"Qinghai Lake Bird King": Using the Lens to "Endorsement" for the plateau elves
Our reporters Zhou Shengsheng and Lu Xueli
The breeze blows, the blue waves of Qinghai Lake are rippling, the lake water taps the lake shore, and a group of water birds stop and play.
Carrying a camera on his shoulder and a tripod in hand, Ge Yuxiu approached briskly.
He quickly opened the tripod, adjusted the camera, and locked the lens on the group of waterfowl... Looking at the brisk and agile figure, who would have thought that he was almost old.
Ge Yuxiu has been engaged in ecological photography since the mid-1990s, and it has been 27 years since then.
He went deep into Qinghai Lake more than 200 times, Sanjiangyuan 25 times, and Hoh Xil no man's land 15 times. This is his "itinerary" for ecological photography for many years; he fell into an ice cave, encountered wolves, and fell into a swamp. Nearly 200,000 ecological and environmental protection-themed photos are the "transcripts" of his photography career.
He is the "King of Birds in Qinghai Lake" and the "Spokesperson of Chinese Diagonal Antelope".
From being a correspondent who loves to write and shoot, to devoting himself to ecological photography, and then to shouting for wildlife protection, Ge Yuxiu's life experience is full of legends.
The photographer "walking out" in the vegetable cellar
In 1970, 17-year-old Ge Yuxiu enlisted in the army in his hometown of Cao County, Shandong Province.
It was in the barracks that he had his first contact with the camera.
"At that time, there was a Seagull brand dual-lens camera in our communication office. It seems to be an old item now, but it was still a new thing at the time." Ge Yuxiu said.
The novelty of being new to the camera prompted him to teach himself photography.
He used newspapers, picture books, and magazines to learn composition, lighting, and shooting angles.
"3 grams to 3.5 grams of developer, 45 grams of anhydrous sodium sulfite, 1000 grams of hot water at 60 degrees Celsius..." After study and exploration, Ge Yuxiu mastered the skills of developing photos.
At that time, the company didn't have a special darkroom, so Ge Yuxiu took the equipment to the company's vegetable cellar, turned on a flashlight, covered it with a military cap, and let out a green light to develop photos.
Developing, rinsing, and fixing usually takes two or three hours.
"It is an unforgettable time to develop photos in a cellar full of radishes, cabbage and potatoes," said Ge Yuxiu.
It was also during this time in the cellar that Ge Yuxiu gained the initial satisfaction in photography.
Because he spent the whole night in the vegetable cellar, he was dubbed "the photographer in the vegetable cellar" by his comrades.
"Our company is on the newspaper, and it's still on the front page!" One afternoon in May 1982, a comrade brought the Qinghai Daily of the day. The front page of the newspaper clearly printed a photo taken by Ge Yuxiu.
Ge Yuxiu took a closer look. It turned out to be a photo of a soldier posting a blackboard newspaper two days ago.
"This was a big deal for our company at the time, and everyone was very proud." This gave him a lot of encouragement, and he couldn't take it back. consult.
From "Qinghai Lake Bird King" to "Spokesman of Chinese Diablo antelope"
One day in May 1995, Ge Yuxiu, who had transferred to a local job, came to Qinghai Lake for the first time, known as the "Plateau Sapphire".
"I only saw sparrows, eagles, and quails in my hometown in Shandong. When I arrived at Qinghai Lake, flocks of bar-headed geese, cormorants, and whooper swans were circling in front of my eyes. The shock is still fresh in my memory." To the bar-headed geese, brown-headed gulls, and eggs everywhere on Egg Island in Qinghai Lake, the birds flying all over the sky look like blooming flowers.
"So beautiful, it's suffocating."
"Birds are flowers in the sky, flying illusions, and they exist because of beauty." Ge Yuxiu used this verse to describe the "air spirits" in his lens.
By chance, he went to the three stone islands in the southwest waters of Qinghai Lake to shoot birds, where he stayed alone for 7 days.
The three stones are an isolated island in the water. In the endless plateau lake at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, it is like a lonely boat in the sea.
The climate there changes rapidly, sometimes the sun is shining, sometimes the wind is blowing, and the rain is pouring.
That night, Ge Yuxiu encountered a storm. Not only did the tent get wet, but the dry food he brought with him was washed away by the water, leaving only a bag of cabbage to satisfy his hunger.
Just when he sighed that "the mountains and rivers are full of doubts, there is no way out", a large watermelon floated on the shore. It turned out that the watermelon that was washed away by the heavy rain at night floated back again.
There were no mobile phones and no signal on the three stones, and he spent seven days in isolation on the island.
Only birds accompany him day and night, especially the fluffy little bar-headed geese who have just hatched and become his close companions and "followers".
He fed these cute little guys with the only remaining cabbage leaves, and the geese also became attached to him.
When leaving the three stones, the little geese followed the boat and chased far away... All of these must be fixed in his lens and deeply imprinted in his heart.
In Ge Yuxiu's eyes, these birds in Qinghai Lake are spiritual and emotional, which is vividly shown in his photographic works.
In his lens, the black-necked cranes are graceful, the brown-headed gulls have bright eyes, the whooper swans are elegant and noble, and the little bar-headed geese are cute and cute... The photos are vivid, and the birds in the photos seem to be telling their stories to the camera. story.
In Ge Yuxiu's lens, in addition to the beauty and agility of birds, there are also the troubles of life and the pain of death of natural creatures in the harsh natural environment.
"In the late 1990s, some people poached birds and stole eggs in Qinghai Lake, which did great harm to birds." In order to arouse the society's attention and protection of birds in Qinghai Lake, Ge Yuxiu took many photos of himself. Careful selection, combination, and then give them a profound connotation.
