Long Chin-San was born in Jiangsu, China. He was fond of landscape painting and calligraphy since he was a child. He began practicing photography during middle school. Before he was invited to participate in a photography exhibition in 1949 and then settled in Taiwan, he worked in the advertising industry and as a photojournalist in Shanghai. By then, he had already won a number of international photography awards. The themes of Long’s images stems from the environment he grew up in and his personal sentiments emanated by the political turmoil during his adulthood. The subjects he photographed throughout his life include landscape, still-life, and human figure. The philosophy and aesthetics in traditional Chinese ink painting that he admired not only became the basis for the technique he developed, which was later known as “composite picture-making,” but also profoundly affected the aesthetics pursued by amateur photography groups in Taiwan

Wu Mong-jane, 2020 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Deng Nan-Guang, whose real name was Deng Teng-Hui, was born in Beipu, Hsinchu. In the 1930s, Deng Nan-Guang studied at Hosei University in Japan and joined the students’ photography club. He was influenced by the aesthetics of the “Shinko Shashin” (New Photography) movement trending in the Japanese photography industry that emphasized street snapshots and qualities such as objectiveness and realness. In 1935, Deng returned to Taiwan, started his Nan-Guang Camera Shop and continually created photographic works. Through the realistic aesthetics of Shinko Shashin, he caught the living scenes in Taipei and the everyday life of his hometown folks, keeping in his works the images of Taiwan of that time with rich sentiments. After World War II, Deng reopened his store Nan-Guang Photography Supplies and actively participated in various photography events. In 1948, Deng Nan-Guang, Chang Tsai and Lee Ming-Tiao won the top three in the photography contest celebrating the 3rd anniversary of Taiwan Shinsheng Daily, and were referred to as the “Three Musketeers of Photography.” In 1953, Deng participated in the re-establishment of the Photographic Society of China in Taiwan, and founded Liberty Photo Exhibition in 1954. In 1963, he established the Photographic Society of Taiwan and served the chair for seven consecutive terms, having profound influence on the development of photography in Taiwan.

Hsiung Peng, 2020Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Wu Jin-Miao, the owner of Jinmiao Photo Studio, was praised as the “father of photography in Yangmei.” He began photographing at the age of 20, and used images to document the people and events of his era. From the 1930s under the Japanese colonial rule to the 1940s and 1950s under the rule of the Nationalist government, Wu captured and preserved through his lens unique records of the times. His most iconic works were portraits, as he utilized props and arranged sets and lighting to create natural, unpretentious, and unique portraits. Wu engaged extensively in studio and outdoor photography, recording Yangmei’s local sceneries and the daily life of its residents. Wu Jin-Miao and his younger sister and brother, Wu Ming-Chu and Wu Chin-Jung, dedicated their lives to Yangmei, taking pictures for nearly 60 years. In 1994, during the “Protect the Temple, Safeguard the Mountain, and Save the Trees” campaign, his photographic works were discovered, which encouraged local residents to safeguard local culture, and achieved irreplaceable spiritual status. 

Chen Shu-Hua. Photographers of Taiwan: Wu Jin-Miao, Taipei: National Taiwan Museum, 2018. 

Chang Tsai (1916-1994) was born in Dadaocheng, Taipei. Influenced by his elder brother Chang Wei-Hsian, he participated in New Drama performances in his childhood. In 1934, he went to Musashino School of Photography in Tokyo to study photography and befriended important figures in the “Shinko Shashin” (New Photography) movement. Returning to Taiwan in 1936, he opened the Yingxin Photo Room, devoting himself to photography. In 1941, Chang Tsai moved to Shanghai to avoid the Pacific War and sharply captured the life of people under the modernity of the Shanghai concession with Leica. After the war, Chang Tsai opened his Yingxin Photo Studio in Taiheicho, Taipei and actively engaged in photography groups and competitions. He won the first prize in the 3rd anniversary photography contest of Taiwan Shinsheng Daily in 1948 and was known as the “Three Musketeers of Photography” with Deng Nan-Guang and Lee Ming-Tiao. During this period, Chang Tsai also accompanied anthropologists to Miaoli, Pingtung, Lanyu to take photos of the indigenous people, as well as religious activities of god-welcoming parade and pig sacrificing ceremonies in Dadaocheng, Shinchuang, and Sanxia. The photos keep precious image records for the Taiwanese society of that time.

Hsiung Peng, 2020 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born in Chongming, Jiangsu, Tang Sz-Pan began learning photography on his own in 1937. He co-founded the Photographic Society of Taipei in 1954, and had served as its executive director and supervisor. Tang also served as the instructor of National Taiwan University’s photography club. In 1975, Tang co-founded the Photodom magazine, and served as the editor-in-chief for nearly 20 years since 1986. In 1995 and 1998, Tang served as juror of the photography category of the Ministry of Education Literature and Art Creation Award; in 1991 and 1996, his works were collected by Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Liu Haisu Art Museum. In 2002, Tang Sz-Pan organized his first solo photography exhibition, The Ancient Social Landscapes of China and later participated in the A Retrospective of One Hundred Years of Taiwan Photography held by National Museum of History in 2003.

Reference: Collection Catalogue 21. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2009, p. 280. 

Born in Taichung, Lin’s father Lin Tsao founded the Lin Photography Studio in 1901, becoming the first Taiwanese to open a photography studio. Lin Tsao was a skilled photographer and good businessman, and the studio thrived. Later, the studio was inherited and innovated by Lin Chuan-Tsu, Lin’s fourth son. In early 1960s, Lin Chuan-Tsu and wife Lin-Wu Mei-Chu further combined photography with cosmetics, hair styling, wedding dress, and floral art, which they learned in Japan, and integrated training and practice to successfully transition the studio, becoming the pioneer in Taichung’s wedding photography industry. Lin’s “family of photography” lasted for three generations, and the studio closed in 2003, becoming the most long-lasting photo studio in Taiwan. Suffering from leg ailment, Lin’s mobility was limited and was home-schooled. He developed an interest in photography, and with his talent and persistence, as well as the teaching of his father and eldest brother, Lin emerged as a talented young photographer during his teens; regardless of film editing, view finding, or composition and lighting, Lin showcased high level of skills and achievements. 

Fu Yuan-Cheng, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Lee Ming-Tiao, born in Dashi, Taoyuan, is known as one of the “Three Musketeers of Photography” in Taiwan along with photographers Chang Tsai and Deng Nan-Guang. In his young adulthood, Lee worked as an apprentice at Dashi Photo Studio opened by his uncle Liao Liang-Fu, and afterwards went to Taipei to work and board at Fuji Photo Studio, where he sharpened his techniques in retouching negatives. In 1940, Lee headed to Guangzhou, where he acquired Eastern and Western painting techniques at the Lingnan Academy of Fine Arts. During World War II, Lee assisted in drawing promotion materials for epidemic prevention at the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces’ health department. Returning to Taiwan after the war, Lee opened his store Chungmei Photographic Supplies (later renamed Chungmei Photographic Equipment) in Taipei and immersed himself in image making. In addition, he was committed to participating and promoting events and exhibitions of the photographic societies in Taiwan, and founded the first post-war photography publication, Taiwan Camera Monthly.

Liu I-Ying, 2020 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born in Zhangzhou, Fujian. At 13, after both his parents passed away, Yu came to Taiwan to live with his eldest sister, who was a school principal, and it was also in Taiwan he first encountered with photography by chance. He opened his own studio, and developed films and shot movies; later, he became the first overseas photography correspondent of Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV). He photographed important news events, such as the inaugurations of provincial governors and Taiwan Provincial Assembly. Moreover, Yu pioneered Taiwan’s ecological photography, and was honored by Golden Bell Awards, Golden Horse Awards, and the Asia Film Festival. Yu lived in Taichung, and founded the Photographic Society of Taichung Monthly when he was the chairperson of the organization, nurturing countless photographic talents. 

Reference: Wang Ching-Yi. Photographers of Taiwan: Yu Ru-Ji, Taipei: National Taiwan Museum, 2018. 

Shiau Chang-sheng was born in Xianyou, Fujian, and graduated from Ji-Ying College of Commerce in Fujian. Shiau is an amateur photographer whose passion for photography has lasted for decades, and is known for his signature creative theme of white egret. Shiau became a fellow of the Royal Photography Society of Great Britain in 1962, won the Ministry of Education Cultural Affairs Bureau Culture and Arts Award in 1970, and was selected to the Hong Kong International Salon of Photography in 1971. These experiences were a great boost of confidence to him. He continued to participate in international photography exhibitions in Europe and the U.S., winning top prizes in South Korea, Luxemburg, and Australia, as well as over 200 silver and bronze prizes, and selections. Shiau has also served as the juror of the Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition. 

Reference: Chou Wen. Focus on Taiwan: Idealism vs. Realism. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 66.

