Camera Shy
Text / 王琅 Photo / 李晖

For Li Hui, photography is nothing more than a hobby.

To just about anyone, Li Hui seems an odd, quiet and sensitive girl.She seldom talks to strangers as she's rarely willing to reveal too much about herself. She's used to cuddling with her pillow, talking to animals, and she especially favors Guy Maddin's black and white silent films, taking pictures while listening to freak-folk and ambient music. Li Hui draws her inspiration from films and music, and she loves them more than photography.

She carefully hides herself amidst reality, like every rear view of the subjects in her photos, every animal tail, and every face shy of the lens, hiding an unknown secret: I am not good at expressing myself; photography is not for self-expression, but to share common feelings.

This feeling is in step with her personality-nostalgic and introverted. She sticks to the Single Lens Reflex camera, using film and intentionally over-exposing or under-exposing for colors and beauty. She widely employs double exposure, which is quite like Ryan McGinley. The only difference is that you spot no such things in Li Hui's photos as sexual joy, merciless youth and uncountable wounds-not even a scar.

A secret path grows from reality to a well-organized fantasized world, a pure and serene world, where one talks about loneliness with a cat and last night's dream with a tree.

“I continue shooting mysterious things,” says Li Hui. There's still a long way to go to leave adolescence behind.