Three years ago, when reed flowers were in full blossom, I beganto photograph red-crowned crane. As soon as I walked into their world,I was immediately impressed by their elegant square pace, gracefuldance and imposing manner hovering in the sky, especially their enchantingintelligence and charm lingering in my mind. As if attractedby a magnet, I plunged myself into the embrace of Zhalong PreservationArea to photograph them. As soon as I saw the cranes the creationimpulse welled up in my heart to the extent that nothing in theworld exist except cranes, let alone the bitter coldness below 30℃ orsevere heat above 30℃, and let alone the waist-deep icy water andviolent rainstorm. The pure and elegant cranes inspired me to graspthe flash of beauty and keep them on the film. The cranes, truly, shouldbe my first teacher.I
　　n Zhalong Preservation Area I made some friends who had beenaccompanying cranes for years. Another group of teachers from whomI learned about cranes' habits and characteristics was formed by LiChangyou, Ma Jianhua, Wang Xuecheng, Guan Lizhan and other comradesand workers. From them I learned that cranes are constant inlove. Once they get married, they will become life-long partners. Inthe impossible case of losing her or his mate, the lonely crane will bewailing plaintively throughout the night. Cranes also understand "birthcontrol", "healthy birth" and "sound care". Two eggs are laid eachyear. If one is lost, another will be laid to secure the birth of two babycranes. Grown-up cranes will be driven out of the flock so as to seekmates in other flocks. This rule prevents close breeding and explainswhy generations of cranes are so beautiful and healthy. Equality betweenmale and female is achieved among cranes in the fact that eggsare hatched by the father and the mother in turn. In this way they aredifferent from cocks who throw all the responsibilities of bringing upthe young to hens. The teachers also told me that the misunderstandingof cranes should be cleared up. For instance, the Yellow CraneBuilding and the Yellow Crane Stone have become famous places ofhistorical interest in the world. But in ancient books, there is no recordof yellow crane except in fairy tales. Perhaps the phenomenon of "theyellow crane leaves and never returns" results from the fact that theyellowish brown young cranes who flew there have grown up andchanged the color of their feather when they returned the next year.Cranes stand in pine trees in some famous pictures on the theme of"pine-crane longevity" is a mistake, because flying cranes mainly livein wet ground and never stand in trees. And cranes in pictures aredepicted as white in wings and black in tails. In fact cranes' tails arewhite. When they are standing the black secondary feathers on wingscover their tails, and are misunderstood as tails. My teachers also toldme the time in which cranes lay eggs, hatch eggs, migrate, and returnand other interesting habits. All these laid the scientific foundationfor me to photograph cranes.
　　The third group of teachers is my friends among those successfulphotographers. The first time I photographed cranes, I was at a losswhat to do facing the myriad chances of cranes' dancing in the twinklingof an eye, and facing the crowd of cranes souring in the sky, as aresult, no single presentable photo is made. I was encouraged andinstructed by the photographers who had been successful in photographysuch as Ma Yixing, Wan Xinlin, Chen Shouan, Zhang Yuling, andGao Youxing, and Guan Yuxiang, the comrades in Heilongjiang photographicfield such as Ma Shunqiang ,Gao Yongwen, Suo Jiulin, ChengLili,Zhang Yujie, Yin Shuyun and Bian Yongping, and a farmer photographerwho moved to Zhalong for photographing cranes. I can developmy strong points and avoid my weak pointsin the inspiration oftheir works and their criticism. My ability is especially enhanced underthe warmhearted instruction of the well-knowns in photographysuch as Lu Houmin, Yu Jian, Li Qianguan, Liu Bang, Chen Shen,Gao Qin,Zhu Xianmin, Liu Wei, Shi Pengfei, Li Genxing and Lin Tiao after I selectedabout one hundred photos out of thousands and thousands of photos.Now on the whole I have mastered the laws and skills of photographingcranes. No matter what postures the cranes show, I can grasp the chanceand resurface them even if the weather is bad. I can say that every bit ofmy progress contains the painstaking effort of these teachers.
　　The forth group of teachers is books and magazines which are calledsource of knowledge. On the view of photographing skills, I have readthrough dozens of domestic and foreign books on photography and magazinessuch as "China Photography"(newspaper), "China Photography"(magazine), "Public Photography", "Photography World", and "China Photographer"and even advertisements. On the view of books on cranes, Icollected, sorted out and read several hundred classic poems, proses, andfugues about cranes. During this process I had some new ideas that literatureand art are interlinked, and classic poems and photography shouldalso be interlinked. From "The Book of Songs" 2400 years ago to the poemswritten by literati in the Qing Dynasty 100 years ago, the world ofcranes is depicted as mysterious, elegant, long-living, and auspicious. Theyare called "fairy among the beauties", "chief of the feathered", "kylin ofthe celestial beings", "virtuous and noble persons". There are poems describingcranes' calm: "The white feather is smoother and cleaner thanflawless snow. The graceful bearing is superior to deep autumn." "Thecrowns are as red as the burning sun. The feathers are as flawless aswhite snow." "The outstanding quality shines like stars. The red crownspresent splendid colour." There are poems describing cranes' dancing:"Spreading the feathers to show self appreciation; fluttering the wings toapproach the afterglow." "Nurturing noble ideals; making lofty honking." There are poems describing their flying: "Covering distance of millionsof miles, with the time span of thousands of years." "Waving the wingsand going up beyond the highest heaven; making the sound like a ringingbell vibrated by the blowing wind." "It is the rare bird that can soar atthe highest altitude that no other bird can reach." "Flying far away towardsthe aim off the highest heaven." There are poems describing cranes'honking: "Honking of cranes awakens people." "Crying of cranes endswith echoing sound." "The crying of cranes spread far away and reachthe sky." "The pleasing honking denies vulgarness and commonness."There are also poems describing death of cranes: "Wind blows for noreason, scattering a cloud in the sky." "The crying fades away beyond theremote sky, the figure remains a solitary shadow in the moonlight." Thevivid depiction and artistic conception in these poems enlightened me inmy creation, and the communication with cranes deepened my understandingof the poems. When I was compiling this collection, I matchedtwo or four lines of the poems with the photos so as to exert my littlestrength to set up a bridge between photography and literature. I am notagainst the view held by many expert photographers that pictures shouldspeak for themselves and that words and titles are unnecessary to explainphotos. But driven by my profound admiration and attachment tocranes, I feel that it is acceptable to set poems to photos in order to expressfeeling and deepen understanding. No doubt it is difficult to find aperfect correspondence between contemporary photographic works andpoems written thousands of years ago, but I have made utmost effort.When I cannot find suitable words, I mixed several lines from differentpoems, and sometimes I created one or two lines. Attempt is after allattempt, which may not be successful, so advice and directions from thephotographic circles are welcomed.
　　May spirit of cranes live long.Ma GuoLiang