Born in Shuili Village, Linbian Township, Pingtung County, Lin owned a land administration agency in Donggang Township in Pingtung. After he finished military service in Borneo and returned to Taiwan in 1946, Lin became an amateur photographer. Joining fellow photography lovers in Donggang, Lin formed the “Dong Guang Photography Association” and held three group exhibitions in the 1950s to 1960s. In 1965, he joined fellow photography enthusiasts in Chaozhou and Pingtung to establish the “SLR Photography Club,” which drove the development of photography in the Pingtung area. He earned fellowship of the Photographic Society of Taipei, honorary fellowship of Kaohsiung Youngman Photographic Society, honorary fellowship of China Photography Artist Association, and honorary fellowship of the Wang-Jiao Studies of Photographic Art in Kaohsiung, and won Pingtung County Art Achievement Award in 2000. Lin held seven solo exhibitions and participated in over 100 group exhibitions. His works have been collected by Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts and other art museums. 

Reference: Collection Catalogue 19. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2007, p. 98. 

Born to a family of scholars in Taichung, Ho Huei-Guang went to Japan to study photography at 17. Upon his return, he opened a studio with his father in Budai, Chiayi. In 1950, he opened the photographic equipment division of the Chinese National Product Company in Taipei; in 1952, he opened Huei-Guang Photography in Xinying, where he utilized outstanding lighting, photographing, editing, and printing skills to photograph portraits. In 1967, Ho moved his family to Taipei, and opened a photo studio near National Taiwan University; on the other hand, he also visited rural areas, fishing ports, and small alleys, to capture working and leisure scenes of commoners. His images of rural villages present impressive rural ambience through the composition and the expression of light and shadow, as he strikes a balance between commerce and art. Ho is also an enthusiastic collector of antique cameras. In 2007, Ho donated the digital files of 150 works to National Central Library, which published the Taiwan Early Farming Lifestyles – A Collection of Ho Huei-Guang’s Photography in 2009. These images have witnessed Taiwan’s sceneries from the 1950s to the 1960s. 

Chen Ting-Yu. Photographers of Taiwan: Ho Huei-Guang. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2019.

Born in Haifeng, Pingtung. Liu went to work at the Honda Photography Studio after he graduated from the elementary school, and became an apprentice of owner Mr. Honda. In 1950, Liu worked at his eldest brother’s newly opened studio. After some struggles, he quickly learned photographic techniques and became a photographer in his own right. Later, he opened a studio of his own, got married, and had kids. He was no longer struggling financially as photography had brought him stability in life and witnessed the eternal pursuit of his life. At 36, Liu became the convener of the Pingtung branch of the Photographic Society of Taiwan, and purchased the first SLR camera, Pentax SV, in his life, officially embarking on the photographic journey of “street photography.” Through photography, Liu recorded the everyday life of his hometown under the drastic changes of the time, while also finding a perfect medium to express his spiritual trajectory. In the 1960s and 1970s, Liu reached his creative peak, which was also when Taiwan’s “nativist photography” and “documentary photography” thrived. Although he was inspired by the trend of documentary photography, Liu did not blindly follow the mainstream; the “Liu School” of photography had its unique style and artistry, presenting the worldly landscapes perceived within. 

Born in Wuhan, Hubei , Jou graduated from Central Police School in Taiwan. During his time at the Criminal Investigation Bureau, he was introduced to photography for forensic works. Later, he transferred to the National Police Agency, where he was responsible for the photographing, interviewing, and editing of the Police Torch magazine. When visiting the Second “Provincial Photography Exhibition” in 1966, Jou decided to purchase a camera, and he began his career in photography two years later. In 1969, he joined the Taiwan Provincial Photographic Society, where he met Deng Nan-Guang, Chang Shih-Hsien, and Chung Chin-Ching, and learned documentary photography. In his free time, he would visit different places to take pictures, and he won two first prizes in the elementary and advanced categories of the annual members’ salon in 1971. Jou has participated in countless exhibitions and received many prizes; he also served as juror at many photography competitions and earned honorary titles from various photographic societies. In 1996, he published photo album Finding Shadows of Nostalgia.

Reference: Yang Yung-Chih. Photographers of Taiwan: Jou Shin-Chiuan. Taipei: National Taiwan Museum, 2017.

Born in Taipei, Huang was gifted a Zeiss Ikonta Six camera when he was in the fifth grade, and began to take photos and learn darkroom techniques. After entering Taipei Normal School, Huang served as a teaching assistant of the photography class, helping professors to compile and photograph teaching materials of exercising and entomology. Huang became a teacher after his graduation in 1949, and participated in the compilation of audiovisual teaching materials for the Department of Education. In 1951, Huang served as the convener of the photography association of the Chinese Association for the United Nations and as a photojournalist of Asahi Shinbum; he co-founded the Photographic Society of Taipei in 1953. In 1957, Huang changed his career path to journalism, serving as the Taiwan correspondent of the United TV Station. In 1958, Huang became the director of photographic news and editor-in-chief of Photography Corridor, and pioneered photographic columns in newspapers and magazines. From 1962 to 1964, he helped Greenland Culture to establish the color-printing unit, ushering Taiwan’s printing into a new age of colors. Huang Tse-hsiu also was a vanguard of “feature photography;” his “Longshan Temple” in 1961 and “Yehliu – Forsaken Paradise” were two pioneering projects of feature photography that have since became iconic milestones. In 1964, Huang founded Tai-Yi Variety Company Ltd., and was hired as technical consultant by Examiner News (now China Times) in 1967, establishing Taiwan’s first color newspaper factory. In 1970, Huang served as a consultant of China Daily News to establish a color-printing factory, and from 1970 to 1973, he was the publisher of the Konica News; from 1971 to 1975, he took over and acted as the publisher of Photo Taipei Monthly. From 1976 to 1978, Huang also served as the editor-in-chief of Beautiful photography magazine. In 1985, Huang was hired as a part-time lecturer of Shih Chien College. He held a retrospective exhibition Yeliu – Forsaken Paradise in 1993, and The Photographic Journey of a Maverick: Huang, Tse-Hsiu, 82-Year-Young at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2011. 

Reference: Lin Xi-Yun. Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Veteran pediatrician Hwang Pai-Chi became fascinated with photography at a young age. While practicing medicine, he also enjoyed exploring and learning about the art form of photography and was under the guidance of realist photographer Chang Shi-Xian. Hwang’s photographic works include the documentation of time and memories in people’s daily lives and especially focus on Taipei during the 1960s, with new and old elements in the shifting cityscape, indirectly prompting people to reflect on our relationship with the land and the environment

Chien Yun-Ping. The Silver Halide Era – Aura of Times Vintage Photography Prints by Taiwanese Photographers 1890s~2015, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2016, p312.

Hsieh Chen-Lung is the second oldest son in the famous “Hsieh Clan” of Taiwan’s cinema and photography circles. His father Hsieh Chin-Chuan studied photography in Japan and opened a portrait studio in Taiwan upon his return. The five brothers of the family all went on to pursue photography and worked as film still photographers in Taiwan’s movie industry. They also created photographic artworks during their spare times. Hsieh Chen-Lung received the first prize of Japan’s Photo Art monthly competition in 1963, making him one of the few Taiwanese to be honored with the distinction.

Chien Yun-Ping. The Silver Halide Era – Aura of Times Vintage Photography Prints by Taiwanese Photographers 1890s~2015, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2016, p311.

Cheng Shang-Hsi was born in Keelung. He dropped out of high school because of illness, but stepped onto his path of photography with a low-priced “Pigeon” camera. At the age of 18, he joined the “Shinsuei Photography Exhibition” established by photographer Chang Tsai, and through the opportunity of participating in the group’s activities, he obtained the nourishment for his future creation from Chang Tsai’s philosophy of rich humanistic care in photography. During the 1950s and 1960s, Cheng was influenced by Western trends in photography. His continuous experiments and exploration of lights and shadows can be seen in many of his works in this period. 

The most acclaimed “documentary” characters in Cheng’s works stemmed from his work experiences for the Photography Unit of Government Information Office of the Executive Yuan, the Comprehensive Monthly and other publications, as well as his accumulation of experience in photographing his hometown Keelung and the mountainside town Jiufen. The selection of Cheng’s works in this exhibition takes his Keelung series as the core, highlighting “natural, unpretentious humans, and the absence of photographer,” the visual language Cheng pursued. The photos also show the photographer’s ambition to record the holistic picture of this port city in the changing times. Cheng captured his most familiar scenery of Keelung based on his observation through years. He collected the misty weather, the lifestyle of local residents, traditional rituals, and the landscapes of the port city under industrial transformation, all in his richly emotive images.

