From April 14th to May 13th of 2022, the Art Center of National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) hosts the “Chang Feng-Ji: An Exhibition of Ecological Photography”. The photographs on display capture various dynamic moments and visually illustrate the relationship between nature and the ecosystem. The perspective, composition, and interpretation of the photographer duly recorded the emotion of the moment. They not only present magnificent sceneries but also convey the amazing vitality of life.
Chang Feng-Ji (1940- ), born in Changhua County, is an honorary professor at NCHU, the inventor of the rice paper made of pineapple leaves, an expert in cultural relics preservation, and a photographer. He graduated from the Department of Forestry of NCHU and received his doctorate in agriculture at Kyushu University, Japan. After graduation, he taught at the Department of Forestry of NCHU for thirty-three years. During this period of time, he established the Art Center of NCHU and served as its director for seventeen years. He has been awarded the Outstanding Civil Servants of Executive Yuan, the Nineteenth Outstanding Agricultural Practitioner, the Contribution Award of the Painting Society of the Republic of China, and the Special Contribution Award of NCHU, etc. He has been photographing for more than sixty years and has received numerous awards. He has been invited to hold exhibitions ten times and had published two albums of photo collections.
Twenty years ago, Professor Chang started to take pictures of waterfalls. He traveled around the world and took pictures of more than two hundred famous waterfalls. These photographs are put into a collection named “Beauty of the Waterfalls in the World”. In the past ten years, he has focused on ecological photography. He recorded various aspects of ecosystem through photos and videos, which included: the great migration of African animals, birds foraging in the floods, night herons nesting in Chung Hsing Lake, a flamboyance of flamingos living in their habitat, the intense scenes of animals competing for foods, as well as the amusing scenes of birds foraging in the flowers and fruits in his gardens, all of which presented different sceneries of liveliness.
Photography is an art that is close to life. In this exhibition, we selected more than fifty pictures of ecological photography. These pictures, through the lens of Professor Chang, show his love for nature and his meticulousness in observing the pulse of the ecosystem. Ecological photography records various interactions in nature, captures the “pureness, goodness, and beauty” through preserved images, which is also a representation of the photographer’s aesthetics. Every art lover is welcomed to enjoy this exhibition.
