travel starts with photography

Chapter 360 Self-portrait is a defective product of the era
Chen Xing looked at the yacht on the opposite side and dreamed.

Until a voice called Chen Xing's name, the feeling that someone he knew saw his ugly appearance made him wake up instantly, coughed twice to relieve the embarrassment, then smiled and shouted: "Mr. Knausgaard."

"Just call me Carl." He also smiled.

Today's Kalknausgao still has the temperament of a middle-aged handsome man, with a black and gray coat and a thick scarf, giving him the feeling of a poet.

Standing here with Chen Xing basically attracted the attention of 90.00% of the women on the road.

Carl looked at the place where Chen Xing was in a daze just now, showed an ambiguous smile, and led him into the Munch Museum.

"Are you looking at those girls?"

"It can be said that the feeling of youth is really wonderful."

"Haha."

Carl laughed, but this smile was not a mockery, but felt that Chen Xing's answer was very honest.

"You are indeed different from the Chinese people I know."

Chen Xing shrugged.

In Paris, people often say that about him. Maybe he is too confident in his system. In terms of honesty, Chen Xing is still very honest, and feels that there is no need to say those hypocritical words.

But if others praise too much, he will still be a little humble.

Anyway, if you are a post-zero zero, if you refuse to accept it, you will do it.

Based on Karl's age, he probably knows people in China who are around 50 years old. Whether they are people in the cultural circle or not, the generation gap between them and Chen Xing's generation will be deeper than the Mariana Trench, and their concepts are completely different.

Mr. Knausgaard's full name is Karl Ove Knausgaard.

If someone who has read a lot has probably seen his name, it is an indispensable cultural symbol in the modern Norwegian cultural circle, and his published works have won a large number of cultural awards.

His masterpiece is "Mein Kampf"

That's right, it has the same name as the autobiography published by German Mustache. Coincidentally, he also wrote an autobiography.

So when you find this book in the library with admiration, hold it with trembling hands, and there is a tune that can be whistled in your mind, please don't get excited, please take a look at the author's name.

Chances are you're reading the book written by Knausgaard.

Of course, Chen Xing has never read it, and his reading volume is gradually increasing now, but he only reads Chinese literature and French literature, and occasionally reads English novels, that's all... After all, he can't speak Norwegian, so why pay attention to other people's literary works?
It wasn't until after receiving the call yesterday that Chen Xing urgently supplemented his information.

"Xing, can I call you that?"

"Of course, it's my pleasure."

"You must be wondering why I'm looking for you, but let's not worry about this issue. There are many works of art in the Munch Museum. I haven't been here for a long time. Let's take a look together."

"Haven't you considered that I have been here these days?"

"Oh, that's irrelevant. Nearly half of the works in the Munch Museum were sent to Italy for exchange yesterday afternoon. Today, a special exhibition was created with a large number of photographs taken by Munch."

"Oh? He's still a photographer?"

"He has always thought of himself as an amateur photographer, so there are very few photos he took on display in museums, but I think they are better than shouting."

As a Norwegian, Carl actually found Munch's cry boring?
But Chen Xing agreed.

He saw it on the Internet, but he didn't like the style of shouting.

It's not a question of whether the painting is good or not. As a person who only watches comedies when watching movies, what Chen Xing hates the most is accepting negative emotions from others from various angles.And the depression, bewilderment and helplessness in the shouting are the negative emotions that he doesn't like.

Whether you like it or not is a personal matter.

"I'm just talking to acquaintances," Carl said.

There was nothing he could do about it, as if anyone who was a Norwegian should like this painting.

Without the shouting, there are far fewer people in the Munch Museum.

In the bright exhibition hall, tourists stopped in twos and threes to appreciate the paintings together. Everyone whispered, and the low-pitched communication would not affect the interest of other tourists, but strengthened the silence in the museum.

The corridor is neat and clean, and the only sound of footsteps can be heard when walking in it.

All the paintings in the Munch Museum, even if the artist is not Munch, are of that kind of element with a strong sense of ambiguity. This style makes people who see these paintings like it very much, and those who don’t like it can’t understand it at all.