Liu I-Ying, 2020 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born in Lugang in 1941, and grew up in Taichung City. Wang studied animal agriculture and veterinary in college, and taught related courses at the Wushe Agricultural Vocational High School. Later, Wang went to study at the Animal Agriculture Department, Tokyo University of Agriculture. After she graduated in 1971, Wang entered the commercial photography department of the Tokyo College of Photography. She graduated in 1972 and returned to Taiwan, where she photographed her first project, A Trip to Wushe. Next year, her touring exhibition in Japan and Taiwan gained her recognition. She taught photography classes in schools and continued to engage in documentary photography. Her most well-known projects include the “Farewell, Orchid Island” series from 1974 to 1975, and “The Folklife of Penghu” photographed in 1979 and 1989; she also published the Farewell, Orchid Island photo album in 1985. In 1986, Wang became a freelance photographer, and opened her own studio where she continued to create and teach. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

A native of Taipei, Chuang graduated from the Department of Philosophy, National Taiwan University. In 1971, Chuang went to New York, where he engaged in commercial photography, and returned to Taiwan in 1990. Chuang has organized many solo exhibitions, and won Sun Yat-Sen Academic Award in Photography in 1984, and his Beauty of Huangshan photo album won Golden Tripod Award in 1986. From 1981 to 1996, Chuang held solo exhibitions at the American Cultural Center in Taipei, National Gallery of National Museum of History, Spring Gallery in Taipei, and Yuanyi Art Space. His works were collected by Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 1992, and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in 2004. Chuang has published photo albums The Mount of Great Wonder – Huangshan (1985), Legends of Jade Mountain (1995), Endless Images (1997), Qinghai – Tibet Plateau (2000), and Sceneries of Six Decades (2006); Chuang has also served as juror of National Fine Arts Exhibition, Nanying Art Exhibition, and Long Chin-San Memorial Award of Photography. 

Reference: Chuang Ming-Ching. Focus on Taiwan: Idealism vs. Realism. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 189.

Born in Keelung. Wong was introduced to photography in the late 1950s, and has since visited the mines in Keelung and rainy mountainous town of Jiufen many times, completing the Footprints of the Past (1963), The Mood of Days Gone By (1965), and Chieufeng, the Mountainous Town (2006) series; Wong also worked in Keelung City Government as news photographer. In the late 1970s, the construction of the Coastal Highway caused environmental destruction, which prompted him to spend nearly ten years to record the landscapes of Taiwan’s northeast shore and followed up with a second project in 1995. In 1987, Wong went to Japan and studied at Nakai Color Research Institute, where he created surrealist images of Tokyo with magical charm through the technique of color separation, and won the grand prize at Japan’s National Exhibition. Upon his return in 1991, Wong proactively engaged in commercial photography and education of photography, and continued working on the Mental Images of City series (1995), turning urban landscapes into abstract images of thoughts. Wong continued to work on projects of feature photography, revealing the reality in all classes of the society through his lens. 

Reference: Hsiao I-Ling. Photographers of Taiwan: Wong Ting-Hua, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2019. 

Born in Banqiao, Chang graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University in 1965.  “Wherever you go, you’re at the scene.” As a high school student, Chang Chao-Tang picked up his camera and began to shoot, and he has not stopped since. His images reveal transcendence amidst the commonplace, intimacy amidst alienation, humor amidst the absurd. They reflect the photographer’s acute observations in earnest understanding, his substantial concern in empathy. He once said: “Photographers seek less for a vista as for an atmosphere, a state of existence. They could be monumental silence in emptiness, or subtle fantasy and expectation, or perhaps an alternative ineluctable form of energy and excitement.” His career spanning more than 50 years has encompressed photography, television programs, documentary films and dramas. This works not only feel the pulse of his age, but are also far reaching witnesses to history. He is the recipient of several major awards including the Golden Bell (1976), the National Award for Arts (1999), National Cultural Award (2011). He has curated exhibitions and thought courses on photography and film. He has organized, edited and written books on Taiwanese photographers and photography. With unflagging dedication, he has worked to pass on, build up and promote the legacy of both still photography and motion pictures, guarding the less experienced, making considerable contributions in casting a long shadow in his field.

Shen Chao-Liang. Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers’ Island Gazes 1970s-1990s, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2018, p. 184. 

Born in Chongqing, Sichuan, and graduated from the National College of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) in 1966. Liang previously worked at Echo Magazine, the overseas edition of China Times Magazine, and Unitas, and is now an author, painter, and freelance photographer. Liang Cheng-Chu has long cared for Taiwan’s society and the humanity, travelling all around Taiwan to record the island from different angles and on different dimensions, showcasing the diverse looks of Taiwan. His photo album, Taiwan’s Footprint (1981), was his most well-known work. Moreover, he has also published photo album Taiwan from the Sky (1987), and collections of essays Beautiful Island (2003) and Magical Taiwan (2003). 

Reference: Chien Yun-Ping. The Silver Halide Era – Aura of Times Vintage Photography Prints by Taiwanese Photographers 1890s~2015, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2016, p. 314. 

Born in Taichung, Hsieh left hometown for Taipei in 1967 and began working with photography. In 1969, he held his first solo exhibition Midnight at Seikosha Gallery in Taipei, garnering much attention from the photography circles. Later, Hsieh joined the V-10 Group, and in the mid-1970s, he ventured into commercial photography in the domains of fashion, records, graphics, and TV advertising, while also working long-term with performance art groups such as the Cloud Gate Dance Theater and Lan-Lin Theater. From the 1970s to 1980s, Hsieh created a number of famous series, such as Land & People of My Own (1979), Faces of an Era (1986), and Homeland (1988). Hsieh has held many exhibitions at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei Fine Arts Exhibition, and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts; in 2011, Hsieh was invited to hold solo exhibition Le Festin de Chun-Te in the Taiwan Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, and his works received high praises from European media and museums. More recently, Hsieh participated in major exhibitions including The Parallel Universe of Hsieh Chun-Te — Brave  the World (2016) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, The Parallel Universe of Hsieh Chun-Te — Ten Ka (2018) at Museum of National Taipei University of Education, Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers’ Island Gazes 1970s-1990s (2018) at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: Pan Hsien-Jen. The “Pioneers” of Taiwanese Artists, 1941-1950, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2013.

Born in Kaohsiung, Lin is a pupil of artist Shiy De-Jinn, and was introduced to folk arts and historic monuments by Shiy, laying the foundation of his future interests and studies in Taiwanese folk customs. Moreover, Lin switched from painting to photography, and through his sharp intuition and unique concerns, Lin resonated with the people and landscapes in front of his lens. In the 1970s, Lin joined the “V-10 Visual Art Group” and became an important documentary photographer in Taiwan. The historic monuments and cultural sceneries he photographed have preserved precious records for Taiwan that has changed rapidly after the lifting of martial law; also, from his years of experience in documentary photography, Lin has accumulated a strong sense for images. From 1998 to 2001, National Center for Research and Preservation of Cultural Properties commissioned Lin to photograph The Faces of Literature: A Photography Book of Taiwanese Writers; observing through camera lens, Lin probed into the writers’ personalities and emotions to create portraits of his unique personal style. From 1999 to 2002, he photographed the last days of the industry, people, and historic sites of licensed prostitutes in Taipei; from 1998 to 2004, he was once again commissioned by National Center for Research and Preservation of Cultural Properties to take portraits of Taiwanese writers. He won Wu San-Lien Award in 1994 and Top 10 Creative Photographers of Taiwan in 2010. His works have been collected by public museums, such as Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and private collections. 

Reference: 

Shen Chao-Liang. Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers' Island Gazes 1970s-1990s, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2018, p. 188. 

Chao Hsin-Yi, 2019 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Graduated from Soochow University and opened Ching Hua Image X Design in 1980. In 1984, Tsai started to photographed for a number of magazines, including China Times Weekly, and also engaged in commercial photography. His major exhibitions include: solo exhibitions of portraits in 1986 and 1987, 24 Hours of Taiwan Group Exhibition (1992), Light and Darkness (2003) at the Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Sao Paulo, and Eye of the Times (2011) at Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Tsai is currently the director of Ching Hua Image X Design.

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: Collection Catalogue 12. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2001, p. 251.

Hsieh San-Tai was born in Penghu, and left the archipelago for Taiwan for army duties when he was 20 years old, where he saw high mountains, rivers, and trains for the first time. With his horizons expanded, he also came into contact with Taiwanese literature, trying to learn about Taiwan through his own eyes and literary works. He bought his first camera while serving in the army, and the camera has since become his tool for exploring the world, replacing his eyes to document the land, people, events, and things he sees. He started working in the media in Taipei at the age of 30, and was fortunate to experience to shifting political climate in Taiwan during that time after martial law was lifted. With a camera in hand, he went out on the streets in person. Because of the solid training he had obtained from his media work, he did journalism during the day, and in the afternoon, he would roam the streets and document the changing city with his camera; he was fueled with passion by photography. Taking photos is like writing in a journal, with each selected moment faithfully documented. Having grown up in a modest family, Hsieh learned as a child to depend on himself, earning measly income by taking a many labor-intensive jobs. His lens reflects the lives of everyday people, farmers, workers, exuding a sense of empathy. Women with their heads down working hard, workers was rough, crooked hands, fisherman with exhausted faces, and other familiar faces he has grown up with, become the touching faces his lens captured

Shen Chao-Liang. Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers’ Island Gazes 1970s-1990s, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2018, p. 194. 

