HORSE 馬 2008

I used to love equestrian sports.  Apart from practicing three times a week at a riding school in Hong Kong, I also went to the International Riding School in Horseshoe Point, Pattaya, Thailand three times a year.  Each stay in Thailand lasted about one week, which I learned the classical dressage.

I met Mario Miguel at Horseshoe Point, who was a famous bullfighter in Portugal; he was hired by an Indonesian general to train his horses and riders.  With Mario’s help, I took a lot of photos of horses there, including the breeds of Lucitano, Lipizzaner, Andalucian, Alter-real, and Appaloosa from Spain and Portugal.

Based on my ideas of photographing portrait and the human body, I have developed my way of photographing horses.  I hope that the photos of the horses I took give an abstract meaning, and the composition echoes my work on human.

I like the muscle texture of the horses when they move, which the blood vessels are clear and full of power and tension.  When the horses are calm, they are soft and elegant with aroma and luster of the fur, plus the braiders’ work, braiding their hair and tail beautifully in different styles!

The background was a black velvet cloth about four meters high, which was placed in the center of a lawn and constantly moved to the sunbeam.  I was delighted to receive help from Mario, the Indonesian riders, and the team and the staff of the Riding School.  Without them, I could not complete this Horse series.  I was deeply grateful for the efforts they made.

我曾經熱愛馬術運動，除了每星期三次在香港的騎術學校上課練習外，每年也會去泰國位於芭提雅Horseshoe Point的International Riding School習騎，大概每年去三次，每次逗留一星期左右。在那裡學習classical dressage。在Horseshoe Point認識了從葡萄牙來的鬥牛勇士Mario Miguel，Mario在祖國非常有名，一名印尼的將軍聘請他來Horseshoe Point訓練他的馬匹和騎手。獲得他的協助，我在Horseshoe Point拍攝了很多馬匹的照片。馬匹的品種包括了從西班牙和葡萄牙入口的Lucitano、Lipizzaner、Andalucian、Alter-real、Appaloosa等等。

我拍攝馬匹的方法是從我一直拍攝的人像和人體的理念為基礎發展開來的，我希望我拍攝的馬匹照片帶有抽象的意味，構圖能和我的人體作品互相呼應。我欣賞馬匹活動時的肌肉質感，血管清𥇦可見，充滿了強大的能量與張力; 平靜時的柔和優雅，毛皮散發出香氣與光澤，加上編辮師的工夫，把牠們的鬃毛和尾毛編織出不同形狀的辮子，非常之美麗！

背景是一幅約四米高的黑絨布，架設在一塊草坪中央，因應配合日照的方位而不斷移動。拍攝期間非常高興得到練馬師Mario的全力協助，還有是印尼的騎手們，International Riding School的馬伕團隊和職員們，沒有他們的安排和協助，這個「馬」系列作品是無法製作完成的，為了他們所付出的努力，在此我深表感謝。