In the group photo "Return My Homeland", some birds are injured or have their limbs amputated; in one of the photos, a fish gull opens its mouth wide under the blue sky, and the photo is named "Scream".
Since then, Ge Yuxiu has taken many photos reflecting the living conditions of birds in Qinghai Lake, and used anthropomorphic angles and techniques to shoot and express them, such as "Marriage and Love Variations" and "Three Questions of Bird Love: Blind Date, Love, Accompanying" and other series of group photos , which resonates with readers.
These vivid pictures also won him the title of "Qinghai Lake Bird King" and won the 5th Qinghai Provincial Literature and Art Creation Award.
In late November 1997, Ge Yuxiu and his friends were on the way to photograph swans at the mouth of the Buha River in Qinghai Lake, when he captured a group of brown-yellow animals, "They run in a line on the grass, and their white hips are like white lotuses jumping on the ground. on the prairie".
Later, I learned that it was a unique animal in Qinghai Lake, the Przewalski's gazelle, which wildlife experts said was "more precious than the giant panda".
Since then, Przewalski's gazelle has become another concern of Ge Yuxiu.
He searched for various materials, visited local herdsmen, consulted experts and scholars, and wrote the article "Save Me - The Cry of Przewalski's gazelle" in a first-person manner, telling people about the living conditions of Przewalski's gazelle.
Given that Przewalski's gazelle is a unique species in China, coupled with its unique appearance, Ge Yuxiu also gave it a Chinese name - "Chinese Diagonal Antelope", so he is also called "Chinese Diagonal Antelope Spokesman".
"Photographers should learn to respect the creatures in the lens"
"Lao Ge will die just to take pictures!" Zhang Dehai, former director of the Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve Administration, said jokingly.
In the past 20 years, he and Ge Yuxiu have experienced many thrilling shootings together.
In Huquan Bay, Qinghai, two people fell into the ice cave at the same time to shoot the whooper swan; at the source of the Yellow River at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, they challenged the limits of life together; to shoot the Przewalski's gazelle, they were almost killed by wolves attack...
"I not only saw the beauty of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from the camera, but also saw the snow line rising, the lake surface shrinking, and the grassland degrading... The deterioration of the living environment will directly threaten the lives of wild animals." Ge Yuxiu said emotionally, all creatures All are equal. The more fragile the species, the more it needs human beings to carefully guard it.
"Photographers must learn to fear the creatures in the lens, and not be an outrageous 'intruder'!" Some photographers sometimes use the "scare and chase shooting method" in order to take dynamic pictures of wildlife, or use speakers and sound to stimulate , or chasing after the car.
Blindly disturbing or chasing wild animals by driving for a long time often causes them to be frightened to death or die of over-fatigue in plateaus that are originally devoid of oxygen.
"Ecological photographers should be environmentalists first, and the animals they are photographed are the real owners. Only the pictures of animals taken in a natural state without external interference are really good works." In Ge Yuxiu's eyes, photographers should Keeping a certain distance from wild animals is the minimum respect for the subject, and it is also the professional ethics that the photographer should have.
Because of this, the wild yak is always so docile and quiet in his shots.
"There is no end to the protection of wild animals"
"I have worked in the army, banks, banking regulatory bureaus and other units. The positions are changing, but photography has been insisting. Compared with my own job, I am not doing a proper job in photography." Ge Yuxiu often ridicule.
Having said that, not only has he not fallen behind in his own work, but he has also done a great job.
"Wherever you go, where is the sound!" Many colleagues and friends around him commented on him.
In his photography career, Ge Yuxiu has won many awards.
Photos of wild animals are waiting to come out, boiled out.
Ten thousand birds flying under the rainbow after the rain, the tall and straight Tibetan antelope in the background of the sun and the moon in Hoh Xil, the docile and honest wild yak in the wilderness, the black-necked crane strolling leisurely among the wetlands and grasses... The sight is not only the blessing of nature, but is it not the result of his hard work and diligent pursuit?
"Photography is my greatest hobby. If I want to do a good job in ecological photography without delaying my work, I have to pay more. Some people say that I am asking for trouble, but I am enjoying it." Ge Yuxiu said .
"Only by understanding, we will care; only by caring, we will take action; only by action, will life have hope." British biologist Jane Goodall's words gave Ge Yuxiu inspiration: only published in newspapers The pictures and articles are not enough, we have to go to schools, institutions, and herdsmen's homes to preach.
"One tree shakes another, one cloud pushes another."
To this end, Ge Yuxiu made nearly 300 pictures taken by himself into courseware, which included moving scenes of birds flying together, flocks of wild beasts, and peaceful lakes, as well as sobering pictures of grassland degradation, birds whining, and antelopes being injured. .
For more than 20 years, he took these coursewares from middle and primary schools in Qinghai to well-known universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua University, from residential streets, pastoral tents to scientific research institutes and government units. He has given more than 600 public welfare speeches and was invited to appear on the forum. "China National Geographic Lecture Hall".
In May 2017, Ge Yuxiu was invited to give a speech at Peking University on "Photographers Who Don't Be Aggressive". The speech video received more than 1.97 million hits on the Internet.
"The concept of ecological protection needs to be passed on. Only by attracting public attention can more people better protect wild animals." Ge Yuxiu said.
Now, he has been retired for many years, and he still has not stopped the footsteps of ecological photography.
He often carried a dozen pounds of photographic equipment and appeared in the mountains, grasslands, Gobi, and lakes.
"My camera is still waiting for wildlife to visit. It's a blessing to be in harmony with nature. I can seem to hear the birds singing to me when I'm photographing them..." he Say.