ONSITE | SmallRig x Chen Zhonghe
SmallRig Awards 2025-01-04 00:56:00
In this term of "On Site",we will visit a legendary photographer in the Chinese photography industry
Mr. Chen Zhonghe.His photography career spans half a century from city skylines to the vast universe,from bustling streets to the wonders of the deep sea.He has captured countless legendary and admiring moments with his lens.
I'm Chen Zhonghe is a photographer.Every piece of equipment is a tool without thought and spirit.Make your tools have thought and soul,because humans and machines are a whole.The highest state of photography is the expression of details.A moment is unrepeatable.
After that he witnessed the launch and recovery process of six Chinese manned spacecraft.
Looking down and looking up
memorabilia on old films
Off-screen voice：When humans shine opportunities are fleeting and dangers are unpredictable.As a photographer Chen Zhonghe has to spend a lot of energy to study the relevant knowledge of launch and return,analyze various possibilities and prepare equipment as much as possible,and do everything possible to secure shooting opportunities
SmallRig: I was very impressed this work.
Chen Zhonghe: That's what you see in manned spacecraft.A classic photo that is very difficult to take.This is called Dragon Dancing in the Nine Heavens.Dragon Dancing in the Nine Heavens.
SmallRig: It's like a Chinese dragon
Chen Zhonghe: Because the dragon represents China.The moment of this kind of photo
SmallRig: It's very difficult to get.
Chen Zhonghe:For now unprecedented in the past unequaled in the future.So Yang Liwei personally signed it.He was in (the spaceship).It was on my tripod.
Chen Zhonghe: Did you see that.There are three cameras.There's another one.And a video recorder.
They're all working in the same period of time.So many machines.It takes some brains to operate at the same time.To figure out how to operate it.So such a complete machine.Filmed a lot of extraordinary moments.Record China's manned spaceflight.The best picture of the first manned launch.This is it.
Off-screen voice：Climb up to the 110-meter-high working tower and wait.It is only 1,500 meters away from the rocket launch point.Accompanied by an earth-shaking bang.The Shenzhou-5 rocket roared into the sky.Chen Zhonghe pressed the buttons of three cameras at the same time and took 48 photos in one breath freezing an unforgettable moment in China's aerospace history forever.
SmallRig: The launch of Shenzhou-5 is a dream come true not only for you ,but also for people across the country.It's a time for a dream come true.You just mentioned that you only have one chance.
Chen Zhonghe: There is a constant cycle in your head.This 1/1000-second moment.How many photos can you complete in this thousandth of a second.
Off-screen voice：The launch and recovery process of the Shenzhou series,hid many huge filming dangers.It is the trust in the motherland and nation and the accumulated hundreds of hours of aerial photography experience.Let Chen Zhonghe not fear life and death.
Chen Zhonghe: If the rocket did not take off after 3 seconds of ignition it was a thermobaric bomb.It's very scary.I had to shoot from this position.Very dangerous.
SmallRig: To consider your personal safety.
Chen Zhonghe: So I have to sign a waiver of liability agreement.At the time I thought that I had spent hundreds of hours in aerial photography and have seen all kinds of risks.The worst scenario is to die gloriously.Because I believe in my motherland believe in our scientists.Trust Qian Xuesen and scientists and believe that they can complete it.
SmallRig: At this moment,I really feel your courage and your state of mind.
Chen Zhonghe: The moment it was ignited,it exploded with a loud noise.The blast can spread to the surrounding areas.There were many photographers haven't experienced this kind of explosion.Startled.Tripods were shaken off
SmallRig:The tripod was shaken down.
Chen Zhonghe:It fell to the ground.Nervous.In that case.Many people don't record this moment.
SmallRig: In fact during the period of filming you ignored life and death.
Chen Zhonghe: If you don’t have this spirit,you won’t be able to take such wonderful photos.Two words,dedication and seriousness,as long as you are serious you will be first-class.
SmallRig: At the moment when the crewed spacecraft is launched,you will feel that all the efforts you have made before are worthwhile and have been in vain.
Chen Zhonghe: Only by admiring heroes can this nation move forward.Will develop better.Our generation has the responsibility and obligation to promote this thing.
Off-screen voice：Chen Zhonghe is also the first person in China to conduct aerial photography at space launch sites.He is equally fascinated by the macro perspective from a thousand meters abovewhere bustling cities are miniaturized within a square inch.He tells stories of urban transformation through aerial imagery capturing every step of the city's rise.
Chen Zhonghe: I will form a series of products based on the things I take and conceive, integrate, and improve them according to the product design.Therefore I am different from others.I am not taking a single photo but completing the planning of a product.With the progress of the times they have to look back at the path they have taken.This is the responsibility and obligation that photographers should fulfill.
