[Interview] What Is It Like to Become a Hanfu Photographer?

Like hanfu models, hanfu photographers are the ones who have the easiest access to the latest hanfu styles.

Compared to the early days of the Hanfu revival, the reason why we, nowadays, can see photos of varied styles and beautiful hanfu is very closely related to the hanfu photographers.

Modern Hanfu found four hanfu photographers and let's hear their stories.

Mr. Qian Xi (浅溪先生)

Hello everyone, I'm Qian Xi, a Chengdu-based office worker with a sideline in photography, and I define myself as a dream maker.

From the beginning of college in 2017, I was influenced by ancient songs and took the road of shooting hanfu. Although my job is relatively stable, I also lost a lot of opportunities to go out and shoot, basically only shooting in Chengdu and participating in online training.

Even so, it didn't affect my love for hanfu and photography, and I would go planning to do hanfu photography whenever I had time.

I have been trying to find my own “tag” because I am working and have few opportunities to shoot and create. Since the end of 2018, I've been trying to use Photoshop to create scenes that don't exist in reality and add something different to my hanfu work.

As a photographer, I think the source of inspiration can be a character or scene from a TV, movie or game; it can be a line of poetry or lyrics; it can also be a demon or monster in a tale, as long as we dare to try, our works will always get the best presentation.

Creative hanfu works from Qian Xi

“Ran Xi Zhao Yue” was inspired by a song of the same name. I thought that hanfu should not be confined to pavilions, so I chose the oceanarium for the shoot and used a rare blue and purple color scheme to reflect the scene's sense of transcendence.

“Falling into the Deep Sea” was influenced by the song “Maiden of the Deep”, and the theme of the underwater world was chosen, with a solid color background throughout the shoot.

The model was dressed in a flouncy hanfu on a chair to show the feeling of being underwater, and the flouncy skirt was chosen because it had a more floating feeling, which was a set of hanfu creation with a sense of suffocation.

“Ex Machina” was inspired by cyberpunk concept design and ACG on the internet, and it was my first attempt to combine hanfu with cyberpunk and C4D with PS.

“The Deer God” breaks away from the norm and picks the theme of Shanhaijing, using surreal elements such as the image of a half-human, half-deer, glowing antlers, a curved moon caught from the bottom of the sea, etc., thus achieving the effect of a fairy in the forest.

Mi Yun Zi (弥云子)

Hi everyone, I am Mi Yun Zi, a hanfu photographer from Chengdu. I didn't think I would become a hanfu photographer in the future when I first came across hanfu, but step by step, I truly feel that hanfu is so beautiful!

Through photography, I want to show the different costumes and the beauty of each dynasty to the fullest.

In fact, when I first wanted to be a photographer, I wanted to be able to record all the beauty.

Beautiful scenery, beautiful people, beautiful things, etc., framed, will become beautiful memories forever.

Therefore, as a hanfu photographer, I have carried Chinese costumes to face the wind in the Tianshan Mountains, run in the poplar forest, stay on the edge of Crescent Lake, and also recorded the different scenery in four seasons.

In retrospect, the most impressive experience was the trip to Hu Yang-Lin in the Gobi Desert.

This kind of desert hero tree, life, a thousand years not dead; death, a thousand years not fall; fall, a thousand years not decay. After seeing it with my own eyes, the shocking aftertaste could not be dispersed in my heart for a long time.

Of course, while I was shocked, I still remembered that the purpose of this trip was to put the beauty of hanfu in the Hu Yang-Lin of the desert.

Despite the difficulties, I am glad that with our persistence and efforts, we finally managed to take a picture with the most loyal guardian of the desert.

Later, we also framed many beautiful moments along the way, between the sand and wind, between the light and shadow, between heaven and earth, and recorded the small days with the warmth of the desert through the lens.

In short, along the way, I met a lot of beautiful people and things, and also met a lot of like-minded partners, leaving a lot of good memories. In the future, I hope I can go further and bring my beloved hanfu and camera to frame more beautiful things.

AJiu (阿乆)

Hi everyone, I am AJiu, a full-time photographer. My first contact with photography would be in 2018.

I personally have tried many series, but I was finally attracted to the hanfu series. The reason for this is probably due to the beauty of the hanfu itself, which is either ethereal or solemn, and the heavy heritage behind it.

After I decided that I wanted to shoot a hanfu-related series, I tried to find my own style, whether it was passionate and exuberant, cool and quiet, or other styles, and I found my way through different explorations.

Personally, I prefer a cool and quiet atmosphere, and with the elegance of the hanfu, the classical charm comes out.

I think the most touching point in the shooting process is probably the bonding with different partners, we all go through the process of getting to know each other, and each of them has its own distinctive characteristics.

When I look at the photos and the images, I am happy from the bottom of my heart – I am shining in my field of love.

Ba Chong Ta (八重塔)

Hello, I am Ba Chong Ta, an independent photographer, and I think a good camera is like a lover's eye.

As time goes by, I've been in contact with hanfu photography for five years, and I've produced a lot of works from the beginning of shooting fashion hanfu to now.

I tried to think back to the most memorable moments of my shooting experience over the years, thinking I should have come up with a great experience or a great place I had been to, but after thinking about it quietly for a long time, I found that although I could recall the scenes of each set of photos, there were no particularly memorable or painful scenes.

Whether the shooting location is in China or abroad, I must double-check the equipment before each trip, make a good strategy in advance, and choose a more conventional travel photography route to minimize the possibility of accidents.

This foresight has become a habit, so that I am comfortable in unfamiliar places to face the bumps and bruises, and do my best to do a good job in each shot.

Although no accident is the greatest happiness for photographers, but in advance to avoid some possible trouble is also one of the necessary skills of independent photographers.

As a photographer shooting fashion hanfu, you must first have your own understanding of the clothing, prepare the props for the shoot, design and match the right makeup, think about the lighting arrangement, choose the right lens, etc.

Fashion hanfu and modern fashion are inseparable, and photographers need to understand and study aesthetics and current trends.

Technology determines the lower limit, aesthetics determine the upper limit, aesthetics can be acquired later, so my experience is to see more, analyze more, comprehend more, and encourage people to learn more, think more, and summarize more.

When shooting, I believe that no matter the model's appearance or interior, there must be one side that is particularly flattering to better interpret, so my design style will fit the model's own temperament to the greatest extent.

For the emotion I want to express, I will communicate with the models in advance, show them similar photos to find the feeling, both sides brew in advance, and play the music that suits the emotion. Music is the best catalyst to free nature.

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