Rebirth of top photographers

Chapter 126 Annual Awards Presentation! (colorful)

It was already dark over the capital, and the city was shrouded in layers of deep black. Only a little bit of white light penetrated from the crescent moon in the sky, as if it was a gift from God to the world.

But humans no longer need God’s gift. They have replaced God’s authority with large street lights, high-speed traffic lights, incandescent lights in windows and the light from pedestrians’ mobile phone screens, giving every human being the right to light.

And this is not the only authority that the gods hiding in the void have been deprived of. Their right to stand on high places and overlook the world has also been replaced by humans in another form.

For example, in a high-rise construction site, the construction has not been completed and the tower crane is still in the sky.

A group of young people are sitting on the cantilever of a tower crane, with their feet dangling in the air, looking at the endless flow of vehicles in the city below and the facades of buildings illuminated by neon signs.

"Wow!" they cheered, cheering for themselves to reach the high point again, and cheering for the smooth operation tonight.

This is a game only for the brave, and it is another way for modern young people to find an outlet under high pressure.

"Yabu, what are you doing?" One of the boys with earrings struggled to walk to the girl wearing bright yellow shoes, looking at the mobile phone lying horizontally in her hand with some confusion.

The wind roared past their ears, taking away part of the volume and making the sound appear blurry and distorted.

"I'm watching Gesai!" Yabu raised his phone. Although they were at the top of dozens of floors, the signal was still intact.

"What is Gesai?" The young boy didn't understand why Yabu still stared at his phone when everyone else was admiring the free scenery at high altitude.

"Photography competition!" Yabu shouted loudly.

"Let's go, stop looking at your phone, let's go see the scenery!" The young boy stretched out his hand to pull Yabu away from the place.

Unexpectedly, Yabu refused: "There are my friends inside! You go first! I will be back in a moment!"

The young boy shrugged his shoulders. Seeing that she didn't want to come, he trudged forward to the farthest point.

At this time, Yabu was seeing the awards for the portrait category. Standing on the stage at this time was a black man from Africa named Hawke.The host seemed to notice his embarrassment and deliberately asked him to say a few words of thanks.

The big black brother was covered in sweat and kept making small movements of his body. He looked very nervous, but he still took the microphone and said, "Uh, thank you, thank you, mom! Thank you to God! Thank you so much!"

The host said "Wow": "Don't you have anyone else to thank?"

Hawke was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then subconsciously looked at his position: "Also, thank you to Chen, who sat next to me and encouraged me all the time."

When the director heard this, he immediately switched the scene to Chen Pingsheng's face. He was looking at the stage with a calm expression, and he seemed not to be nervous about being watched by the camera at all.

Yabu finally saw Chen Pingsheng's face, took a closer look, and couldn't help biting his lips: "The suit is so handsome!"

The scene didn't last long. It switched back to the stage after just two seconds, and at this time Chen Pingsheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

No one knew that his shoes were constantly stepping on the ground under the chair, and his heels were even a little numb.

Hawke came back soon. He was holding the silver trophy awarded by the organizing committee. He grinned so big that he couldn't close it. He just sat back in his chair with a silly smile.

"Chen, how am I doing?" Maybe he finally let go of his worries, his whole body relaxed and his speech became smoother.

Chen Pingsheng nodded and said he felt good.

For some reason, he didn't want to talk much right now. It might be because the first heavyweight award was about to be announced, which made his heart so full of nervousness that he couldn't tolerate any other thoughts.

Cornell on the stage did not speak immediately after everyone left, but walked to the center of the stage.

The stage light immediately gathered into a beam and hit him, and all other light sources were turned off.The atmosphere at the scene suddenly changed its rhythm and became quiet.

"I believe everyone is looking forward to this moment, and so am I." Cornell put away his playful smile and said seriously: "The awards that will be awarded next year will give people great surprises and impact our understanding of photography. . At the same time, it is also the most popular award because it is easy to understand and spread. It is the brightest jewel in the crown and the brightest star in countless photos by photographers around the world!"

"It's the single best photo of the year!"

“Now let’s invite portrait photographer Doug Wall and abstract master Phil Nango to jointly present the award to us!”

"Wow!" The applause was thunderous.

But Chen Pingsheng breathed a sigh of relief again, because this award had nothing to do with him, and he could start his long wait again.

To be honest, waiting is often more difficult because all expectations are in fantasy and cannot be realized, let alone talk to others.Chen Pingsheng could only silently accumulate strength by himself, waiting for the grand stage to extend an olive branch to him as a symbol of invitation.