Deep Diving and Macro
A New Perspective in the Deep Sea
Off-screen voice：When Chen Zhonghe was 60 years old "drone" technology became increasingly mature and became a competitor of aerial photographers.Aerial photography is no longer mysterious.Chen Zhonghe did not hesitate and took the initiative to change his perspective from the sky to the bottom of the sea.His narrative perspective also changed from grand to subtle.Regardless of the life-risk of diving at an advanced age,the camera is aimed at the creatures on the seabed and the beauty of the ocean is "detailedly painted"at an ultra-macro distance that is difficult to focus with the naked eye.
SmallRig: When you were 60 years old，you started to change tracks to shoot under the sea。Do you think it was too late？
Chen Zhonghe: It’s not late at all。I have photographed all kinds of fish the largest，the smallest，the fastest，the slowest that can eat people in the ocean.I have photographed them all.But I have never photographed the ocean sunfish.I went to this island seven times and realized this dream,which moved the diving guide at the time.Because these fish are all in very deep places below thirty meters.I said it doesn't matter to me just take me there.Once in order to chase it.I went from 35 meters to 30 meters and suddenly I was out of the water.It was tragic and my nose was bleeding.
Later after I took a break for a few months.I passed away again.Be sure to capture it.At the last place there are very fast rapids and cold currents.which are very dangerous.But there is only this place.If you have it you can have it.If you don’t have it there is nothing you can do.Then we went there.Both of them were at the bottom so I dived below 40 meters in one go.After I took a photo of it.I chased this fish.When I looked at the dive watch,it started to alarm.You can't go down it's very dangerous.At this time,I went down to 41 meters to take a picture of it and then started to come back up.I was very excited because I finally got it.I started vomiting after I got up.
SmallRig: You actually take a lot of risks in order to capture some unique photos.Your lens moves from the sky to the sea where the road really ends and the sea begins.Your photography of the ocean often captures shocking and beautiful moments.Every time I see your works my feeling is Marine life is really extremely diverse and extremely beautiful.
I also discovered a detail.Every time I look at your works such as corals and fish.I feel like they are so close to my eyes.Very vivid.What kind of shooting method was used underwater photography?
Chen Zhonghe: It requires a very good stability.As you know we cannot change the lens at the bottom of the sea.So every time you have to use only one method when you dive down.Under the sea you have a macro lens.There are also very small creatures they are as large as the fleas on land something like that or some creatures that are even smaller than flies.All photos must be taken with a super macro lens.Therefore it is extraordinary to photograph the creatures on the seabed in this way.
SmallRig: Show it to people.It's extraordinary.Over the years you have used your lens and photography to spare no effort to popularize the knowledge of marine protection to the public.So over the years what kind of feedback have you received from the public?
Chen Zhonghe: The awareness of ocean protection is getting stronger and stronger.This would also be inseparable from the hard work of photographers.In particular the invention of photography technology has enabled us to stand on the seabed.Therefore after we take pictures people can discover that the seabed is so rich and beautiful.So beautiful,So it touches each of us yearning for marine life.
As photographers we feel very gratified about what we record and what dangers we have,I also feel very gratifying.They respected us.They respect our labor and appreciate our work Children of the ocean are our own children .My purpose of shooting is to let everyone see the ocean from an environmental perspective.Using my photography skills.I finally brought the beautiful scenery of the underwater garden to the eyes of people on land.
Dreams and Construction
Chasing Light and shadows for Eternity
Off-screen voice：In 2020 Chen Zhonghe was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent four operations within a year and a half.The object of the life-and-death game shifted from the outside to himself.
SmallRig:After Chen Zhonghe fell ill many things could not be continued in your eyes，but he persisted in his photography career meticulously.
Mrs. Chen：He never gave up photography.Photography has always been the most important thing to him even more than anything else.His love and pursuit of photography are the first priority in his life Chasing light and shadow.
Chen Zhonghe: using images to record the changes in the world.This is my lifelong pursuit.When RVs entered China and I had the financial resources.I did not hesitate to convert my motorcycle into an RV and started traveling around China.When I went to Yunnan and Xinjiang.I witnessed a lot of the world.There are many more shot on land covering a distance of nearly 300,000 kilometers.
Now I'm almost 72 years old.At the age of 71.I completed aerial photography of the Pearl River Delta twenty years ago and I extended this idea to the Yangtze River Delta the Bohai Bay the Western China and the Central Plains.I want to complete my ideals and wishes.Trying to get it done,but now only one-third of it is completed.Less than one-half.So I'm going to spend the rest of my life.Completed a photographic exhibition of "East, South, West, North, and Central".This is my biggest wish.
Off-screen voice：71-year-old Chen Zhonghe.Still constructing using lenses to construct time and space.And still chasing lighthasing the grand light of humanityn chasing the subtle light of life.His life and photography are integrated changing with the times and he continues to see the changes.
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