In the era of chaos, Chin served as a photojournalist. His early photographic subjects were mostly journalistic and documentary photography. He once served for the Central News Agency and as the first Taiwan-based correspondent of Columbia Broadcasting System of the US. In his creative peak, influenced by his advertising career, his works were under the influence and featured the contemporary style in concept and composition. His late style explores tranquility that penetrates into the depths of life, as one “sees mountains as not mountains.” His works in this period convey a profound solitude and freedom.
Chin liked to call the Farmhouse in the Rain “Looking Back”. Once, an official of the Idaho State Tourism Bureau drove him to shooting while it was raining. He randomly saw a Farmhouse in the Rain on the roadside and asked the officials to drive back into a muddy path. He then shot from inside the car, intentionally placing the focus on the raindrops on the glass window. The farmhouse on the grassland is thus blurred along with a muddy road with traces of wheels. This work blurs the subject. With a clear foreground, it makes make people fall into reflection.
The work in fact symbolizes Chin’s life, always running non-stop on the road. The farmhouse at which he looked back in the rain is like a hometown where he cannot return. Relocating from Beijing, to Shanghai, Nanjing, Taiwan, the US and other places, it is hard to conclude where the home of his soul is. This work was presented to President Ma Ying-jeou when the governor of Idaho visit Taiwan.
Yang Yong-zhi, “2021 Compilation and Research Project of Metadata in Photography”.
Quotation by Dennis K. Chin, compiled by Angel Yang.
Media sources related to the “old gamin of photography,” Dennis K. Chin, compiled by Angel Yang.
Materials related to Chin’s works dictated and provided by students of Dennis K. Chin, Ching Hsieh and Angel Yang.