Chen Xing pays attention to the colors in it, and can experience the emotion in the painting even without looking at the brushstrokes.

Walking to a certain area, the works on the wall suddenly changed from paintings to black and white photographs.

The subjects of these photos are scattered.

There are a lot of selfies, at home, on the grass, on the beach, and then there are scenes and people.

These photos are technically...

How should I put it, so-so, not even technical.

However, from the large number of photos, Chen Xing miraculously recalled the environment Munch lived in at that time, so that when he recalled the previous paintings, he suddenly seemed to understand what those blurry things were.

Is this still a mosaic cracker?
Chen Xing saw in the introduction of one of the photos:
'Munch's photographs are technically very imperfect, but as photographs they are rebellious and significant, and they allow the viewer to see them psychologically.So far, no other photo has had such an effect. '

Probably right.

Chen Xing straightened up and looked into the distance. There was nothing there, and people were stopped by a movable pole, which indicated that the lower half of the area was not open for the time being.

"Good work." Chen Xing said to Carl.

"As long as you like it." Carl said with a smile. He put his hand in the pocket of his coat and looked at the photos. "Actually, I also like photography, but I'm not proficient. I think it's a way for those of us who can't draw to keep time."

After hearing this, Chen Xing shook his head and said, "Photography is not a substitute for painting. If we only talk about keeping time, then the effect of photography is much better than painting."

He also learned to paint in order to be able to paint scenes that are different from reality.

Let’s just talk about the ancient country of Loulan. People can only see a lot of ruins in reality. These things show that this place was a prosperous city many years ago.

But in the eyes of some people, Loulan is alive.

It is brand new, colorful, full of traffic, and full of people coming and going.

How to present this picture?

Then I can only rely on painting.

Don’t talk about online drawing or AI drawing, those things drawn can only be used as illustrations or covers in books, they cannot be marked with high prices and be praised as art altars, because they lack a soul.

Thoughts were a little far away, Chen Xing came back to his senses, and heard Carl say.

"Maybe I'm too greedy. I want to record the present and restore the past."

His tone was a bit embarrassing, Chen Xing instinctively felt that he had something on his mind.

Then he asked himself out this time, it must not be acquaintances, but there is something he needs to help, but if a famous writer needs his help, it can't be taking pictures, right?
It's possible, anyway, this is the only skill that he has demonstrated to the outside world.

The Munch Museum, which is missing many works, was visited in about half an hour. The two came out and walked along the seaside. Carl said: "I remember Munch said something about photography. He said that photography is ultimately inferior to painting, because it cannot describe heaven or hell."

Chen Xing said with a smile: "As a photographer, I absolutely don't agree with this sentence."

Can't shoot Heaven?
Isn't the Loulan series he filmed some time ago a paradise?
If the painters don't agree, then Chen Xing will see if they can go to their god's place to paint a picture.

hell……

This can also be photographed, but Chen Xing is unwilling to do so.

Hell is everywhere in real life, especially in fast-paced cities, and the job of photographers is to discover that little bit of beauty in hell.

When Karl mentioned this, Chen Xing suddenly wanted to shoot something realistic.

This great writer and Chen Xing consulted a lot of knowledge about photography, and they listened very carefully, sometimes asking back questions. Chen Xing suddenly felt like he was teaching students, so he joked:

"Mr. Knausgaard, are you going to change your career and come to compete with me for a job?"

"Maybe."

He stopped to look at the sea, wiped his hair pretentiously, and said, "The last novel in my life will be published soon. This is my last book. Or it can be said that my career as a writer officially ended three months ago."

"You won't write anymore?"

"No more writing."

It was Chen Xing who really felt strange.

Let’s take the novel Mein Kampf as an example. It has sold 50 copies in Norway alone, and the total number of copies in Norway is only over 500 million. This means that one out of ten Norwegians has read his book.

He published this book at a rate of one a year, and won seven or eight international literary awards.