Hsu Po-Hsin  worked at The Independence Evening Post as photojournalist from 1988 to 1995, capturing through camera lens important records of social movements in the streets of Taiwan after the lifting of martial law. In 2020, Hsu earned a master’s degree from Graduate Institute of Studies in Documentary and Film Archiving, Tainan National University of the Arts. 

Hsu’s photographic works have won the Top Prize at the 1992 Taiwan Journalism Awards and Excellence Award at the 1992 Taipei Journalism Awards, as well as Excellence Awards at the 1993 Taiwan Journalism Awards and Taipei Journalism Awards. Hsu has also participated in Seeing Tamsui River (1993) held by Taipei City Bureau of Information, Seeing the Natives – Photographic Records of Hakka People in Taiwan (1998) by Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs, and Eye of the Times (2011) and Faint Light, Dark Shadows (2017) by Taipei Fine Arts Museum; his documentary films include Saltland Witnesses (1999), Mazu Love in Wayao Village (2000), Zhongliao Records of the 921 Earthquake (2001), Scanning Taiwan: Folk Customs (2002), Fellow Citizens (2006), and Chronicle of Lo-Sheng Sanatorium (2008, winner of Excellence Award at Nanying Art Exhibition). 

Albert J. L. Huang

Born in Rende, Tainan, Huang graduated from the Broadcast and TV Department of National Taiwan Academy of Arts in 1982. Huang has worked as a photojournalist at The Independence News, and director of the photography center of China Times, as well as lecturer at National Chengchi University and Shih Hsin University. Huang’s photographic works after the lifting of martial law have witnessed the democratization process of Taiwanese society; later, he turned his camera towards indigenous people living in urban areas, veterans of the Korean War, and Taiwanese comfort women, producing a number of feature projects of documentary photography that had gone on for several years. 

Reference: Reference: Chou Wen. Focus on Taiwan: Idealism vs. Realism. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 80.

Born in Magong, Penghu. Chang began to record his hometown through photography after graduating from the senior high school. Chang was the photography editor of Ren Jian (Human) Magazine in 1989, and photography editor of Teacher Chang Monthly from 1990 to 1996. During this time, she won a number of Golden Tripod Awards. In 1998, she founded the Hexi Cultural Workshop in her hometown Penghu, and strived for research and preservation of local culture and history. In 2005, she combined photography with local customs and culinary culture of Penghu to publish a photo book titled The Love of Food that was very well-received. Important exhibitions she participated include 24 Hours of Taiwan in 1992, The Call of the Pescadores in 1995, Good Morning, Nepal solo exhibition in 1997, The Love of Food in 2014, and Jewel Mountain Solo Exhibition in 2016. She has also published photo albums Fishing Villages in Penghu (2007) and oral history in pictures Family Heirloom (2011). Chang was a recipient of the 36th Wu San-Lien Award in 2013. 

References: 

Collection Catalogue 17. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2007, p. 274.

Shen Chao-Liang. Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers' Island Gazes 1970s-1990s, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2018, p. 188. 

Born in Taipei and graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School. In 1983, Liu held his first solo exhibition Ask Liu 20 at Jazz Gallery, and in 1986, he was set photographer for films Dust in the Wind and Terrorizers. In 1987, he became a long-term photographer of the Cloud Gate Dance Theater. From 1988 to 1993, Liu served as photography editor of China Times Weekly, Taipei People Monthly, and the Independence Morning Post. His documentary photography has kept rich and precious image records of the social movements during the period after the lifting of martial law. In 1993, Liu left the news agencies, and participated in the Cloud Gate – Shutter 20 exhibition that toured around Taiwan. He was also the project host of the photo book and photography exhibition of Seeing Tamsui River held by Taipei County Government. In 1995, he compiled photo book, Give Taiwan a Chance, and photo album for the Vision of Performing Art magazine. From 1997 to 2000, Liu served as the project host of Taipei City Government’s photo books and exhibitions of Women, Taipei, Old Taipei People, Working Hard in Taipei, and Seasons, Tribes, Aborigines. In 2000, Liu published first photo album Taiwan Photography Files. Liu won the 33rd Wu San-Lien Award in 2010, and his works have been praised to “have witnessed the temporal changes and pulses of Taiwan’s society and culture, and successfully captured the beautiful instantaneous movements and dynamics of dancers.”

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: Collection Catalogue 17. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2007, p. 270.

Born in Tainan and graduated from the Graduate School of Applied Media Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts. Shen was a newspaper photojournalist and deputy chief photographer, and artist-in-residence at National Central University. Shen has created a number of projects of feature photography since 1993, and published his first album, Reflections of Nan-Fang-Ao, in 2001; he followed with YULAN Magnolia Flower (2008), Tsukiji Fish Market (2010), STAGE (2011), SINGERS & STAGES (2013) and Taiwanese Vaudeville Troupes (2016). His careful and sophisticated style of documentary photography and meticulous production of albums have garnered him wide recognition. His works have been invited to exhibitions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Shen has been awarded the Golden Tripod Award (Magazine Photography) in 2000, 2002, and 2012, as well as the Asia Award in Sagamihara, Japan in 2004, the Dong-gang Photography Award, Korea  in 2006, Excellence Award at Taipei Art Awards in 2010, the Artists Wanted: Photography Category Award, NY, U.S. in 2011, the IPA First Place in Professional: Book of Documentary, U.S. in 2012, and the Wu San-Lien Award in 2016. Shen is currently engaged in feature photography, photography criticism, and research, and is also an assistant professor at Tamkang University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and National Chengchi University. 

Reference: Shen Chao-Liang Website, < www.shenchaoliang.com/CHINESE/C-PROFILE.html> (accessed on May 19, 2021). 

Born in Chiayi, Chen Po-I received his master’s degree in Ocean Engineering at National Cheng Kung University. Chen was a member of astronomy club in high school, where he was first introduced to ecology and landscape photography. Later, he began to work as a photographer. His earlier series, “Black Carnival” (2001) and “The Exorcist” (2002), featured mostly Taiwanese folk activities, such as temple festivals and psychics. Starting in 2005, Chen’s creative focus shifted to village relocation and ruin spaces, such as the “Remains” (2006), “Outlook” (2007), and “The Strata” (2010) series, in which he excavated spatial history through images. After the disaster of typhoon Morakot in 2009, Chen combined interviews and field studies to create the “Morakot” (2013) and “Post-Morakot” (2016) series. Important exhibitions Chen participated include: Into Society: Critical Realism in Taiwanese Photographic Arts since 1990 at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2012), Voices Travel: Conversation Between Two Harbors at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2014), and The Pioneers of Taiwanese Artists, 1971-1980 held by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2014). He is also engaged in photography education and exhibition curation. 

Hsiung Peng, 2019 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Metadata

Born in Qingshui, Taichung, Yang moved with his parents to Japan and studied there from kindergarten to university. After the war, he worked at Harvest magazine and the Joint Commission of Rural Reconstruction. From the 1940s to 1950s, Yang extensively photographed Taiwan’s rural villages and various places in his free time. Through his works, Yang recorded the development and transition of Taiwan’s rural society and cities during that period of time, and preserved the heritages and transformation of the culture and values of Taiwan during its transition from a post-war rural society to an industrial society, which gave his works profound temporal significance and artistic value. In 1999, National Museum of History organized the Time Capsules: Photographs by Yang Chi-Hsin exhibition and published the Time Capsules – Images of Taiwan before the Millennium exhibition catalogue.

Fu Yuan-Cheng, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born in Taipei, Chi Po-Lin began working at Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau, Ministry of transportation and Communications, in 1990, where he was responsible for aerial photographs of constructions. Starting in 1998, he published his aerial photographs with articles on ecological environment on The Earth Geographic Monthly. The disaster of typhoon Morakot in 2009 prompted him to be fully dedicated to aerial photography, capturing Taiwan’s environmental landscapes through aerial photography. Chi created several works of aerial photography. In 2013, his documentary film Beyond Beauty – Taiwan from Above was released, which presented many environmental issues around Taiwan. Chi dedicated over 20 years of his life to aerial photography, amassing over 400,000 photographs. He published several aerial photography collections like Taiwan Aerial Imaging (2006) and Beyond Beauty – Taiwan from Above (2015). In 2017, Chi passed away in a helicopter accident during location scouting. 

