Looking Up

While serving his first term as director-general of the Taiwan Provincial Photography Research Association, Den Nan-gwang enthusiastically promoted activities for amateur camera buffs, especially female portrait photo sessions and outdoor model shoots. Den himself shot, developed, and enlarged the priceless photos. Den's framing and compositions were different from those of others. Most photographers simply set out to capture models' looks and their many and varied expressions, while Den sought to leave room for the imagination. Here, the model is posed in the lower left, seemingly gazing up at something. Judging from the light in her clear, bright eyes, she doesn't seem to be praying for the gods' blessings. Two rows of stone bricks form a loose walkway extending into the distance before diverging—what does that imply? Den used his camera lens to conjure up imaginary situations; combined with the model's upturned gaze, that fanciful quality fills the photo with an ineffable aura of fantasy. This is one of a series of works that was archived by the Council for Cultural Affairs (today's Ministry of Culture). There is little information on record, and a review of the digitalized files of photos Den took over the course of his career turned up no negatives of this picture, indicating that there few surviving originals from this series among Den's early works, an important fact to consider when studying his creative aesthetic concepts.