Last year, he decided to take his mountain photographs on a tour around Taiwan. "I wish to present the beauty of Jade Mountain to those who are unable to climb the peak in their old age or remind those who had been there of their memories in the mountains," Chen said. The exhibition, called "The Circuit Photograph Exhibition of Jade Mountain's Views," was shown in Taipei's Nan Hai Gallery of the National Taiwan Arts Education Center from June 30 to July 12 before moving on to cities in southern Taiwan.
Chen is a civil servant in the Central Weather Bureau and works at the observation station on Jade Mountain. While many people in Taiwan commute to work by scooter, Chen would spend eight hours climbing to the summit of the mountain to get to his office. The staff have to carry food and supplies themselves because they live on the mountain 15 days a month and take the rest of the month off. Working on the mountain could be lonely without family or friends, but Chen takes advantage of the situation to explore the mountain scenery and record its seasonal changes with his camera.
Chen said that his father worked on the Alishan railway and moved the whole family there when he was seven years old. The natural scenery inspired him to take up a camera in his teenage years, leading to a lifetime of photos.
"There are over 200,000 pieces of work stored in my house," Chen claimed. "If I developed all the film, I would be broke." In order to achieve high-quality pictures, he insisted on using a single-lens reflex camera. He had to develop the film himself and then take it to photo shops for them to be scanned into digital files. Scanning one standard picture cost around US$30 and organizing this exhibition used up most of his life savings, he explained.
Even though the framing and production cost a fortune, Chen said he preferred to have large exhibits because he felt the magnificent views of Jade Mountain should not be limited by a photo frame. As a result, photos of up to 1.5 square meters were displayed at the entrance of the exhibition room.
One example was "Jade Mountain Scenery." This photo was one of his favorites, he said, because the sea of clouds at both sides of the ridge was such a rare scene. "Many images just happen and cannot be expected," he said, referring to a changing landscape like this.
The work "Auspicious Dragon with Fortune" presented the dynamic motion of a silk-like cloud. The end of the cloud seemed to be blown away by the wind and stretched into a dragon's tail. The front fork of the cloud evoked the open mouth of a dragon devouring fresh air. The divine animal from ancient Chinese mythology in the picture increased the mystique of the mountain scene below. Chen said that he learned to observe clouds from his work. He favored cirrus clouds because they seemed by turns hidden and visible and sometimes looked a little reddish under the reflection of sunlight.
Once, when Chen was walking in the valley, he snapped a picture of a corona, which is a ring of light visible through a haze or thin cloud. "It is not a paranormal picture," he said, pointing at the work. Chen explained that when the sun, the person and the mist were in a straight line, the corona would appear naturally. "It's called a 'Guanyin circle' by mountaineers, referring to the bodhisattva with a ring of light around her head, and usually people see it when riding on an airplane," he explained.
"Cold Mountain," which depicted the frost surrounding the high mountain trees, allowed people to see Jade Mountain without enduring the harsh weather. The trees looked similar to sea coral and grew in cold conditions up to the height to a man's waist. "Those higher than a man are over a thousand years old," Chen claimed.
While the mountain had beautiful vistas, safety was still a concern. Chen once slipped on the ice when he was walking on the ridge alone. The ice on the ground was slippery, making it difficult for him to move forward. The slightest misstep could send him off the cliff. "I fell on one side of the slope while my camera slid to the other side, and luckily I did not get seriously hurt. The first thing I did after I stood up was to go check my camera," he said.
As a result, knowing how to take care of oneself on the mountain was important, and the rule applied to alpine animals as well. With claws for climbing, the Formosan yellow-throated marten, classified as a rare animal by the Council of Agriculture under the Executive Yuan, is well-adapted to life on the mountain. This was the first time Chen showed the picture of a marten in public. Having a long tail and a body around 80 centimeters long, the marten has golden hair on its neck, hence its name.
Chen thought the animal was cute and appealing during one encounter, but he was upset because he did not have his camera with him at the time. Last year, he saw a marten walking up the cliff and this time he was ready with his camera in hand. "I got three pictures of it. The fourth shot only captured its bottom," he said. The marten was alerted by the sound of the camera's shutter and fled immediately. Yet, the photographer said that the animal's innocent and bewildered expression was successfully captured in his photos.
Not all pictures could be taken in a second like the marten; some pictures required long waiting periods. One photo of a night scene encompassing Taichung, Changhua, Chiayi and the outlying Penghu islands was shown in his exhibition. Chen had to set his camera for maximum focus to get all those counties in a single picture.
He said that he often thought, "What can make the composition of a picture more powerful?" The mountains might look more or less the same after living there for years, but Chen said that he liked to apply his creativity to make a picture full of energy and life.
For instance, he once set up the tripod and camera at a certain angle and asked his colleague to take the picture after he struck a pose. "The blue sky with white clouds could not be more ordinary, but if I act like I'm pushing it, the whole sky starts to move," he said.
Although Chen already has many pictures, he still finds new subjects to photograph. After completing the series of Jade Mountain, shot 3,000 meters above sea level, his next move was to try underwater photography. "There is another wonderland below the water," he said.
Write to Sandra Shih at sandrashih@mail.gio.gov.tw