胸中流淌一条江

文 /袁 敏

1826摄影博物馆外景。The 1826 Photography Museum seen from outside.

世界上第一张可以永久保存的照片诞生在1826年，照片是法国摄影先驱尼埃普斯拍摄的《窗外的风景》，当时尼埃普斯在布满沥青涂层的锡板上拍摄了他从自家窗户上看到的景色，并保存了下来。这就是今天的人们所看到的最古老的照片。

而在富春江畔的富阳龙门古镇，就开着一家以此命名的私人博物馆—1826摄影博物馆。

博物馆主人叫李长江，博物馆坐落在一座浸染着几百年历史烟云的明清老宅里。老宅门脸不大，古老斑驳的院落砖墙，层叠沧桑的屋檐瓦当，却透出一种沉甸甸的厚重，门楣上方“世德堂”三个字古朴苍劲，昭示了房子曾经的主人崇尚“世代重视道德”的高尚品性。

三代人108年收藏

穿过老梅生花的庭院，走过“华国儒宗”的厅堂，站在一方绿意点点的天井里，再看这座藏匿在老旧木板房子里的摄影博物馆，突然间就有了一种走向历史深处的苍茫之感。

可是，就这样一座面阔三间的老房子，能收藏多少东西呢？

善于观相读心的李长江显然捕捉到了我心中的疑惑，在一旁很淡然地对我说：一个人假如有足够多的钱，一夜之间或许就可以成为万台相机的拥有者，但距离一位摄影收藏家还有漫漫长路。从严格意义上说，1826摄影博物馆并非由我一个人创建，而是汇集了师徒三代 108年的收藏，还有一位正值盛年就溘然离世的摄影人走南闯北多年收集的宝贝。这里的馆藏涉及照相机、摄影镜头、摄影附件、摄影作品、底片、相机设计文献、摄影化学文献、古董照相机修复与改制等八大门类，共计藏品两千五百余件，周边展览资源三万余件。那是一代又一代摄影人留下来的心血，我只是一个保管者，当然，我更希望自己能成为一个传承人！这种传承不仅仅是对藏品而言，更是传承一种精神！

妙岩书院。The Miaoyan Academy.

李长江的话让我一下子对这座古朴的老宅肃然起敬。但真正让我感到震撼的，还是看了部分藏品之后。

说实话，这座博物馆给人感觉十分简陋，但里面展示的珍贵收藏，却令人叹为观止。这里有各个世纪不同类型的古典摄影器材，也有多枚极为罕见的19世纪60年代的镀金镜头；有第二次世界大战时战地记者用过的新闻摄影器材，更有周恩来总理最爱的同款相机，等等。而最让人眼睛发亮的，还是那些跨越各个朝代，尤其是民国时期的饱含时代人文气息、藏匿着种种历史故事的老照片、旧底片、书札、手稿……它们展现的摄影人文线路地图，涵盖中华大地的江河湖海、戈壁山川，杭州、南京、昆明、黄山、普陀、敦煌、嘉峪关、河西走廊……百年记忆，悠远绵长。

而在所有展出的收藏中，最抢眼的庞然大物，居然是农家常见的一台扬筛谷子的风车。

最初，我以为它只是用来点缀博物馆古朴氛围的一个乡村原始农耕老家伙，等到李长江撩开覆盖在风车上的红布，让我看到了风车前端一个长方形的木框里两个像望远镜一般的黑色镜头，我才知道，这原来是一台用风车改造的大幅相机。

这是李长江创意研发，并带领龙门的三位相机发烧友村民共同改造制作的，他们将这台相机命名为“1826脱壳机1.0”大画幅立体照相机。2019年，这台“风车相机”在丽水国际摄影节上展出后，一下子成了网红，凡是来龙门古镇的游客，都会来寻找1826摄影博物馆，打卡“风车相机”。

我问李长江，你怎么会想到用农村最常见的扬筛稻谷的风车来制作相机？除了想还原和传承古典摄影和手工制作相机的技艺，是不是也想让这门小众的专业走进民间，让更多的普罗大众了解和欣赏摄影世界的魅力？这座明清木结构的老房子虽然有厚重的古韵气场，但其实并不适合收藏珍贵的文物，你却选择了在这里创建1826摄影博物馆，而且一办就是五年，听说其间也有能提供更好条件的合作者向你发出邀请，你却拒绝了，为什么？是龙门的人文底蕴对你的吸引，还是“世德堂”这座明清老宅能承载和弘扬你想倡导的摄影传统文化？