Chen Yen-Chen, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: Chi Po-Lin. In Focus: Chi Po-Lin and Taiwan’s Four-Dimensional Spacetime, Taipei: Chi Po-Lin Foundation, 2019.

A native of Tainan, Huang began photographing Taiwan’s temple festivals and indigenous rituals when he was studying in the Industrial Design Department at Tatung College, and joined Wide Angle Photography Club. In 1982, Huang won Best Creativity Award and Bronze Prize at the National College Photography Contest, and won the Grand Prize in Photography at the 37th Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition in 1983. He started travelling around the world in 1988, visiting Tibet, New Guinea, Ethiopia, and Pakistan, numerous times, and organized the Dress Up on a Festival Day, Travel in South Asia, and Travels to Nepal photography exhibitions. Over the years, Huang has engaged in photography, teaching, and folk culture education; started as a personal interest, he eventually became dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and continuation of folk photography. Huang has published photo albums including Festivals of Taiwan (2003) and Tibet – The Place Closest to Heaven (2015), and wrote photography education books such as Huang Ding-Sheng’s European Photography Class (2007), and The Perfect Composition Bible – The Basics (2012). 

Chen Yen-Chen, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: 

Collection Catalogue 3. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 1991 p. 274.

Huang Ding-Shen. Tibet – The Place Closest to Heaven. Taipei: Sharp Point Publishing, 2015. 

Born in Yungjing, Changhua. In 1975, Wang entered Nan Ya Plastics Corporation as an entry-level employee working on three shifts. In 1984, he started mountain climbing, and also picked up photography. Starting in 1991, Wang began his long-term documentary on the Kucapungane village through writing and photography, capturing through sincere and innocent images the spirituality and vitality within the indigenous culture. He also began writing a column in the Art Accrediting published by Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and held several photography exhibitions to present achievements of his documentary series. In 2015, his solo exhibition Life & Soul, the Way Back Home was nominated for the 14th Taishin Art Award. 

Reference: Wang Yu-Pang. Sabau! Haucha — Wang Yu-pang: Image Speaking Rukai. Kaohsiung: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 2016. 

Born in Toucheng, Yilan. Early on, Juan worked as an editor at Youth Literary Monthly and was later introduced to photography when he worked at Echo. When he was a photography editor at the Families Monthly, Juan visited towns and villages throughout Taiwan and created a series of photographic reports; he also published documentary photography collections Pei Pu (1985) and Pa Chih Men (1985). In 1987, he founded “Juan I-Jong Darkroom Workshop and published the Man and Land series, where he kept for the people profound image records of Taiwan through warm and humanistic perspective. Later, he published the Taipei Rumor (1987) and Four Seasons (1990), becoming an important documentary photographer in Taiwan. In 1992, he founded the bilingual Photographers magazine, introducing extensively Western photography. In 1999, Ran combed through unpublished old negatives, publishing photo albums The Lost Grace, The Secrets of Hands, The Known and the Unknown, and Square of Nostalgia, and organizing the Juan I-Jong Photographs: Retrospective exhibition at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. In 2004, he retired as a professor from the Department of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts, and in 2005, he was employed as a visiting professor at Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in China. In 2016, he founded the “Juan I-Jong Humanity Award of Photography to encourage and recognize humanistic photographic works. In 2017, Juan held On the Way Home: A Retrospective Exhibition of Juan I-Jong’s Photography at Yilan Museum of Art; in 2018, he participated in the Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers' Island Gazes 1970s-1990s exhibition organized by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and founded in Yilan Juan I-Jong’s Gallery of Taiwan Story. Juan’s works have been exhibited in various European, American, and Asian countries, and collected by National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, V&A Museum in London, Shanghai Art Museum in China, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Taipei Fine Arts Museum. In addition to photo albums, Juan has also written photography related books including Masters of Contemporary Photography (1985), Rising Stars of Contemporary Photography (1987), Seven Questions about Photographic Aesthetics (1991), and Reading People, Reading Sceneries (2017).

Hsiung Peng, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Reference: 

Chou Wen. Collection Catalogue 14. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 125.

Shen Chao-Liang. Looking Back – Taiwanese Photographers' Island Gazes 1970s-1990s, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2018, p. 194. 

Born in Miaoli. Chiu started photography in the late 1950s. After experiencing two distinctive creative directions of the salon photography and realist photography in the 1960s and 1970s, Chiu gave up photography for a while; nonetheless, he eventually picked up his camera again with a realist mindset, and observed rural villages he had great interests in through photography. Chiu never left his hometown, and spent his days in Miaoli, observing his bare-footed neighbors working hard in the fields through the camera lens, as well as the unnoticed changes in the corners of rural villages. In 1991, Chiu De-Yun and local photographer friends founded the “Tough Photographic Group,” and recorded the situations faced by modern rural villages through black-and-white photography in a style that reflected the Hakka culture and nativist realism. His published photo albums Shorts (1993), Hakka Village at the Foot of Jiali Mountain – Shorts Nativist Photography Series 3 (2001), and Wind Blows and Sun Shines: Taiwan’s Rural Villages by Chiu De-Yun(2014). 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born in Ruifang, New Taipei City. Yeh won Gold Prize in the Black and White Division at the National College Photography Contest in 1982. After he finished military service, Yeh worked at China Times Weekly as a photojournalist, and held his first solo exhibition, Broken Shadows, Deconstructed Images at Jazz Gallery in Taipei in 1987. Yeh founded Yeh Ching-Fang Studio after he returned from his overseas studies in Paris in 1998. In 2001, he opened Fang Fang Restaurant, selling beef noodle soup and braised dishes. In 2005, he died from recurring liver disease. Yeh’s photographic creation, starting from 1982, can be roughly divided into: snapshots of street sceneries and people, politics before and after the lifting of martial law, the world of liquor, pinhole gazes of portraits and stills, and self-portraits and sets. As one of the representative photographers in the 1980s with a background in photojournalism, Yeh challenged the empirical paradigm of documentary photographic aesthetics during the time through his personal creative experiments and revolutionary themes. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born in Kaohsiung. During his military service in 1981, Hou was hospitalized due to depression, and began painting. In 1983, he worked as a photojournalist for medical magazine Lederle MD. Later, Hou worked at Ren Jian (Human) Magazine and the Independence Evening Post after 1987. Hou never received formal training in photography, yet he developed unique image style through his extensive experience of photographing and developing films. His most famous Lung Fa Tang (Buddhist temple-cum-mental asylum) series captured the images of patients with mental illness in Lung Fa Tang. Hou deliberately took pictures against the light without focus to create blurry images; sometimes the prints were full of spots and fine lines due to molds and damages of the negatives, portraying the wandering state of existence of mental patients living on the margin of society. Hou has also expanded his concerns for the society to the labor class, such as his Kaohsiung Ship Dismantling Yard series, which features laborers at Kaohsiung Ship Dismantling Yard as subjects. 

Liu I-Ying, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

References: 

Edited by Chang Chao-Tang. Aspects & Vision – Taiwan Photographers: Hou Tsung-Hui. Taipei: Culture & Life Publishing, 1989. 

Hou You-Kuang. “Artist Biography: Hou Tsung-Hui.” Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts – Archived Works. Website < www.kmfa.gov.tw/CollectionDetailC003110.aspx?Cond=77d45292-3aa7-4d49-b8b5-aa8264620598> (Accessed on May 19, 2021)

Born in Guiyang, China. Chuang moved to Taiwan with his family in 1948, as his father Chuang Yen transported the artifacts of the National Palace Museum to Taiwan. In 1953, he shot his first ever photograph. After graduating from the Department of Forestry, Taiwan Provincial Agricultural College (now National Chung Hsing University), Chuang worked at National Taiwan University Multimedia Center. Later in 1965, he entered Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) and worked as a photojournalist for 20 years. Chuang Ling was an active figure in the photography and art circles, serving as the founding editor-in-chief of the Theatre Quarterly and chairman of the V-10 Visual Arts Group. He has always been concerned with the development of photography in Taiwan, and in addition to teaching photography at numerous universities and colleges, Chuang has also promoted the establishment of the National Photography Museum (now National Center of Photography and Images). Creatively, Chuang Ling advocates the “natural” and the “real,” and does not like to include elements like lighting or posing in his photographs. His works vividly capture the expressions of his subjects, as well as the diverse scenes in daily life. Chuang has been awarded the 26th Wu San-Lien Award in 2003 and the 15th National Award for Arts in 2011. 

Liu Yi-Ying, 2021 National Center of Photography and Images Preservation Metadata

Reference:

Sun Xiao-Tong, Sun Wei-Shiuan. Photographers of Taiwan: Chuang Ling, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2020. 

