One Useless Rebirth

He Bai was baffled and couldn’t help leaning forward. His posture and expression revealed his desire for the answer, regardless of all that harsh criticism.

And that was exactly why Xu Yinrong liked him—not afraid of criticism, willing to learn and to hear others’ opinions, not stubborn and able to improve when he found problems.

“Posters are all well-designed, which means the portraits on them are the results of deliberate cooperation of photographers and objects, but your photos...” Xu Yinrong slowed his tone unconsciously, and tapped the photos on his table, suggesting, “Your photos are still shot in a single-portrait way, and all of them are captured. Couldn’t the captured group portraits photos be excellent? No, instead, there are a lot, but they’re elusive. Most of the group portraits photos, especially the commercial ones, require the cooperation between photographer and object. So, Xiao He, you have to learn to instruct the model to follow your photographing track, rather than be obsessed with capturing models.”

Well, that was very illuminating.

Staring at those ten photos on the table, He Bai recalled his experience in shooting portraits during this period. He got a sense of dawning comprehension.

Indeed, he had been used to shooting landscapes, so he always thought subconsciously about capturing, about how to one-sidedly follow others instead of cooperating. As nature would never cooperate with anyone, if you wanted a desirable landscape photography, you would have to wait there day and night, for the perfect moment that nature seldom gave.

When it came to portrait photography, he also gave models their heads and he captured them with camera, hardly asking them to cooperate with him.

...So he had been taking photos with the landscape pattern, which meant essentially there were no breakthrough and progress.

“Sir...” When he realized it, he got flurried.

Xu Yinrong raised his hand to stop him and took a photo collection from his book case. Sitting back, he presented this collection to He Bai and tapped the first photo, “This is my first group portraits photo. At that time, I was just an inexperienced journalist. I followed my senior to take pictures for the news about police escorting criminals to home. This photo was criticized harshly by him.”

He Bai looked at it. It was a black-and-white photo with a low resolution. In the picture, the police were queuing up to get into the cars, looking loosened up and tired, without any sense of tension when they escorted criminals.

“The domestic conditions were not good at that time, so escorting criminals was a tiresome work. On their arrival, the police and criminals were all worn out.” Xu Yinrong explained and turned to another page, “This one was shot by him, which was adopted by the newspaper.”

It was also a blurred, black-and-white photo, but it adopted close-up photographing, only included one policeman and one criminal. In this photo, they were looking right at the camera. Although the policeman seemed tired, but he stood straight and used his strong, stable hands to hold the criminal, while the criminal was avoiding the camera and lowering his head, full of regret and shame.

“I captured this photo.” Xu Yinrong turned to his photo to let He Bai look at it again. Then he turned back, “When took this photo, my senior asked that police men to pose as if he had subdued the criminal. As they knew this photo would be posted on newspaper, they both expressed their real feelings subconsciously. The policeman would like the readers to see justice, while the criminal was shameful for his guilt.”

He Bai gazed at the eyes of these two men, feeling a little bit terrified.

“Later, this criminal behaved well and pled guilty actively, so he got abatement on penalty and was released from prison prior to the expiration of the sentence.

Then, He Bai looked at his own photos, frowned.

“Xiao He, a good photographer not only can discover the traits of each model and capture them, but also can make full use of these traits when you see them and let them form the picture that you want most.”

“Photographers are not only the recorders and onlookers, but also the participants and controller. Due to the multiple objects, group portraits photographing are uncontrollable, but you’ve got your eyes, hands and mind, so you have to use your eyes to discover them, use your hands to capture them, and after all, I hope you can use your mind-when you discover the beauty of your objects, control it, enlarge it and deliberately arrange it.”

He Bai finally got his messy mind clear and found a direction. After digesting teacher’s words silently, he looked at the photos on the table again, releasing a deep sigh. He raised his head and smiled to Xu Yinrong, saying seriously, “Sir, I will hand the desirable photos next week!”

Seeing him begin to understand, Xu Yingrong leaned against the back of his chair with satisfaction. He waved his hand, “Then go get it. Do a good job this time.”

“I will!” He Bai stoop up with a bright smile. He collected the photos on the table and ran outside urgently.

Xu Yinrong shook his head and burst out laughing. He took a look at the calendar, sighing, “Only a few months left. Hope he can make it...”

After he got out of Xu Yinrong’s office, He Bai rushed back to the dorm, grabbed his wallet and went out. He bought a Polaroid as quick as possible and ran to the biggest funfair in city B. He bought the ticket and entered. Next, he bought a large white board and wrote “Free Photography. Instantly Take the Photo After Shooting. Assigned Poses Only! Group Photo First!” Then he stood in front of the fountain with heaviest population, and waited.

After ten minutes, there were some look-on people, but no one asked for a shoot.

He Bai looked at other stalls and bought a large box of lollipops, adding “Student Practice, With FREE Lollipops. He chose a less populated place and continued to wait.

Another five minutes later, a couple came out of curiosity.

He Bai got excited and quickly scanned the clothes and other things of this couple which could reveal their traits. The composition proportion for two portraits photography flashed in his mind and gave him endless inspiration.

“Once I went to a remote landscape. Local people called it “Love Fountain.” It was said that if a couple drank the water from the fountain together, they would never part.” He gave both a lollipop first. Then he smiled at them as he adjusted his camera, showing his left dimple, “When you drink the water of that fountain, you have to pose in a special way. Do you want to try it?”

“The girl already adored his dimple and nodded without hesitation, saying, “Of course! Although my boyfriend is a little dumb, but it’s great to be with him forever.”

The tall boy beside her gave her a wry smile, and petted her heavily.

The girl stared at him and fought back.

He Bai looked at them and recalled the modeling of those two Love Stone at the remote landscape, then grinned. He didn’t teach them how to pose until they called a stop on their cute bantering.

The first couple left with satisfaction. Followed by a gang of girlfriends who had watched this also came, then came a mother and son, father and daughter...After the last family photo, he had given out all the lollipops. He put his white board away and stretched himself.

The results were good today. He planned to come again when he was free.

The next day, He Bai received a call from Jiang Xiuwen.”

“You are in the Q University not?” He was surprised.

“Yes” Jiang Xiuwen replied with sincere attitude, “I come to apologize for lying together with Di Qiuhe before. Sorry!”

He Bai looked at the small box he just received and sighed in his heart, saying, “All right, where are you, I’m coming now.”

They met at the playground and He Bai took him to the tea bar in north canteen. They found a quiet place and sat down.

After the waiter sent their drinks to the table, Jiang Xiuwen organized his words and said, “Mr. He, last time at Red Guest, I arbitrarily decided to fabricate a “cousin” to cover for Di Qiuhe’s alt account, I am very sorry for that.” He came to apologize in person and with a modest attitude. His sincerity was adequate.