of large-scale activities, he will even start to work and rest with the team half a month in advance, work and live together.

"We must be familiar with each other so that they won't avoid the camera"

Winning the trust of the team and cultivating a sense of tacit understanding with the team are the main challenges that Wu Dongjun puts the most energy into documentary photography. He hopes to take the most authentic and natural photos, without being stiff or artificial, as if the camera is nothing in front of them and can be penetrated by the line of sight.

This is also the biggest inspiration that Wu Dongjun got from the experience of his favorite photographer Pete Souza, Obama's chief White House photographer. Pete Souza can be affectionately called "a member of our family" by Obama. The president's trust in him and the intimacy and tacit understanding between them are the real reasons for the birth of those good photos with interest in life. Without disturbing, let yourself disappear in the background of the environment like a chameleon, which is also the highest state of activity photography that Dong Jun understands.

"A good photo lies in the depth of emotion, not the depth of field", which is one of his favorite words.

Once Dong Jun likes to do something, he must bring it into full play.

Just as he has been taking every photo with his heart and doing everything with his heart.

If you've also heard about "Homesickness of Overseas Students, Hometown Taste of Xiamen"

This set of food documentary, with 67 million hits, was captured by Fujian Tourism Bureau just after it was released. What you never expected was that it was a documentary debut initiated and planned by Dong Jun, who had just been in contact with photography for less than two years.

What's even more incredible is that the average age of the team he leads is less than 19 years old, and 91% of them are students and friends who have no foundation in documentary shooting and production, and the shooting time of the four episodes of the whole season is only a short period of 11 days. Even the professional team feels that under such conditions, it is a complete merit to complete an episode.

The lack of experience and the limitation of shooting time have not been an obstacle to their pursuit of perfection in detail.

They even take a lot of time-lapse shots, even if the three or four-hour squat is finally cut out for 11 seconds.

In those days, it was cloudy in Xiamen for several days. In order to pursue the effect in aerial photography, they would wait for the best flight time of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Under such conditions, he pursued such exquisiteness and handed in a complete answer sheet without dropping an episode.

the success of the documentary, the recognition from all sides, and the benefits and aura that followed did not shake his original intention.

His original intention is not only to record the ancient taste of Xiamen in the hearts of the downstream children, but also to express his homesickness. More importantly, fewer and fewer young people are willing to inherit the crafts of the older generation, and the taste of hometown is dying out step by step. He wants to leave these behind forever through images.

?

Because of the more or less influence of the documentary, and because he likes cooking very much, Dong Jun's private kitchen was born shortly after the documentary was released.

just as he takes everything he likes seriously, he is meticulous in the private kitchen and strives for perfection in every detail.

He said that in order to study the skills of frying steaks, "more than 61 steaks were fried in two months". From the selection of materials to the final serving, every step is looking for the most exquisite treatment method.

Not only that, Dongjun hopes to make more friends and share more life stories through delicious food. At this time, a small-scale family private kitchen sharing meeting is not enough to meet his current desire.

also inspired by "Midnight Food Store", Dong Jun feels that eating should be full of feelings and appreciate life, and should not be hastily solved or satisfied with the stylized menu.

So he built Xiajian Studio, a pop-up shop that will meet you in Xiamen next month, and a personal tailor kitchen that can have a special dish or drink by telling "Xiamen in your eyes" or "your story".

here, there is no menu, no fixed chef, only people who listen to stories patiently.

It turns out that "you have a story and I have wine" is not just a super literary freshness like a bard.

He said that he would listen to over 1,111 stories in the mansion. Some of these stories may become the material in the future, while others may guide the future life in a deeper and longer time.

He is really the photographer who loves his hometown the most.

It's also the winner of my life, who loves to make trouble but never makes trouble.

The rain outside the window has no intention of stopping, and the fog on the window glass also makes the streets of Greenwich Village look hazy and graceful. At the appointment, he said he wanted to have English afternoon tea, and I said yes.

I didn't expect that this store would be so popular. In order to get a seat on time, he came here half an hour in advance to wait in line for me.

This big boy who just turned 18 and will graduate from high school in half a month, we look forward to your bright future.