Born in Hsinchu. Liang’s photographic style is not limited to specific themes, nor does he take pictures for any particular purposes. His works reveal his unique sentiments for the Hsinchu area. His work “Sacrificial Pig and Female Entertainers” (1996) was shot in front of the Hsinpu Yimin Temple in Hsinchu. Through unique composition, he captured the profound image of Taiwan’s local folk activities, and won the Gold Prize in the Photography Category at the 52nd Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition. Starting from the 1990s, Liang has been engaged in commercial photography, and founded Image Creator in 2002. He continues to photograph large-scale events, and his works have been featured at the Cultural Record of Hsinchu County by Seven Photographers organized by Hsinchu County Government in 2016. 

Tsai Min-Ying, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Reference: 

Liang Chao-An, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Metadata

About Image Creator, Image Creator, <www.icphoto.com.tw/about> (Accessed on May 18, 2021). 

Chung was a photographer of Taiwan Panorama from 1983 to 1988. Since 1987, Chung has been juror of National College Photography Contest, Konica College Photography Competition, and Young Photographer Award. Since 2000, he has served the jury of Taiwan Provincial Governor Photography Competition, Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition — Photography Category, Golden Bell Awards and Golden Tripod Awards. Chung has participated in many group exhibitions, and held solo exhibition Chung Yung-Ho Photography Exhibition 2015 at Jazz Gallery in Taipei. Over his career spanning over three decades, Chung has amassed over 300,000 photographs, which express the humanistic concerns of a photographer and record precious images of times past. Chung has published several photo books, such as Sketch of the Country and City (2010), Beauty of Guizhou (2012), Humanistic Insights into Oceanic Taiwan (2013), and Chung’s Photography Collection (2019). 

Tsai Min-Ying, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

References:

Chung Yung-Ho. Sketch of the Country and City, Taipei: Caves Gallery, 2010.
“Chung Yung-Ho,” Art Emperor, < https://artemperor.tw/knowledge/1227> (Accessed on May 19, 2021).

Born in Xiluo, Yunlin, Chou was an early photographer in Taiwan. In his youth, Chou experienced poverty during the Pacific War, which prompted him to focus more on the soil beneath his feet. Rural sceneries could always be found in his photographic works. Chou was an instructor of YMCA photography class in Tainan, Kun Shan Industry Junior College, and Kaohsiung Industry Junior College photography club; he was also a committee member of Tainan City Center of Photographic Culture and honorary review committee chair of the Photographic Society of Tainan. His collection, “Returning from Pastures in the Desolate,” was collected by Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and other works have been collected by public and private institutions such as National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. 

Lee Pei-Yun, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

References:

Collection Catalogue 17. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2009, p. 273.

A Catcher of Photography in Southern Taiwan, Tainan: Jou Industrial Design, 2017. 

Born in Taoyuan. Early on, Lin mainly produced black-and-white photographs, and color pictures only gradually appeared later on. His photographs included portraits and diverse social sceneries. In 1936, Lin entered Sunrise Photography Company in Tokyo, where he studied techniques of portrait photography as an apprentice. He returned to Taiwan the following year, and opened the Lin Photography Studio. Lin Shou-Yi was known for his portraits as he masterfully utilized techniques of artificial lighting, arrangement of depths, and hand-coloring. After WWII, he continued to run his studio, and won First Prize at World Photography Competition of the American Rotary Club in 1962. In 1988, he was granted honorary fellowship of the Photographic Society of China. 

Lee Pei-Yun, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Reference: Chou Wen. Focus on Taiwan: Idealism vs. Realism. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 176.

Born in Nantou, his Chinese name is Wu Diing-Wu. His mother is an indigenous Tauda tribe of the Seediq people. In 1991, Walis Labai earned MFA in Computer Graphics Design at the College of Fine & Applied Arts, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, and since then has focused on digital image processing technology and digital image related art creation. In 2001, he exhibited The Invisible Project — Invisible People at Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Since then, Walis Labai has worked on a series of creative works of “The Invisible Project,” where he uses digital imaging techniques of computer graphics to shine light on different aspects of the indigenous art through the perspective of different problems. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Reference: Huang Ching-Ying. “Beyond the Tribal Village: Walis Labai and His Invisible Project,” Art Accrediting Vol. 25 (April 2009), Kaohsiung: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, pp. 86-89. 

Wu earned MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is currently pursuing PhD in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, U.K. Early on, Wu learned photography on his own, and became a photojournalist between 1988 and 1995, focusing on documentary photography. Later, out of his doubt for the aesthetic paradigm of documentary photography, he began to reconsider the relationship between images and reality through experiments of photographic media, and created the “Wu Chung-Wei Portraits” collection in 1995, which was selected to the “Taipei Biennial” in 1996. Later, his photographic practices span across commercial and fine art photography. He participated in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei’s inaugural exhibition of The Gravity of the Immaterial in 2001 and Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s Beyond Reality/Regarding: the work of 6 Contemporary Taiwanese Photographers exhibition in 2010. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Reference: Tsui Yeong-Shuei. Focus on Taiwan: Idealism vs. Realism. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 194.

Born in Hainan, China. Kuan came to Taiwan with his parents when he was an infant; his life experience of displacement and instability in life have indirect influences on his later concerns for the people at the bottom of the society. Kuan worked as a junior high school teacher and taxi driver, as well as photographer at CommonWealth Magazine and editor and photographer at China Times Magazine. From the 1980s to 1990s, Kuan travelled numerous times to Pa-Chih-Men and Lanyu (Orchid Island) for long-term projects of documentary photography, turning his camera to focus on the real situations of the underprivileged people living at the bottom of the society in the two places. His important publications include: Dignity and Humiliation: the Borderland of the Country — Lanyu, Shipbuilding in 1991 and Notes on Pa-Chih-Men in 1996. 

Shen Bo-Yi, Ma Kuo-An. Photographers of Taiwan: Kuan Hsiao-Jung. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2020.

Born in Taichung. Liao was first introduced to photography at the age of 10. In 1993, his work, “Morning,” won the Gold Prize in the Black-and-White Division at the 26th Provincial Photography Exhibition. Later on, he won numerous awards and prizes at regional or national photography contests. Throughout his creative career, Liao simultaneously uses photography and oil painting as his creative media. In 2008, he held solo exhibition My Hometown and published the Farewell, Gang-Wei – A Photo Album of My Hometown by Liao Pen-Yi, chronicling the transformation of his hometown sceneries. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Graduated from Department of Journalism at Chinese Culture University. In 1983, he became a photojournalist at Ren Jian (Human) Magazine, where he recorded the historic images of the turbulent period the 1980s prior to Taiwan’s democratization. After Ren Jian Magazine ceased publication in 1989, Tsai worked as director of photography at The Capital Times and then Liberty Times, chief of the photography division at China Times, and deputy editor-in-chief of China Times Weekly. He won The Independence News Best Annual News Picture Award and Top News Award, as well as First Prize in the Portrait Category at Kodak Annual News Photography Competition. Tsai’s photographic works are mainly documentary photography. In 2016, he published his first photo album Live in the Human World – 1980s Documentary Photography, which compiled the images of those living at the bottom of the society he captured when he worked at Ren Jian Magazine, showing his profound concerns for Taiwan’s society and soil. 

Reference: Tsai Ming-Te. Live in the Human World – 1980s Documentary Photography, Taipei: Homeward Publishing, 2016. 

Born in Tainan, Chen has been engaged in photography for 50 years, focusing on capturing local sceneries across Taiwan. Chen has instructed the photography clubs of National Taiwan University, Soochow University, and Taipei Medical University, and won the First Prize in the Color Photography Division at the 7th Taipei Annual Arts Competition in 1975 and First Prize in the Color Photography Division at the 31st Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition in 1976. Chen has published photo albums Ode to Night (1994) and Taiwan Treasure Trove (2009). 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Born in Keelung. Liu was first introduced to photography at the age of 13. After he grew up, he worked in the steel industry, and engaged in photography in his free time. After his retirement, he went to study photography at the Tokyo Photography Institute in Japan in 1986, and founded Realist Photography Studio in Taipei in 1989. Liu engaged in photography and taught darkroom techniques until he was 80. He participated in Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s Eye of the Times (2011), Dance with the Museum Collection (2016) and The Era Seen – The Pursuit of Image during the Days of Photo Club, 1940s~1970s (2014). Liu also published photo albums such as Beauty of Stone Patterns (1993), Creeks (1993), and The Photographs of Liu I-Chuan – Realism and Hand-Drawing (2016). 

