Lin Chuan-tsu was eager to refine his understanding of photography. When he learned that color photo technique abroad was becoming more and more mature in the 1940s, Lin, who was constantly pursuing self-breakthrough, began to invest in color photo processing with great enthusiasm. He was regarded as the pioneer of the development of color photo technology in Taiwan.
In 1949, Lin Chuan-tsu asked his sister-in-law to bring back American color photo processing materials and equipment from Hong Kong to study the new technologies by himself. According to his son Lin Chuan-hsiu’s recollection, the darkroom at the studio was like “father’s laboratory for color processing”. The space of roughly three to four square meters was filled with magnifiers, processing tables, scales, timers, and thermometers for measuring the chemicals, as well as bottles and jars of various sizes, filled with chemical liquids for processing. The small space is filled with the smell of various chemical materials. The darkroom in summer was even hotter and more humid, but Lin still enjoyed his experiments with great passion.
Inside the “laboratory” was the stage for film processing. Several tungsten lamps were wrapped in red, orange, and yellow plastic paper to mark the different stations of color processing or black-and-white development, to avoid making mistakes in the process. The chemical powder of color processing sent from the United States were prepared and stored in various glass bottles, and placed at different stations with other color processing chemical liquids. In dim light, the sense of touch and hearing were trained to become more acute. Photographers relied on the sound of equipment and movements to coordinate with one another, and then looked forward to the surprise after the development.
The color of the Isolated Tree is elegant and soft. The hazy distant mountains showing a green-gray gradient are like a watercolor painting. The grass in the middle ground is presented in a soft transitional color, all of which bring out the warm orange-red tone of the lone tree.
Sun Wei-xuan, “2021 Compilation and Research Project of Metadata in Photography.”