Jiang Zhi

Jiang Zhi is an Asian, contemporary photographer and considered to be one of China's most diverse and avant garde artists of his age. Over the years, he has had many different exhibitions and portfolios but the one I find most interesting is his work Love Letters. 

Love Letters is a series of photographs taken by Zhi in which he sets fire to flowers and captures the images of the flames engulfing them. The silky, ethereal quality of the flames has been created by a slower shutter speed with the camera placed on a tripod in order to keep the flowers crisp and clear which contrasts with the floating quality of the fire. Some of the images have been placed against a black background to bring out the colours of the flames and petals whereas others are in different locations with brighter coloured flames that contrast with the more dull and dim colours and tones of the environment in which the photographs have been taken.

Zhi has used low key lighting to bring out the full colours of the flames against the backgrounds chosen, creating a sort of fantasy or dreamlike within the compositions. This makes them more aesthetically appealing as opposed to using brighter lighting which would wash out the images and make them less successful as images. The colours seem to m,ix and mingle in certain places whilst also keeping the shape and form of the flowers which makes them look more interesting and unique. The colours of the flames also contrast with the colours of the petals as well as the backgrounds which draws attention to the subject matter.

The subject matter in these photos in particular has been placed in the centre of the composition which naturally draws the eye to the middle of the image. This is more successful on the images with the black backgrounds as there is nothing else within the image to detract attention from the subject matter, allowing us to pay more attention to the way the fire flows or the different colours that highlight the shapes of the flower petals.