Speaking of the photography in 1980s Xiamen, I was initially impressed by the “five-ones” in Xiamen.

八十年代的厦门摄影中，我初时印象深的，是厦门“5个1”，他们在当时尝试了多样的摄影艺术创作。而后，以纪实的方式，持续多年大量地拍摄厦门的日常生活者，恕我见识不广，恐怕要数王鹭佳先生了。

At that time, they tried many ways to photograph. Later on, according to my limited knowledge, Mr. WANG Jialu becomes one of the documentary photographers that keep shooting the daily scenes in Xiamen.

王鹭佳有意识的摄影创作，始于1986年。他的镜头，从一开始就更多的对准人。那会他的女儿才三岁，看着她的成长和变化，不觉就拍下了很多。他的摄影，可说是从家庭影像开始的。而后，他将镜头转向了自己生活的这座城市，厦门。他珍惜这个城市，这里遇见的人。他说，因为缘分，所以拍到。身边的家人，朋友，同事，工作团队，乃至街边的流浪汉等，他都平等地拍了下来，一拍就是十年之久。到1996年之后才渐拍的少了，总共拍下了六万余张胶片。这个数量，无疑是十分可观的！重看这些照片，以了身份、技艺、天性，职业乃至社会交往圈子的广大，王鹭佳记录下的时代影像，异常的丰富。而他凭直觉拍下的那些照片，颇抓住了一个时代的气息。

In 1986 WANG Jialu started to photograph consciously. He has focused on people more often from the very beginning. His daughter was only 3 years’ old at that time. While watching her growth and changes, he took lots of photos for her. We can say that his photography begins at taking pictures for his family. Then he turned his camera lens to Xiamen, where he lived. He cherished the city itself and the people that he met there. He said, he took photos by predestination. Family, friends, colleagues, teams at work and even homeless men were all photographed equally by him for ten years. He gradually stopped after 1996. At that time, he had already more than 60,000 films. This is of course a very huge amount. Looking back at these photos, due to his identity, skills, natural instincts, profession and large social connections, WANG Jialu made an extremely rich record of that time. The photos he took by instinct have grasped the essence of the era.

看得到，他与照片中的人，时远时近。他在都市中漫游，很麻利地穿行在各样的人群之中，有时温情，有时也起些偏好，随心打量遇上的一切，像一个快门手似的记录下一张。他说，他想真实地记录下来，有温度地记录下来这些人和事。如果可能，就用照片的方式，复写一个时代，一座城市的文明史。毫无疑问，他对这座城市的人间烟火的记录，对人们日常生活所作的持久而广大的观察，是十分难得的。这批影像，对厦门作为一个经济特区的发展，必将是很珍贵的记录，是王鹭佳对这座城市所作的重要贡献。可以说，他对人的观察，尤其成就了他的摄影，也成就了他异于本土其他影像档案的文化价值，活泼泼的。
We can see that the people in his photos are sometimes far and sometimes near. He wandered in this city, walked through different crowds swiftly, sometimes gentle, but sometimes with a little preference. He saw everything freely and recorded them as if his hand was like a shutter. He said, he wanted to record things and people honestly and warmly. If possible, he wanted to autotype the times and the history of a city by photos. His long-time observation and records of the daily life in this city are doubtlessly not very common. These photos are definitely precious records of the development in Xiamen, a special economic zone. This is a great contribution to Xiamen. His observation of people accomplished his photography and made a lively cultural value, which is different from other local film archives.

王鹭佳用摄影的方式，与这个城市相处。他说，那些东西，不拍就过去了，可惜。走街串巷的拍摄，在日后成了他的一种生活方式，不拍就难受。我把他的这一种摄影实践，归为一种“城市相册”类型。就像家庭相册是记录一个家的人和事一样，城市相册是一个人对一座城的观察和记录。就像安哥拍摄广州，雍和拍摄上海，苏德克拍摄布拉格，薇薇安·迈尔拍摄芝加哥那样。它需要一个摄影人对一座城，对城里的人，有热情，有好奇，有静默而长久的用心，乃至如做日课一般。
WANG Lujia used photography to get along with this city. He said, if he didn’t take photos of these things, they were gone forever, what a pity! He went to streets and buildings to take photos. Then it became his way of living. If he didn’t take photos, he felt uncomfortable. I classified his photography into City Album, just like what AN Ge did for Guangzhou, YONG He for Shanghai, Josef Sudek for Prague and Vivian Maier for Chicago. A photographer needs to be enthusiastic, curious, calm and concentrated to treat a city and the people there for a really long time, just like doing a religious daily lesson.

这样的照片，初时人或以为寻常，因为随处可拍。但时代过去就是过去，真的拍下了，才在照片里存在。依借年月的加持，过了二十年、三十年再看，忽而就不寻常了。在这里，不寻常的，不是年月本身，是一个时代里人的精神气象。尤其是里间的群体照，又及个人的肖像照，最见一时人的风情和光华。
Man may not have unusual feelings when watching these photos, because they can be photographed everywhere. However, time flies and things are gone forever without coming back. They can only exist if photos are made for them. With the power of time, they become special after 20 or 30 years. The uncommon thing is not the time itself, but the spirit of people. This brilliant spirit of one generation can be felt especially from the group photos and individual portraits in the inner hall.

王鹭佳说，在他国，在异地也拍过很多照片，但一对比就会发现，还是拍与自己息息相关的城市、人的照片，更打动自己。好像有乡愁一般，同呼吸，血脉相连，是这样的感情。他对自己的这些照片，如今有一个谦逊的态度，即把它们当成是一份资料，对这城市发展的一个见证，一个可温故而知新的途径。隔久了，回头看，这或可说是一位摄影人的善举。
WANG Lujia said, he took many photos in foreign countries as well. But when he made comparison of these photos, the ones he took in this city were more impressive. It’s a kind of nostalgia, deeply connected to breathe and blood. He viewed these photos modestly as both the evidence of development and the way of looking back the history in this city. It’s a kind act from a photographer if we re-think it now.

三影堂亦借这个展览，这本“城市相册”，献给厦门特区发展历程的一份小小摄影礼物。
By organizing this City Album Exhibition, Three Shadows also wishes to present a very small gift in form of photography to Xiamen.

文/ 钟林春
Author: ZHONG Linchun