According to the family document “The Two Lins of Taichung: the Life of Lin Tsao and Lin Chuan-tsu”, Lin Chuan-tsu began to shoot a large number of realistic images of people in urban and rural areas, rural life and pastoral scenery since 1950. His footprints have covered Central Taiwan, Chiayi, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Eluanbi, Mt. Yangming, Wulai, Shimen Reservoir, Hualien, Taitung and other places.
Through his adjustment and arrangement of light and shadow, the ordinary people of daily scenes under the lens of Lin reveal a sense of simplicity and dignity. Lin Chuan-tsu often incorporated a light sculpting technique of low-angle and enhanced backlighting, not only emphasizing the subject matter, but also heightening the artistic atmosphere and rendering, allowing all elements in the composition to complement one another. Shooting a bright background without adding light to the subject would produce a sharp silhouette, while using reflectors or flash lights to subtly light up the foreground would create more details.
Threshing portrays a scene of busy farming season composed of two farmers standing close together and the other standing slightly afar. The blank and brightness of the sky at the upper left make the movements of the three farmers more intense. The changes in light and shadow make the characters’ dark skin and muscle lines due to long-term farming more prominent. Shooting through the elevated angle not only highlights the main figures, but also their crystal clear sweat on the back, adding a touch of subtlety to the work.
Sun Wei-xuan, “2021 Compilation and Research Project of Metadata in Photography.”