长江说，你去过龙门山下的妙岩寺吗？清代时先人曾经在那里办过“妙岩书院”，读书讲学。其实我最想做的事情，就是传播摄影古典工艺文化，搞艺术实验教育，做一个“中国当代湿版摄影文化的播种者”。我想重新恢复“妙岩书院”，做摄影讲学，把我的师公、师傅传给我的东西，传递给更多的人！

缘起大幅相机

随着李长江的讲述，我走进了三代摄影人108年的摄影故事。

李长江是新杭州人，老家在安徽马鞍山，父母本是普通百姓，却也没有逃脱那个特殊年代被折腾摆布的命运。只因为外公早年往来上海做生意，在灵璧县城置了土地和宅子，母亲的家庭成分就有了问题，由此便连累做电工的父亲一起被下放到淮北农村，一待就是十几年。

小长江在农村的牛棚里出生长大，从小他爱上了画画，素描、粉彩、水墨，他都涉猎过，万物在他笔下栩栩如生。他一心想考美院，但因为家庭成分不好而被拒之门外，最后只能退而求其次，读了淮北师范学院的工艺美术设计。毕业后，为了生存，他从南到北闯荡过许多地方，北京、江苏、浙江、福建……先后做过企划、营销、管理，什么都干。一路漂泊，一路寻找机会，李长江总想着有一天能重新捡起画笔。然而，命运之神并没有眷顾他，绘画艺术的梦想离他越来越远。

一直到2001年，李长江来到杭州，看到西子湖之美丽，他想到了摄影，摄影的门槛似乎比绘画要低多了，只要有一部相机，就可以便捷明快地拍下世间美景。

李长江果断地离开了供职七八年收入不菲的咨询公司，并拿出自己的积蓄，买下了第一部相机，踏上了对他来说还十分渺茫的摄影之路，他想向这个世界咨询一下，他能否把握自己未来的人生？

一开始，辞去工作成为自由人的他，有了大把的时间，可以尽情地行走、拍照，将天地间的无穷美景一一摄入镜头，但时间一长，没有固定经济收入的他就体味到了生存的压力。

2004年前后，淘宝网兴起，脑袋瓜极其聪明的李长江抓住机遇，在淘宝上做起了海淘摄影器材的互联网交易。生意做得风生水起时，他遇到了真正改变他人生走向的人—郭嘉平。

郭嘉平是新中国第一代国产相机设计制造者，上海照相机四厂技术科的首席工程师，曾参加过国家大幅相机“国家标准—GB标准”的修订工作，设计制作过多种规格和型号的大幅相机。而郭嘉平最为人称道也是流传最广的故事，则是他在20世纪70年代国门开放之初，为中国展开“乒乓球外交”作出过的贡献。由他设计的“移动式可折叠乒乓球台”在世界赛事上惊艳亮相，受到世界各国运动员和嘉宾的高度称赞。

正是这位郭嘉平先生，一直以来有一个宏大志向，他想制造出中国第一台达到国际标准的4×5大幅相机。当时这种相机在西方一些发达国家早已出现并得到应用，但在中国相机制造业内却似乎还被视为高不可攀的领域。郭嘉平觉得西方人可以做到的事情，中国人为什么不能做到？他不服这口气，开始向厂领导提出要试验制造4×5大幅相机，却遭到反对，甚至百般刁难。

倔强的郭嘉平没有停止自己的研发脚步，厂里不让搞，他索性辞职成立了郭氏相机公司。一直到20世纪90年代初，郭老先生设计的中国第一台4×5大幅机才制作完成，并申请了专利。

李长江是在互联网上的郭氏摄影俱乐部里知道这位摄影前辈的，他很想认识这位相机制造大鳄，向他学习手工制作相机的传统技艺。

突然有一天，李长江在郭氏粉丝群里看到有人贴出了郭氏“招徒帖”，他非常激动，很快辗转打听到郭嘉平在上海家里的住址，并立刻赴沪登门拜访。

第一次见到郭嘉平先生的情景，李长江至今想起来还历历在目。石门二路上的两间老房子，前店后坊，狭小局促的空间堆满了凌乱的各种照相器材。郭先生和李长江说了两句话，一句是：你要做相机，你必须会使用，你首先得是一个真正的摄影者；另一句是：相机是个黑匣子，但它能用黑暗收集光明。那一刻，李长江在心中认定了这个师傅。

之后，李长江几乎每周都会去一两次上海，跟着郭嘉平干活，在这期间，李长江在网上发起组建了一个“双反俱乐部”，推介郭师傅的手工相机。短短的时间内，居然吸引了全国包括台湾、香港在内的两千多名摄影爱好者，甚至是世界各地的同好，他们纷纷前来订购郭师傅的手工相机。

情系湿版摄影

2005年前后，数码相机兴起，胶卷业萎缩，连“柯达”这样占全球三分之二市场份额的胶卷大鳄都濒临破产。而郭师傅制作的手工大幅相机必须用胶卷，否则就像一把好枪却没有了子弹。郭师傅和李长江探讨，希望有一种工艺来替代胶卷，延续手工大幅相机的使用。

2017年在中国美术学院美术馆与摄影教育家、评论家顾铮、林路交流郭锡麒收藏。Li was seen discussing with Gu Zhen and Lin Lu, photography educationists and critics, about Guo Xiqi’s collection at China Academy of Art in 2017.

