From 1949 to 1950, Lee Ming-tiao wrote for a column “On Photography” in the Taiwan Shinsheng Daily. In his “On Photography (Part V)”, he mentioned that photographs and classical western paintings share the same rules of composition. Whether it is painting, sculpture, or photography, the difference only lies in the media of expression. Conceptually, they all influence one another. The surrealism in painting also affects the presentation of photography. When it comes to abstract imaging, Lee mentioned the influence of surrealism and its popularization in the early 20th century, which marked a revolutionary change for photography and established an individual artistic style. In A Scene by the Sea, shells and withered branches appear on the beach like ready-made objects. The shells are magnified as the main subject in the foreground while the withered branches are inserted diagonally resembling the branches and lines in traditional landscape paintings. The composed objects are carefully arranged like a dream, constituting a “surreal” image. The softened black-and-white tone adds mystery to the atmosphere of the work.
Lin Yi-luo, “2021 Compilation and Research Project of Metadata in Photography.”