A writer of this level seals his pen at the age of 50?
Chen Xing was still surprised, but Carl took out a thick book without a cover from the bag he was carrying and handed it to Chen Xing, saying, "You probably haven't read my previous books, right? I'll give you this book first, and I'll ask someone to deliver a copy to your hotel tomorrow."

After receiving this book without a cover, it was very concise as if he had printed it himself. Chen Xing might know what Knaus Gaoyue did when he came out.

But he didn't want to ask, and said with a smile: "That would be great, I hope it's a French or Chinese version, you know, I don't have much confidence in my Norwegian reading."

It's not just lack of confidence, it's simply ignorance.

Opening this book with no cover and no title, the title page inside is not a familiar title, the publisher or something, there is only a handwritten sentence on it-I am finally not a writer!
Is it so happy not to be a writer?

Chen Xing is very puzzled. His first work will be released on January 1 next year. After this book is released, Chen Xing can call himself a writer.

Photographer, writer, painter.

Or add a traveler, travel photographer, travel writer... These are definitely the dreams he stood up to his teacher when he was a child, and it is great to be able to realize them one by one now.

I was still yearning for the life of a writer in the future, when suddenly a great writer came and shouted: "I am finally not a writer!"

This feeling made Chen Xing hard to describe.

Hearing what Chen Xing said, Carl was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously stretched out his hand to take back the book, but he managed to hold back.

This is a book given away, and it cannot be taken back even as a souvenir.

At this time, Chen Xing turned to the second page, was stunned for a moment, then turned to the third page, the fourth page...

He knew all these words, and he might be able to guess the meaning of some of them, but he really couldn't understand them. They were all written in Norwegian.

After closing the book, Chen Xing looked at Carl.

The 50-year-old uncle suddenly laughed and touched his head. He chose not to look at Chen Xing, and turned to look at Haiyang.

How embarrassing, forgot that Chen Xing couldn't understand Norwegian.

After a while he looked at Chen Xing and said:

"I believe you can see it. I want to use my personal photo on the cover of this book. Some of your works were exhibited in Oslo before. It was in the Munch Museum. I walked in by chance and thought the people you photographed were very interesting."

Chen Xing has many titles in France, the most famous title is 'Portrait Magician', because Chen Xing can always take a person with a sense of story.

Ordinary photography can capture an ancient town and an ancient building with a sense of story, but in commercial photography where many modules are fixed, it is possible to capture a model with a sense of story, which is a test of the photographer's skill.

No, I still love models.

Chen Xing thought for a while, and said a little embarrassed: "But I haven't taken commercial photography for a long time."

"It's not important. What I want to invite you to take is not some commercial photography, Xing. This is my last book. I have concentrated all my feelings in this work. I don't want the cover of this book to be an ordinary thing."

He wanted to have a picture that was his own work, just like all painters have self-portraits.

But a self-portrait?
What an outdated thing that is!

Carl's tone was a little excited, he put his hands on Chen Xing's shoulders, looked at him and said:
"I believe you. You just said that you can use the charm of photography to put the me in the book, the me in hell and the me in heaven into your camera. I believe that only you can do it. Really, I beg you."

Wow!You ask for it!

Chen Xing looked down at the book Karl gave him.

Carl followed his gaze and looked at the book, regretting so much that he wanted to slap himself.

How did you forget that Chen Xing is a foreigner who doesn't understand Norwegian?I blame myself for staying in Oslo for too long.

"Don't worry, money is not a problem. I know you don't take portraits for anyone alone now, but I can buy them. Or, can I use the word customization? Can you accept customization?"

Chen Xing frowned.

Your request is too difficult to handle, what about you in the book, you in hell or something.

"Although it's just the cover of a book, I will definitely keep this work in my home. Please don't treat it as the portrait works you took before, um..." Carl thought for a while, and then said, "Although I don't know the price of your current work, I am willing to use the price of your top-notch work to customize this photo."

"hiss……"

Chen Xing gasped.

"I'm not saying it's unacceptable, I just find it difficult, eh, but aren't we friends now? Money and everything are small things. Okay, okay, I'm willing to take this photo for you." Chen Xing said with a sigh.

(End of this chapter)