2016年,李长江受邀为中国美术学院、浙江传媒学院、中国青瓷学院、上海师范大学摄影专业授课，图为中国美术学院摄影系授课现场。In 2016, Li Changjiang was invited to teach photography students from China Academy of Art, Zhejiang University of Media and Communication, China Celadon College and Shanghai Normal University. The photo shows Li teaches at the Photography Department of China Academy of Art.

李长江深信大幅机的许多优势是数码相机无法取代的，这就像收藏这个行当为什么能长盛不衰，古老的文物为什么能穿越岁月风沙却历久弥新。数码相机拍出的相片放大到一定程度以后，就会出现粗粝的颗粒，而大幅机拍摄的图像即使拉成巨幅，每个局部却依然极为细腻。尤其是拍摄人物肖像，大幅机可以对人像做到最大程度的真实还原，细致到人物脸上的每一道皱纹，皮肤的每一寸肌理，甚至用肉眼几乎看不见的毛孔里的每一根汗毛，都能呈现得一清二楚。

作为郭嘉平的关门传承弟子，李长江知道师傅心中的焦虑，他也一直在反复琢磨研究，希望找到一种可以自己动手制作的感光材料，更好地发挥大幅机擅长的摄影技术，既可以替代胶卷，同时又能延续郭师傅手工制作的大幅相机生命。

那段时间，李长江整天趴在电脑前，废寝忘食地查找和浏览世界各地最前沿的各种摄影信息和资料。终于有一天，他在网上查到一条让自己兴奋莫名的重要信息：有一对名叫奎因和杰克的英国夫妇，在欧洲传播“火棉胶湿版摄影术”，这是遗落在时光中的一种古老而神奇的摄影法，1851年由英国雕塑家阿切尔发明。这种直接拍摄在玻璃上的照相术，可以自己制作底片，不用胶卷，该工艺最迷人之处，就是回归摄影本身，让摄影者真正关注摄影过程带来的乐趣。李长江在网上联系上这对夫妇，不会英文的他，通过翻译软件与他们进行深入的交流。

对湿版摄影有了一定的了解之后，李长江觉得，这是一种可以替代胶卷，甚至比使用胶卷效果更令人满意的摄影手段，他大胆地向郭师傅提出了尝试做湿版大幅相机的设想。没想到，一生都在相机制作道路上砥砺前行的郭师傅，这一次却踌躇迟疑了。

2013年五月的最后一天，油尽灯枯的郭嘉平先生毫无征兆地走了。闻讯赶去为郭师傅送行的李长江，在那一刻倍感自己肩头沉甸甸的重量。

2014年，已经成功研制出湿版大幅相机，并拍摄出令人震撼的“士与土—100位抗战老战士”“全家福”等一系列湿版人物肖像的李长江，联手中国美院摄影系主任矫健，共同策划和举办了“中国首届湿版摄影邀请展”。这次在西子湖畔举办的摄影展，吸引了来自国内外众多的摄影爱好者。奎因和杰克夫妇也专程从美国赶来，出席了摄影展的开幕式，并参观了展出的所有湿版摄影作品，认为这个摄影展达到了一个令人兴奋的学术高度，他们对传承、实践、推广湿版摄影这门古老艺术的李长江，给予了高度评价，彼此也结下了深厚的友谊。

而这一刻，李长江最想告慰的，是已经长眠于地下的郭嘉平师傅。时隔不久，得知李长江在湿版摄影领域已经闯出一片天地的郭师傅家人告诉李长江，郭嘉平临终前留言，将自己一生重要的摄影积累全部移交给李长江。更让李长江没有想到的是，师傅留给他的毕生心血中，居然包括其父亲、民国摄影大家郭锡麒最著名的那本出版于1947年的摄影集《西湖倩影》和与之相关的所有手稿。

滚滚长江东流水，承载着一代又一代中国摄影人生生不息的梦想，流淌在李长江的心中，1826摄影博物馆始建的初衷，恐怕也在于此吧？

Within His Chest Flows a River

By Yuan Min

The earliest photograph in the world,, was born in 1826 by French pioneer Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, who shot the scenery from his window on a tin plate of asphalt. This is the oldest permanent image that people see today. In an antique residence in Longmen Ancient Town along the Fuchun River, there is a private museum named after this photograph, the 1826 Photography Museum, whose curator is Li Changjiang. The facade is not large, with a tablet inscribed with a simple yet vigorous motto(roughly translated as the hall of morality passing on by every generation)held high above the lintel, showing the noble character of past house owners advocating moral integrity.

