Walking through city alleys and field ridges in rural areas carrying his cameras, Xiaolin enjoys his time recording every element in life that most easily ignore.

"Going to different places to experience people's life makes me keep tranquil and rich in mind," Xiaolin says of the reward he gets from photography.

Starting from a love for Chinese painting as a child and as a requirement for his job after graduation as a graphic designer, Xiaolin decided to express the beauty frozen in a single frame through photography starting in 2003.

Xiaolin said he cherishes honesty and truth in every photo and considers it necessary for every photographer who wants his works unique.

"That one seeks his own language system with a true heart in photography is something that worth indulging in for a lifetime," he said. "Showing every feeling in one's plain life through photography and finding out the truth and beauty in it makes me feel fulfilled."

Xiaolin believes the people are more worthy of recording through the lens than beautiful scenery in tourist resorts.

"Photos are for the future. I've always been thinking while taking photos what the viewer will think when they see it fifty years, or even a hundred years later.

"From this side, photography is, towards one's whole life, only some excuse to store memory; but a flash will, to some extent, record the moment that freezes into eternity," he said.

 Fishermen in South China

Biography: 
Lin Dihuan, 36, based in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, is a contract photographer with China Photo Press (CFP) and writes columns for China PC World newspaper, China Geography magazine and China Pictorial magazine. He uses the pseudonym of Xiaolin. He now teaches at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

He loves photography by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, August Sander, Diane Arbus, Martin Parr, and Hiroshi Sugimoto.His specialty is documentary photography and his interests and hobbies include travel, Chinese painting, Chinese calligraphy, cartoon, writing, design, angling.

Personal Website: www.inkcn.com  Email: inkcn@live.cn  

Focus on the Jiangnan culture [Part I]  [Part II]    [Part III]