Reference: Realism and Evolve – The Photographs of Liu I-Chuan, The Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture, < https://talks.taishinart.org.tw/event/info/2018041201> (Accessed on May 19, 2021)

Born in Keelung. After being introduced to photography during university, Tsai became a passionate photographer. After the lifting of martial law, Tsai worked as a photojournalist at Commercial Times, where he captured through his camera the robust and diverse social movements at the time, while also witnessing Taiwanese society’s transition into democracy. In 1996, Tsai earned MFA at School of Visual Arts in New York. Upon his return, Tsai taught photography, created photographic works, and curated exhibitions. He is now the chair of the Chinese Society Photographic Art and the chief curator of Taipei International Photography Festival. Tsai has also published photo album The Age of Defiance (2008). 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Born in Busan, South Korea. When he was studying in the Department of Philosophy, National Chengchi University, Ho became interested in photography and joined photography club after he went mountain climbing and saw the beauty of mountains. When he graduated in 1982, he held his first solo exhibition at the American Cultural Center, and started working in the media, becoming a photojournalist at CommonWealth Magazine, China Times Weekly, Min Sheng Daily, Independence Morning Post, Time News Weekly, and Commercial Times, where he was exposed to the bottom echelon of the society. Ho published Shadowed Life in 1990, photographing portraits of those city dwellers at the bottom of the society, and presented in 1991 the File of White Terror that focused on victims of the White Terror. In 1995, Ho published the Occupational Injury series, where he captured the bodies of those suffering from occupational injuries using Polaroid camera, and created irregular marks on the images by pulling the films or using a print roller. In 2003, he followed it up with a second installment, The Occupational Injury Series 2. Ho is currently the owner of the Hohotai Cultural & Creative Studio, and runs HOHOBase in Ruifang, New Taipei City. 

Hsiung Peng, 2020 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

References: 

Chien Yun-Ping. The Silver Halide Era – Aura of Times Vintage Photography Prints by Taiwanese Photographers 1890s~2015, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2016, p. 315.

Ho Ching-Tai, HOHOTAI Cultural & Creative Studio, <https://www.hohotai.com.tw/> (Accessed on May 19, 2021)

Born in Tainan, Ko went to Japan in 1959 to study at the Tokyo Photography Institute. He first worked at an advertising agency upon his return, and later founded the first professional photography company, Art Garden Culture, in Taiwan in 1964. In 1967, Ko went to the U.S., and opened a photography company in New York City in 1971, becoming a contracted photographer of a number of fashion magazines. In 1979, he closed his company, and went to India, Southern Europe, and Northern Africa, to photograph local natural and cultural landscapes. Through precise photographic techniques, Ko created works of rich layers of light and shadow, brightness and darkness, and textures. Ko also enhanced the color expressions through the technique of dye transfer, extracting from daily sceneries images of mindscape that were almost abstract and metaphysical. Ko was praised as the “First One in Taiwan Modern Photography.” His most representative works include “Wait for Venus” (1979), “Tree & Wall” (1979), and “Golden Sea” (1988), and he won the Wu San-Lien Award in 2000 and National Award for Arts in 2006.

References:

Shen Bo-Cheng. Photographers of Taiwan: Ko Shi-Chi, Taipei: National Taiwan Museum, 2017.

Boundaries of Poetry – Ko Si-Chi, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2020. 

Born in Taipei, Quo moved to Tokyo with his parents at an early age. After graduating junior high school, Quo entered Department of Library and Information Science, World College of Journalism (Shih Hsin Journalism College). He purchased his very first camera at 19, and began his creative career in photography. In the 1970s, he joined the V-10 Visual Art Group, and also photographed for the Cloud Gate Dance Theater during its early days. In 1975, Quo went to France and studied at the Department of Cinema, University of Paris VIII; he also worked as a commercial photographer, and created photographic works in his free time, using a style of low brightness and high saturation to construct surrealist images from real external landscapes. Quo was engaged in commercial photography in the French fashion industry in the 1980s, and continued to create photographic works. In 1984, Quo won the Wu San-Lien Award. He returned to Taiwan in the 1990s, and is now the art director of a fashion brand. 

Reference: Chen Wei-Chien. Photographers of Taiwan: Quo Ying-Sheng, Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2019.

Born in Taipei, Chou graduated from the World College of Journalism (Shih Hsin Journalism College). Chou became interested in photography in 1988, and has worked as a photojournalist at Capitol Morning News, Journalist magazine, and China Times Weekly. Chou has won numerous annual news photography and graphic stories awards. Early on, Chou created works of documentary photography. More recently, he has turned to staged photography. Important works of Chou include: Frozen in Time – Chronicle of a Leper Colony (1996), Vanishing Breed – Workers Chronicle (2002), Wild Aspirations – The Yellow Sheep River Project (2009), Fined Taipei (2011), and Animal Farm (2015). In addition to being showcased by public and private museums in Taiwan, Chou’s works have also been invited to exhibitions in the U.K., Germany, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and China. His photo books have also won various domestic awards. In 2004, Chou established Ushow Visual Design Company, and now serves as the company’s visual director. 

Reference: Chou Ching-Hui Official Website, <https://www.chouchinghui-art.com/about/director> (Accessed on June 11, 2021)

Born in Matsu. Chen is currently a teacher of humanities and arts at New Taipei City Deng-Gong Elementary School and part-time lecturer of photography at Taipei National University of the Arts. Chen earned BFA from the Photography Department of the School of Visual Arts, New York, and is currently attending the Doctoral Program of Fine Arts Department, Taipei National University of the Arts. Chen’s important works include: Betel Nut Girls (2003), Circumgyration Project (2001-), and Heaven on Earth (2001-). His works have been exhibited in the U.S., France, Japan, and China. His more recent group exhibitions include: Tainan International Foto Festival (2019), Dengkong Project (2018) at les Rencontres d'Arles in France, Snap Taking & Slow Thinking: Social Spectrum in the Age of Staged photography (2016) at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts,  and The Silver Halide Era: Aura of Times Vintage Photography Prints by Taiwanese Photographers 1890s~2015 (2016) at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Chen won the Higashikawa Award in Japan in 2010. 

Reference: Chen Chin-Pao Photography, < https://www.chinpaochen.com/resume_c.html> (Accessed on June 11, 2021)

Born in Houli, Taichung. Chang graduated from the Department of Commercial and Documentary Photography (Fine Arts Division), Tokyo Photography Institute. After graduation, Chang worked at a magazine briefly, and was engaged in documentary photography. Later, he became a full-time professional photographer, and has since served as a juror of National College Photography Contest, chairperson of Taipei International Photography Festival, project host of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts’ Forty Years of Taiwanese Fine Arts – A Research on the Development of Photography and collection committee of the National Center of Photography and Images. Chang’s works embody his concerns for the underprivileged groups. His important works include: Cherishing – 921 Collective Family Memory of Taiwan (2002), Love in the World (1993), Bustling in the Cocoon (2002), Lasting Sentiments of Earthquake (2004), and Liberation from Divine Punishment (2005). He has also participated in The 9th Viewpoint (1984) at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Voices from the Bottom (2000) at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Collective Memory (2001) at Bureau de Representation de Taipei en France in Paris, and Collective Family Memory of Taiwan (2001) at the Asian Modern Photography Exhibition in South Korea. Chang also curated The Mirror of Time – Dry Plate Photography Exhibition (2018) at National Taiwan Museum. He won the 29th Wu San-Lien Award in 2006. 

Reference: Chou Wen. Focus on Taiwan: Idealism vs. Realism. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2003, p. 148.

Born in Lingya, Kaohsiung. Chen graduated from Tamkang University, and has held positions including president of Coca Cola Taiwan, executive director of Ta Chong Commercial Bank, and chairman of Ta Chong Securities; he is currently the chairman of Chen Chung-Ho Charity Foundation. Chen’s photographic works focus on native customs, and he prefers the daily life in the streets and the power and beauty of dancing. Chen has delved into dance photography for over 10 years. His works were selected to the Taipei Photography Salon in 1960, winning the Gold Prize of Ten Photographers of the Year. In 1969, three of his photographs of dancing were published in the Gallery Edition of Japan’s Asahi Photography magazine, becoming the first Taiwanese to earn such recognition. In 1971 and 1979, three works were included in Britain’s Photography Yearbook, and in 1995 and 2001, Chen was awarded the Third Prize and Honorable Mention by Popular Photography, the largest photography magazine in the U.S. and the world. In 1997, Chen was selected to the Japan Veteran Photographer Competition. In 2017, Chen held Reminiscence – Attow Chen Photo Exhibition at National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. 

Ho Ping, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Reference: Attow Chen. Reminiscence – Attow Chen Photo Exhibition, Taipei: National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, 2017. 