Passing through the courtyard of plum blossoms, across the Hall of Confucian Master, standing in the green patio, and beholding the museum hidden in the old wooden house, one might wonder: how many objects can such a small wooden house hold? Noticing my doubts, Li replied, “A person of enough wealth may become the owner of 10,000 cameras overnight, but there is still a long way to go before he turns a master photography collector. Strictly speaking, the museum was not founded by me alone, but it brought together collections of three generations of masters and apprentices with a time span of 108 years.” The collection here involves eight major categories including cameras, lens, attachments, photographs, negatives,camera design, photography chemistry documents, and repaired or restructured antique cameras, totaling over 2,500 pieces.

Li’s words left me in awe of this simple wooden house, but only after seeing the collection in person was I utterly amazed.Despite the humble looks of the house, the precious collection inside is impressive. Not only is there a variety of classical photography equipment from past centuries, there are also many extremely rare gold-plated lenses from the 1860s, journalistic photography equipment used by war reporters during World War II, and Premier Zhou Enlai’s favorite camera type. The most dazzling are the old photos, negatives, letters and manuscripts that came a long way from previous dynasties to tell historical stories and bring a century of memory. The humanistic maps of photography here cover the entire territory of China, extending to rivers, lakes, seas, and even the Gobi Desert, covering major cities and geographical landmarks such as Hangzhou, Nanjing,Kunming, Huangshan, Putuo, Dunhuang, Jiayuguan Pass and the Hexi Corridor.

Among all the exhibits, a giant winnower common in old farmhouses is the most eye-catching. Initially I thought that it was merely an ornament to the museum for some rural and idyllic atmosphere. Yet when the red cloth over it was unveiled and two black lenses in a rectangular wooden frame revealed, I learned that the colossus was a large-format camera. Designed and developed by Li himself, it was a joint masterpiece with three other camera enthusiasts of Longmen Ancient Town. They named the 3D large-format camera “1826 Winnower 1.0” .When exhibited at the Lishui International Photography Festival in 2019, this camera instantly became an internet hit, now attracting throngs of visitors at Longmen.

Despite its classic flavor, the place is actually not ideal for keeping such rare cultural relics. However, Li insisted on building the museum there five years ago. There once came people who offered him better exhibition conditions elsewhere, but Li declined. I couldn’t help wondering why. Mr. Li answered, “At the foot of Longmen Mountain in the Qing dynasty (1616-1911), there once stood the Miaoyan Academy where lectures were given and knowledge spread. I want my museum to be like it, promoting the classical craft culture of photography, where I’d engage in experimental education of art, deliver photography lectures as a disseminator of Chinese contemporary wet-plate processing, passing on what I learnt from my master and master’s master!”

1826摄影博物馆是中国美术学院电影学院摄影系研究研习基地，每年都会有艺术院校摄影专业的学生慕名而来。The 1826 Photography Museum is the research base of the Photography Department of the School of Film at China Academy of Art. Every year, students majoring in photography from art schools come here.

There, I learnt the story of the three generations of photographers. Born in northern Anhui, Li has loved painting since childhood. After graduating from college, he traveled extensively for work, doing planning, marketing, and management.Along the way, he always wanted to pick up the dream of painting one day, on which, however, the Goddess of Destiny showed no mercy. In 2001, Li came to Hangzhou. Astonished by the beautiful West Lake, he thought of photography, whose threshold seemed much lower than painting — with a camera in hand, a person can easily take pictures of the whole world. As a result, Li Changjiang decided to quit his well-paid job, bought the first camera, and embarked on his seemingly unpromising road of photography.

After resignation, with much time to spare, Li could take photos to his heart’s content, capturing the in finite beauty between heaven and earth with his cameras. But before long, with no steady income, he had to struggle to make ends meet. Around 2004, with the rise of Taobao.com, China’s leading e-commerce platform, Li seized the opportunity and started dealing imported photographic equipment online. His business booming, he met the person who changed his life — Mr. Guo Jiaping.

