2010年春节收到袁廉民兄来信，引为节日期间一大快事。信中写我们二十八年前在黄山幸会，追叙我为他的摄影集写序言《重在发现》，回忆准确，感情真挚。袁廉民做事一丝不苟，来信偶有笔误，必得用白粉盖去，再在上面覆写。如此认真，当今社会上还有多少？

　　今年是廉民兄从艺60周年，拍摄黄山40年。文艺界为他举办一次展览与研讨活动，理所当然。我看到一篇评论袁廉民黄山摄影的文章，题为“咬定黄山不放松”，作简体字的“松”，我以为还可以兼示袁廉民拍摄黄山松树的热情。在黄山“四奇”之中，热衷松树，是不是也意味着这一特定形象显示人的尊严，生命的奇崛、魁伟、雄秀、挺拔…… 把黄山看作大自然有生命力的对象，松树便是黄山峰巅和怀抱中的骄子，显示着多姿多彩的形态。随着年龄的增长，拍摄经验的丰富，袁廉民对松树人格化的理解也不断加深。如果说像《祥云瑞光》那圆形彩虹的摄取需要机遇加入灵感、技巧，那么我以为对于松树人格化的表现，可能需要长期不断的反复观察、体验，更需要主观能动的表现力。每棵松树，就是一个自在的独立人格的凸现。

　　廉民兄的信里有一段话令我难忘：“我以黄山松为主体的作品，由于事物的新陈代谢的规律，加之全球气候变暖，以及其他客观因素，我在上世纪七八十年代所摄的松景，已有了很大的变化，有的已不复存在。”原来，这批佳作的珍贵，不仅在于艺术，还在于作品反映的对象已成为历史。是的，世间一切有生命的生物，均有其成长、消亡的规律，如何延长黄山名松、名树的生命，使其源源不断地输送清新的空气，绿满青山，为人类造福，已成为一大难题。欣悉黄山管理者，将黄山的自然与生态视作自己的天职与责任，以严格的科学管理与保护措施，对“名松”实行一人一树，专人保护并加强对雷电、虫害的防治，保护其“松柏常青”的本色。

　　曾几何时，发生过把艺术作品描绘自然景物批判为“脱离现实”。可是真正的艺术家凭着深刻的人文理念，依靠良知，敬畏自然，崇尚和谐，在既定的创作道路上不懈追求。我曾说过袁廉民兄是一位善于思考的实干家，天道酬勤，愿他的艺术与大自然同在！

　　During the Spring Festival in 2010, I was quite delighted to receive a letter from my old friend Yuan Lianmin. In his letter, with sincere emotion, he recalled our meeting in Huangshan Mountain 28 years ago and flashbacked the preface I wrote for his photo album. The Important Thing Is to Make New Discoveries. Yuan Lianmin is meticulous in work. If he makes a spelling error in his letter occasionally, he will cover it with white-out and then rewrite it. It is hard to find such  serious people like him in today's society.

　　This year marks the 60th anniversary of Yuan Lianming as a photographer shooting Huangshan for 40 years. It is natural that Literary and art circles will hold a seminar and an exhibition for Yuan. I saw a comment on his Huangshan Scenic Photography，which is entitled Rooted in Huangshan simplified as the Chinese character Pine. I think that it also conveys his love for the pine in Huangshan. In the four wonders of Huangshan he has specially keen on pines which suggests dignity, wonder, and majesty of life. He regards Huangshan as the living nature, and the pine is the pride on the top of Huangshan with its colorful patterns. The older he becomes, the more experience he has got, and the further understanding in personification of the pine trees Yuan Linming has had. Yuan’s picture  Fortunate Clouds and Propitious Light in which he shot the rainbow needed his luck plus inspiration and techniques. So I believe that the personification of the performance of pine may need constantly repeated observation, experience and more dynamic expression of subjective. Each pine stands for the independent personality.

　　I cannot forget a paragraph in Lianmin’s letter, in which he says, “because of metabolism and the global greenhouse effect as well as other objective factors,  the pine trees on Huangshan Mountain of which I took the photos in 1970s and 1980s have greatly changed and some have gone forever.” As a matter of fact, the value of these good photos lies in not only art but also the fact that the subjects in these photos have become part of history. All living things in the world follow their own laws of growing and withering away. The problem is how we can protect the famous pine trees and other trees on Huangshan Mountain so that they can survive the harsh situation and bring benefit to human beings.

　　I am pleased to know that people in charge of Huangshan Mountain consider the protection of nature and ecology of the mountain as their duty and responsibility. What’s more, each pine tree should be under the protection of a certain man. That is called “one people, one tree” so as to make the pines stay evergreen.

　　The descriptiion of the natural scene used to be criticized as isolating from the reality. Therefore，relying on the conscience ,revering the nature and praising the harmony, the true artists purse untiringly for the fixed creative work with the profound humane theory in their mind. I once said that my dear fellow Yuan Lianmin is a man of action who is good at thinking. May God bless the diligent man! May his art stay forever!

作者：沈鹏