In this mood, the best single photo of the year has been awarded, and it belongs to Lars van der Goor, a landscape photographer from the Netherlands.

His work is to photograph trees, but unlike traditional photography, the trees he photographs seem to be in a dream.The white skylight in the entire picture is treated like a dream, with thick fog and a blurry temperament, while the tall trees stretch wantonly in front of the camera, without any leaves or branches.

Only the tree in the center of the picture has two branches scattered out, covered with yellow flowers, adding a touch of color to this quiet picture.The organizing committee's attribution to him when awarding the award was: "Photography works that are more beautiful than oil paintings."

After everyone finished appreciating his work, the award ceremony entered fast-forward mode again.

Awards in the categories of street, humanities, and fashion are also constantly being awarded.

What followed was Chen Pingsheng's increasingly nervous heartbeat.

Ten minutes later, the second award, the best breakthrough photo of the year, was awarded.

An hour and a half after the ceremony started, the third award, the Best Creative Photo of the Year, was awarded.

Compared with several other photos, Chen Pingsheng prefers this one because it looks very open to interpretation.

The elements of the picture are very simple, divided into upper and lower parts. In the upper part, there are two photo frames with large heads of two men inside.

A little bit of shoulders, no body, just a huge head in the photo paper.And it can be seen from their shoulders that they are not wearing shirts and are naked.

At the same time, the background of the photo paper is black, and it looks like a photo that would be used at a funeral. But if you look closely, it doesn't look like a funeral, but more like two people being sealed by an inexplicable existence.

In the lower part of the picture, there is a large white bed with two suits placed on it, facing two photo frames, which seems to symbolize the bodies of these two men.

The overall composition is a very strict square, and the photo frame and photo paper all follow the same composition, giving people the illusion of multiple worlds.

Chen Pingsheng found this photo very interesting. It seemed like it was just a photo frame, but when looking at the photo through the photo, it was like looking at another mapped world.This divides the entire photo space into three layers. The first layer is the world where the viewer lives, the second layer is the world of the bed and suit, and the third layer is the world inside the photo frame.

This undoubtedly adds depth to the photo and makes the interpretation more personal.

For it, there is no correct interpretation or wrong interpretation, and any interpretation is acceptable.

But when the photographer talked about this photo, he actually revealed his source of inspiration.

Because the people in the picture are none other than himself and his partner.

These photos were taken because the winner, John, is 50 years old.And his partner Pete is approaching eighty.

He suddenly realized that it became an urgent matter to leave memories of each other's 27 years of companionship.

"I know that in the eyes of the mainstream, Pete and I are not very ideal types of partners. There is a 27-year age difference between me and him. When we go out, sometimes people think we are father and son, but this is the trace of my life."

On stage, he said so.

Then there was nothing but roaring applause.

Chen Pingsheng couldn't help but applaud, not only for his courage, but also for their love.

But as time went on, and after most of the category awards had been handed out, Cornell took center stage for the fourth time.This time, he was holding a huge photo album in his hand.

"Do you know what this is?" Cornell raised the album in his hand.

The audience present shook their heads.

"It is the world's first publicly sold photo album. It was written by the British scientist Talbot and is called "Natural Brush." ​​After speaking, Cornell put down his hand: "It announces the advent of the era of photography. , it also means that photographers have works that are completely different from literature and art styles and are completely their own!”

"Until now, more than a hundred photo albums are released every year, with different themes, different types, and different photographers. Everyone is preserving something for the world. So this award is to encourage everyone to use photo albums to record The world, conveying my views on the world, life and society to everyone through a series of photos.”

"This award is for the best film series of the year!"

Chen Pingsheng suddenly clenched his fists.

“Next, let’s invite our presenters, Mr. Ericsson, chairman of the organizing committee, and Mr. Li Yuanming, an installation artist from China, to jointly present the award!”

"Wow!" The applause was like a tide.

This award has always occupied a top position in the hearts of photographers around the world. A single photo may be more important to photography enthusiasts, but the industry pays more attention to the photo album.

As Cornell said, this is a work, a work that can be passed down to future generations for a long time. It will continue to extend with the development of mankind and be interpreted with different meanings at different times.

So when this award was about to be announced, the photographers present opened their eyes wide and lifted their spirits.

They want to know who will win this immortal pearl this year!

(End of this chapter)