Chorus

At first glance, one can't help but wonder: What is the dark shadow on the right side of the picture? A curtain, or something else? It's hard to believe a seasoned photographer would intentionally block out part of a scene, but Hsu Yuan-fu left a lot of room for imagination. The photo shows the Tainan Cheng Kung Elementary School student choir performing at the main auditorium of the old Social Education Hall. Hsu's impromptu shot, a product of his well-honed skills, captured the students' single-minded focus on the dark shadow in front of them, their voices raised in song—we can almost hear the beautiful harmonies and melodies. The "dark shadow" is the choir director, Wang Maosheng. When he cropped the photo, Hsu cut out superfluous space, filling the frame with the image of the students, their full attention on the conductor. The work was a designated special selection in the first section of Japan's 12th Moonlight Photographic Paper International Photography Competition. Hsu Yuan-fu was a longtime elementary-school instructor. He and his friend, Lugang resident Huang Jiying, also a teacher, left us many images of angelic, rosy-cheeked students.