Chan Bing
Fai: Photographer Extraordinary
Chan Bing Fai took up photography more than 50 years ago as a
hobby. He has written 3 books on photography. The first one entitled; “The
Complete Photographer,” published in 1977 by Tropical Press. It is now out of
print. The second one; “Lighting Up Your Photography” published by the author
and it is being distributed by MPH at RM30.90. The third one entitled;
“Photography’s Soft Power” has just been published on a limited digital
printing edition. All the 3 books have one thing in common in that they do not
deal with technical matters. He places great emphasis on the “what” and the
“why” of photography and not on the “how.” In other words he stresses on the
importance of a meaningful content in every picture rather than the means or
technical procedures in obtaining it.
To obtain a meaningful content he relies on his person
feelings and how the subject matter relates to life and living. To him to make
a picture requires more than manual dexterity. Even in his first book published
30 years ago, he employed Zen’s Yin-Yang Philosophy to accomplish those great
insights. So much so his photographs are poetic and at the same time they illustrate
Zen’s concepts of formless essence and minimalism.
He has the uncanny ability of capturing the essence of the
moment. To do that he empties out the daily concerns of life and allows himself to feel and vibrate in sympathy with the subject
matter until he achieves “oneness” with it. “Oneness,” “emptiness”,
“nothingness” and “Wu-Wei” which means non-interference are concepts which are
entrenched in Zen’s Wisdom.
He regards every photo field-trip he takes as a personal
invitation to a visual feast and every photo he takes is his personal visual
statement to his response. Every picture he takes is so unique that it cannot
be repeated. The only way to understand him is to read his books. They are
written in a simple style with his thoughts clearly and precisely stated. They
are so different from anything published in photography.
They are highly recommended to anyone who wish
to soar above mediocrity. Anyone who takes up the camera can benefit greatly
from his books irrespective of whether he is a beginner or otherwise. For a
beginner he starts with the right foot on the right path without getting lost
in the photo-maze. For others this is a good time to do a mid-flight correction
to enable them to reach their destinations without getting lost in “space”.
His interest in photography goes unabated and has been quite
adept in looking at old subjects in new ways. Because of this ability his work
is creative and innovative. His work has an unusual freshness that often
surprises. He was the first Malaysian to be awarded in 1969 the FRPS (Fellow of
the Royal Photographic
He was trained as a teacher and after eleven years he was
promoted to become H.M. Then he moved out of teaching and became the chief
medical illustrator in the Medical Faculty of UM. Later he joined UKM and
became the technical director in educational technology. He retired in 1985 and
then started to write books on photography. He is a popular speaker in
photographic societies, forums and clubs. (For enquiries about these books
please ring 03-79575908).