Born Yeh Ri-Tsai in Erlin, Changhua. Yeh often visited Hsinchu with his father when he was young, and was attracted by the customs of the Hakka villages in the hills of Hsinchu. Both before and after military service, Yeh would always carry his camera and wander around rural Hsinchu. In 1975, Yeh was employed by Eastman Kodak Company to work abroad as a photographer. During his vacations, he would come back to Taiwan to capture his hometown using a Hasselblad 120mm camera and Voigtländer 135mm camera. In 1985, Yeh returned to Taiwan and lived in Hsinchu, where he continued to travel to the rural areas and captured the folk customs of the Hakka villages in his pictures. In 1991, Yeh moved to Beipu, Hsinchu, and has continually captured through his lens the changing sceneries of Hakka villages, becoming an important nativist documentary photographer of Taiwan. 

Ku Shao-Chi, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images 

Born Pan Wen-Chu in Taipei. Pan visited Lanyu (Orchid Island) for the first time in 1980, marking the beginning of his frequent visits to Lanyu over the next 25 years for the Photographic Reportage of Orchid Island by Pan Hsiao-Hsia 1980 – 2005 (2006). In 1986, Pan became a photojournalist of the Independence News, and witnessed the surging social movements at that time. In his free time, he also created a number of collections that spanned across years or even decades, such as Manga – Drunken Patrol (1986-1990), Photographers of Taiwan (2017), and Taiwan White Terror: Human Rights History 1949-2009 (2009). In 1997, Pan began working in the Photography Division of the National 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei. After he left the job, he made a number of documentary films, including, Who We Fight For? (2002), The Last Sign of Pat San: Searching for the Indigenous Facial Tattooing (2003), and The Dream of Going Home (2011). He also published photo book The Testimonies of 228, 1947-2015 (2015). Over the years, Pan has documented through photography the scars of Taiwan’s land, culture, and history, keeping important image records for Taiwan. In 2017, Pan won the Wu San-Lien Award. 

2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

References:

Collection Catalogue 12. Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2001, p. 251.

Chung Yi-Chieh. “The 40th Wu San-Lien Awards – Interview with Pan Hsiao-Hsia,” Wu San-Lien Awards Foundation, <https://www.wusanlien.org.tw/02awards/02winners/02winners40/e01/> (Accessed on June 11, 2021)

Born in Gaoshu, Pingtung. Chung graduated from the Brooks Institute in California in 1987. In 1992, Chung returned to Taiwan and founded Chung Rung-Kuang Photography Studio, introducing the high-quality Cibachrome printing technique to Taiwan and incubated professional photographers. Chung’s photographic works emphasize that photography is a kind of discovery and presentation of “feelings,” which is a new kind of fusion of visual experiences and subconscious images; what it emphasizes is “viewpoint.” Creators of images must be precise with their “perception and observation,” rather than simply “gazing” with their eyes; thus, you must “want it” before you can “see it” and then “photograph it.” Photographic creation is a way of thinking, and is simultaneously a window, and a mirror; the photographer must constantly look outside the window, but should not forget to also gaze at his or herself in the mirror. This is a bilateral task of expression and self-reflection. 

Fu Yuan-Cheng, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Born in Chiayi. Ouyang Wen was a famous painter and photographer. In 1943, he became a pupil of artist Chen Cheng-Po, a fellow Chiayi native, and studied oil painting. He was selected to the Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition in three consecutive years. However, he was convicted in 1950 due to White Terror, and was imprisoned on Green Island from 1951 to 1962. When Chiang Ching-Kuo went to Green Island for inspection, Ouyang Wen was assigned the job of taking photographs, and used this opportunity to take many photographs of the folk customs and people on the island, preserving precious pictures and information of Green Island during the period. After he was released, Ouyang won numerous awards at domestic photography competitions; he also participated in the Photographic Society of Taipei and served as juror of photography competitions. He participated in Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s Remembrance and Reflection: 2.28 Commemorative Exhibition (1996), Sadness Transformed: 2.28 Commemorative Exhibition (1997), and Historical Event Remapping: Witnesses, Reflections, Revivals (1999), and was awarded the Human Rights Medal in 2000, to recognize his testimony of human rights and passion for the soil. In 2015 and 2016, Green Island Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park and Jingmei Human Rights Memorial Park organized the Human Rights and Art: Exhibition in Memory of a Great Artist Ouyang Wen and Touring Exhibition in Memory of Ouyang Wen respectively. 

Ho Ping, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

References:

Chiayi City Cultural Affairs Bureau, Courageous Taiwanese – Ouyang Wen’s Photography and Oil Painting, Chiayi: Chiayi City Cultural Affairs Bureau, 2001. 

Ouyang Wen, South Gallery: Taiwanese Painting Schools, < https://www.nan.com.tw/nan0001/PainterContent.aspx?tid=35965> (Accessed on June 11, 2021)

Born in Tainan. Hsu developed film for the first time in the fourth grade. Hsu decided to study photography when he was studying in Tainan Normal School. He became a teacher after graduation, and purchased first camera in 1955. In 1958, he co-founded the Phoenix Photographic Club, and in 1959, he co-founded the Anonymous Photographic Club with his friends. Starting from 1959, Hsu won numerous awards at photography competitions. Regardless of black-and-white photos or color slides, Hsu could always grab the jury’s eyes with the emotions of his photographs. After 1969, Hsu focused on promoting photography locally, and founded the Dots Photographic Club in 1972, gathering many fellow photography lovers and making significant contribution to the promotion of photography in southern Taiwan. Hsu specialized in capturing profound instantaneous emotions in daily life, or deconstructing through his lens the forms of objects, and creating abstract pictures through light and shadow; he most frequently observed corners overlooked by ordinary people through unconventional perspectives, making his works innovative and highly-experimental. In 1993, he planned and participated in the photographing, editing, and publishing of the photo album Historic Sites of Tainan in the Eyes of Photographers, and served as editor-in-chief of Focus on Tainan 1860-2006 – History and Records of the Development of Photography in Tainan published in 2008, which chronicled the history of photography in Tainan over nearly half a century. The 2018 Tainan International Photography Festival featured Hsu Yuan-Fu as the first “Keynote Photographer.”

Reference: Sun Xiao-Tong. Photographers of Taiwan: Hsu Yuan-Fu, Taipei: National Taiwan Museum, 2018. 

Born in Keelung. When he was studying at the Department of Eastern Language, Tamkang University, Chien worked part-time at the Chung-Mei Photographic Equipment opened by famed photographer Lee Ming-Tiao, and became interested in photography. He joined Tamkang University Photographic Club and began his career in photography. In 1985, Chien studied for two years at the Graduate School of Art at the Nihon University. He worked as a photographer for Taiwan Panorama, a magazine published by the Government Information Office in Taiwan, and also as the chief editor of photography for Earth Geographic Monthly. In 1988, he founded the Sunnygate Gallery, which later transitioned to Sunnygate Phototimes. Chien is currently the art director of Sunnygate Corp. Chien’s passion for photography is manifested through his works and his effort in the compilation and preservation of photographic works. In recent years, he has strived for the writing of early history of Taiwan’s photography and the digitalization of early photographic works, while also developing a series of creative works and promoting classical darkroom techniques. Chien has curated the Taiwan Contemporary Photography Exhibitions Series at Sunnygate Gallery, exhibiting works by early photographers like Deng Nan-Guang, Chang Tsai, and Lin Shou-Yi, as well as Deng Nan-Guang Photography Retrospective (2007), Image Map: Chang Tsai Retrospective Photography Exhibition (2010) at Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and The Era Seen: The Pursuit of Images during the Days of the Photo Club, 1940s–1970s (2014) at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; he also co-curated with Chang Chao-Tang The Silver Halide Era – Aura of Times Vintage Photography Prints by Taiwanese Photographers 1890s~2015 at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in 2015. 

Ho Ping, 2021 Metadata of the Collection of the National Center of Photography and Images

Pursuer of Temporal Images – Interview with Sunnygate Phototimes Founder Chien Yun-Ping, NCFe, < https://mag.ncafroc.org.tw/article_detail.html?id=297ef7227039739d01707a7247b60030> (Accessed on June 11, 2021)

Born in Wanhua, Taipei, and graduated from Taipei Industrial Institute (now National Taipei University of Technology) in 1944. In 1946, Lee began working at Tatung Company, and founded the Tatung Photographic Club in 1960, embarking on his journey as an amateur photographer with a Ricohflex 6 × 6 camera. When the club was first founded, he invited Lee Tiao-Lun, Deng Nan-Guang, Yang Tian-Chi, and Chung Chin-Ching to be judges and advisors, and under their influences, Lee adopted the creative philosophy of natural realism, capturing diverse aspects of daily life, while also preserving rich image records of the Taiwanese society at the time. In the 1970s, Lee created many photographic works featuring children, where he constructed light and shadow, the images of children and their surrounding landscapes into improvised and ingenious pictures. 

Reference: Chang Chao-Tang. In Search of Photos Past, Taipei: Walkers Culture Enterprise, 2015.