Traveler with a camera back: A New Poem Version

Author: Wang Shufen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: In the photographic notes of "The Traveler with a Backpack Camera," 60 works of text and images showcase his temperament of patience, solitude, and transcendent pursuit; paired with his concise essays, they profoundly present his willingness to embrace this temperament and his unwavering courage in this pursuit. Peng Yi's series of photographic works, inspired by Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, or Inner Mongolia, rarely feature people: the solitary mountains and rivers are exquisitely isolated; the similar villages are radiantly desolate; the majestic snow-capped mountains, trees, or sun and moon in the valleys, with their vibrant light and shadow, have independent clamor and bustle. In January 2002 on Wuzong Island in Jilin, Peng Yi waited for five days to capture a tree adorned with frosty ice crystals. He truly knows how to wait, truly endures solitude. In his autumn and winter photographic series "The Traveler with a Backpack Camera," many works feature magnificent compositions with the projection of a subject by the extreme brilliance of light. At such times, Peng Yi's essays and narratives often include lines like: "I sat alone on the hilltop at the village entrance, forgetting time," "Listening to my soul whisper with the heavens, I truly wish days could freeze like this," "In Ejina, Inner Mongolia, I watched the sunset with the old trees, motionless and thoughtless. That was true luxury. Without any temptation, only the sky, wind, and setting sun—I suspected I was outside of time," "I truly wish time could pause like this forever, leaving only the distant, misty mountains." So it seems that Peng Yi, who will remain tied to Shanghai for a long time to come, as long as his "heart is good," will still carry his camera to travel afar, still carry his luggage to catch planes and trains, and continue to write more photographic travel notes. The editorial concept of "The Traveler with a Backpack Camera" intentionally guides readers to immerse themselves further in literary sentiments amidst dazzling light and shadow. Thus, the design of "one book, two editions"—the prose edition and the poetry edition of "The Traveler with a Backpack Camera"—were created, with the two versions "facing each other" while standing side by side on the shelves, complementing each other in readability and texture. In the 28 poems by Wang Shufen, paired with corresponding photographic works, the poetry edition of "The Traveler with a Backpack Camera" deliberately reduces the dazzling colors of the photographs to black and white, allowing the rich human emotions in Wang Shufen's poems to unfold more freely. The moments captured during the journey can all be considered poems, as they carry the essence of "departure." It is a pity that I, who loves freedom, cannot travel far. I have severe travel sickness—bed attachment, pillow attachment, susceptibility to climate change, poor stomach... I lack all the qualities a traveler should have. Therefore, whenever I see friends settling in distant corners of the world, my admiration is often tinged with a sense of longing. The vast blue sky of the Mediterranean, the Himalayas draped in such a grand snow mantle, and the endless foreign stories from the journey! Fortunately, by observing the footprints of my friends, I am somewhat inspired to travel in my mind. This time, seeing Peng Yi's frontier journey in Shanghai, in addition to editing it into a personal photographic prose collection, I was also invited by the publisher to write dozens of poems to accompany these beautiful and mysterious travel photographs, publishing them as this book. This is also a kind of editorial creativity. More importantly, I hope to provide readers who love or cannot travel with richer reading content. Travel can be a leisurely, expansive prose or a gentle, introspective short poem. When reading this book, I suggest you find its "sister book," the prose edition of "The Traveler with a Backpack Camera," to read together. You will discover that the journey of reading is so vibrant and lively, not inferior to traveling out in the world. This book is a collection of the author's photographic works. As the author shows us one image after another, the readers' thoughts will extend deeper into the scenes, as if they have arrived in an anonymous small village, walking on a moss-covered lane, quietly listening to the ancient and distant echoes; flipping to the next page, it feels as if the readers are placed in an expansive, verdant wilderness, surrounded by an indescribable sense of grand sorrow and desolation, only finding relief through a loud shout. What this book brings to readers will not be just a visual impact.