Learn From Experience: Wei Wei
What are the rules of your photographic work?
Don't be in a hurry to shoot. I'd like to spend a lot of time integrating materials and information first. Some new inspiration also can be got from organizing previous photos and then shooting plans will be made. It's of great importance to follow your heart. Systematic learning cannot teach you how to imagine and feel things. Therefore, I also like to bring sensitive cells into my daily life after work to feel the changes of my emotions and the things around me, so that I can fully understand myself to conduct creation.
Is there a particular combination of techniques and tools that you think makes the difference?
I don't have any specific methods or tools to keep my works looking special. All my draw materials come from everyday life. However, they can bring us unexpected results if they are skillfully combined. Sometimes a projector will be chosen, and sometimes I try to re-create on off-the-shelf photos. Anyway, try more possibilities!
Tell us about an experience that definitely changed the way you work and made you grow.
I don't think I've grown up yet. But I did have some memorable experiences. I once went into the no man's land to take photos for two months (while I was out of school). On the one hand, I was able to face my loneliness, which could make me know more about myself. On the other hand, I have also learned to maintain a more balanced relationship between life and work.
Was there ever a difficult situation? How did you react? Tell us.
Every project has its difficulties for me. For example, I will start all over again when it is not what I want in the middle of shooting. In my opinion, don’t be afraid to give up when it's appropriate, and sometimes one step backward will bring ten steps forward.
How do you relate to the environment and the subjects you portray?
Now I am paying more and more attention to the ecological environment in the information era. We live in the era of big data, and everything becomes virtual, which has a great impact on the authenticity of real life. My work Dizzy was inspired by virtual games. I once wasted more than a year in games, but I felt it was very real. The sadness and happiness in the game were no different from those in the real life. So what is the meaning of our real life? Based on this, I took these photos, which blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, and they seemed romantic and absurd to me, as contradictory as our own times.
I also ask you to share a bonus trick among your secret techniques.
Don't forget to bring an extra camera battery.
Tell us about your equipment, what kind of cameras do you shoot with?
SONY a73 and Mamiya rz67
Are there any books you would recommend?
I like Calvino's novels very much. Of course, I would like to recommend some Chinese books. Zhuang Zi is a very influential ancient Chinese philosophy book, worth a look!
What stimulates your creativity, what inspires you?
I have been a maverick since childhood, and am unwilling to listen to the teachers and parents, but that may be just a matter of personality. On the other hand, I like science fiction. I often fantasize about some rambling things. Maybe I would like to make them into my works after imagining too much.
Wei Wei