Mr. Guo was a first-generation domestic camera designer at a Shanghai camera manufacturer after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, who designed and produced large-format cameras of various specifications and models. He had always been ambitious to produce China’s very first 4×5 large-format camera up to international standards. Applied widely in developed Western countries, this type of camera was still regarded unattainable in Chinese camera manufacturing industry. Believing that the Chinese could do what the Westerners did, Guo proposed a trial manufacturing of 4×5 large-format cameras, only to be rejected by his leaders. Persistent as Guo was, he didn’t stop his research and development, and simply resigned and established Guo’s Camera Company. It was not until the early 1990s that the first 4×5 largescale camera designed by Mr. Guo was produced and patented.

Upon learning about this senior photographer from Guo’s online photography club, Li Changjiang sincerely wanted to befriend this camera maker and learn the traditional skills of hand-made cameras. One day, Li saw someone posted a notice in Guo’s fan group online, recruiting an apprentice for Guo. Elated,he soon searched out Guo’s address in Shanghai and set forth to visit him. Li still remembers the scene when he first saw Mr. Guo.The old, cramped house on Shimen 2nd Road was a two-room layout, with one as the shopfront and the other in the back as the workshop, and it was filled with messy equipment. Mr. Guo told Li, “If you want to make a camera, you must first be a true photographer” , and “A camera is a dark box, but it can collect light from darkness” . At that very moment, Li adored this master in his heart. Since then, Li Changjiang went to Shanghai once or twice a week to work under Guo Jiaping. Meanwhile, Li launched an online club to promote Mr. Guo’s handmade cameras, which before long attracted more than 2,000 photographers from all over China. Camera enthusiasts from all over the world also came to place orders for Mr. Guo’s handmade cameras.

Around 2005, with the rise of digital cameras, even film giants like Kodak were on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet for manual largeformat cameras, film was a must, or it would be like a gun without bullets. Mr. Guo and Li went through lengthy discussions, hoping to find a substitute for film so as to continue the life of manual large-format cameras. The advantages of large-format cameras are irreplaceable by digital cameras. When a photo taken with a digital camera is enlarged to a certain extent, coarse grains will appear.But it’s not the case for those from large-format cameras. Even if stretched into an extremely large size, every detail remains delicate and vivid. Especially in figure photography, large-format cameras can restore the portraits to the greatest extent, with every hair in the pore of the subject clearly presented.

As Guo’s last disciple, Li understood the anxiety in his master’s heart. He deliberated persistently, hoping to find a photosensitive material that he could make on his own, thus substituting film in making better use of large-format cameras.Stationed in front of the computer all day long, Li searched and browsed the cutting-edge photographic information all over the world. One day, he found a British couple, the Jacobsons,promoting the “wet-plate collodion process” in Europe. This ancient method of photography, invented by British sculptor Frederick S. Archer in 1851, records directly on glass, with which photographers can make their own negatives instead of film.The most fascinating thing about this craft is that it goes back to photography itself, allowing photographers to really focus on the joy of the photographing process. Li contacted the couple on the internet through a translation software.

After gaining a certain understanding of the wet-plate processing, Li felt that this would be a more satisfactory method than exposing on film. He boldly proposed to Mr. Guo the idea of dedicated large-format cameras for wet-plate processing.Unexpectedly, Guo, who had been forging ahead on the road of camera production all his life, hesitated this time. On May 31,2013, Mr. Guo passed away suddenly. At his funeral, Li felt a heavy burden on his shoulders.

In 2014, Li Changjiang successfully developed a wet-plate large-format camera, and shot a series of striking portraits such asr andLi cooperated with Jiao Jian, chairman of the Photography Department of the China Academy of Art, as curators of the First China Wet-plate Photography Invitational Exhibition by the West Lake, attracting many international photographers. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn Jacobson made a special trip from the United States to attend the opening ceremony. The couple spoke highly of Li, who, as they said, inherited, practiced and promoted the ancient art of wet-plate photography. The three of them became bosom friends.

Yet at this moment, the person whom Li most wanted to pay respect to was Master Guo. Soon after, informed of Li’s huge achievements in wet-plate photography, Guo’s family told him that Guo left a message on his deathbed to hand over the photographic collection of his life to Li. To Li’s sheer astonishment, the life-long collection included the most famous photo bookpublished in 1947 by Guo’s father, Guo Xiqi, a celebrated photographer, and all the manuscripts related to it.

The rolling water of the Yangtze River carries endless dreams of Chinese photographers from generation to generation, and flows also in Li Changjiang’s heart. Doesn’t the original intention of the 1826 Photography Museum lie here too?