In 1960, 1961, 1964 and 1965, Wu Yinxian has taught, created in Helongjiang, and since 1946 he has been the head of the technical department, the vice manager, factory secretary of the Northern Provinces Film Factory in Xingshan (today’s Hegang) in Heilongjiang, and has deep sentiments for this land. In these teaching and shooting periods, he has photographed a large number of photographs on industrial and agricultural production, including the building of the Daqing fuel mine, agricultural production on military reclaimed farms and etc. These series of photographs were shot in 1965 when Wu Yinxian taught in Heilongjiang, that consist of scenes of the NO. 853 farm, the No. 853 farm at Yanwo island, the friendship farmer and other harvesting, winnowing, and drying of new wheat, that is then weighed, and stored in the village and as well as farm landscapes, young intellectual portraits that comprehensively reflect the prosperity in building the Great Northern Wilderness of the 1960s.

In the perfect combination of these agricultural labor and natural sceneries, one can see the great freedom Wu Yinxian has enjoyed from this period in his artistic endeavors. As he said, the agricultural scenery photography “can provide an aesthetics education, for photographers under such political and cultural backdrop, it was not a poignant question, but rather, seems unnecessary and dangerous. The waves of wheat, labors’ body movements, the cone shape piles against the horizon and the roads make into a perfect composition, and by adjusting the position of the horizon, he controlled the overall composition of these images, and one of the characteristics of these photographs. The photographs of horizons accentuates the sky and the clouds, the image of the labor is the organic component of the natural scene, the high horizon photographs fully reveal the laborers power and physical beauty, at the same time, solidifies the spatial layers of the vastness. Weighing the New Barley at the Friendship Farm is a dark tone photograph, in the trend of bright toned photographs. This work particularly highlights Wu Yinxian’s pursuit for artistic photography. Under the light of the setting sun, the farmers who were weighing the harvest provides a sense of stability, power, grounded and mystery, the calming and distant background space creates an atmosphere that bright tones could not accomplish, its impression excels beyond Miller’s The Angelus.

Speaking of farms in the 1960s, one cannot avoid the unique group of the young intellectuals. In the No. 852 and No. 853 farm (Yanwo island) and other military reclaimed farms were a main destination for young intellectuals. The film, People of the Great Northern Wilderness released in 1961, impressed many young intellectuals to respond to their calling to the Great Northern Wilderness. In this series of works, the only portrait is a 17 years old female young intellectual from Beijing shot at the No. 852 farm, in front of a field of sunflowers, the female young intellectuals had the classical face in pre-consumption period, frugal, natural smile was also a collective expression of that era.

(Edited by Su Wenxiang, Xu Chongbao, Huang Si, 2015)