User:Changle Yangji

Li Fan
Mr. Li Fan is a Chinese photographer, Council member of China Photographers Association, winner of China’s most prominent personal achievement award in photography --- the “Golden Statue Award”, judge of the 11th Chinese Golden Statue Award for Photography, member of Art Photography Committee of China Photographers Association, judge of the 24th China National Photographic Art Award and Exhibition, judge of the 8th China Top Ten Portrait Photographers, vice chairman of the Image Alliance for the Salvation of Chinese Cultural Heritage, member of Recommendation Committee of Sony Young Photographer Development Plan, and an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communications of Shaanxi Normal University in China.

For decades, Li Fan has committed himself to the practice, teaching and research of photography, and many of his students have become outstanding photographers in prestigious media and other organizations across China, winning prizes in photographic contests in China and overseas. Li Fan is the first Chinese photographer to win the First Place in the Professional Category of Sony World Photography Award (SWPA), the first Chinese photographer to receive award in the Festival Palace in Cannes, France, and the first non-member photographer to hold photo exhibition in Hong Kong Foreign Correspondent Club. He has also won the Gold Medal in the 20th China National Photographic Art Award and Exhibition, China's highest personal achievement award in photographic education --- the Red Candle Award, and many other awards, making him one of the most productive and prominent photographer and photographic educator in China. In 2009, meeting Li Fan and seeing his works at the Awarding Ceremony of Sony World Photographic Awards in Cannes, Marc Riboud gladly signed his name on one of Li Fan’s works and have a photo taken together.

Li Fan is also a photographic activist. He participated in several cultural activities organized by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, helped restore Shaanxi University Photographic Society, curated the first Chinese University Photographic Exhibition in 2004, represented Chinese Photographers Association in the Joint Exhibition of “Love of Millennium across Taiwan Straits” in 2004, in the Chinese Images - An Exhibition of Outstanding Contemporary Chinese Photographers at the Arles Photography Festival in 2010, and in the New Long March Project in 2011. With his help and under his mentership, many photographers have made noticeable achievements themselves in Chinese and international photo contests.

Li Fan has been focusing his attention on the Silk Road culture and travelled far and wide along the route. He has visited many regions in western China where most inhabitants are ethnic minorities, documenting the living conditions and social changes of ethnic Yi, Uygur, Tajik, Tibet and Hui people, in an effort to preserve the disappearing human culture in images and leave a legacy of photographic works. He has also visited several countries along the Silk Road, focusing on people's livelihood, ethnicities and religions. So far he has completed the photo projects of Religious Faith in Rural Yunnan, Ethnic Yi People in China, Lepriasis Rehabilitation Village, Daliyabuyi People in Xinjiang, Life of Tajiks in China, Tongxin - a Place Least Suitable for Human Existence, Kashgar Residence Buildings - An Uygur Cultural Heritage, Left-behind Children in West China, Living Along an Urban Railroad, Sports in Rural West China, A Village Plagued with Osteofluorosis, On the Polluted Highway, Mantras From Across the Himalayas, and Under Bengali Sky., etc.

He has published several collections of works including Under Bengali Sky, Ethnic Yi People in the Liangshan Mountains and Christianity in Yunnan, China.

Photographic Achievements:
2018 Silver Award - People's Photography "Golden Lens" Press Photo Award (2017)

2015 First Place – Lifestyle Category, Professional competition, 2015 Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA)

2015 Gold Award - 11th China International Press Photo Competition (CHIPP)

2014 Bronze Award - Culture and Art Category, Press Photo Award (2013), People's Photography

2014 Shortlisted - 3rd "Xu Xiaobing" Cup China Photographic Exhibition

2014 Bronze Award - China Ningxia 2nd Islamic Culture International Photographic Competition

2013 Honorable Mention - 9th China International Press Photo Competition (CHIPP)

2012 Honorable Mention - "Searching for the Most Beautiful Country Teachers" Calligraphic, Painting and Photographic Exhibition sponsored by Guangming Daily and China Central Television

2012 Honorable Mention - 8th China International Press Photo Competition (CHIPP)

2012 7th Top Ten Chinese Portrait Photographers

2011 Silver Award, Bronze Award and Honorable Mention, Editorial Images Best Non-Professional Stories – Zoom-in on Poverty Global Photo Contest, sponsored by Xinhua News Agency and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

2011 Silver Award - 7th China International Press Photo Competition (CHIPP)

2011 Masters Award - Hasselblad International Photography Competition 2010

2010 First Award - “National Geography” Photo Contest, China Group

2010 Gold Award - PPA Asia and the 3rd Jinan International Photographic Biennale

2009 Grand Award - Kenko International Filter Photographic Competition, China Group

2009 Award for Photographic Creation - China Golden Statue Photography Awards

2009 3rd Prize - Professional Sports Category, Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA)

2009 Silver Award - 5th China International Press Photo Competition (CHIPP)

2009 Silver Award - 17th China Journalistic Photography "Golden Lens" Award

2007 Annual Award - "Triopo" International Landscape Photographic Contest

2006 Title of Photographers with Outstanding Contribution in the Last 50 Years of Chinese Photography

2006 Gold Award - "Socialist New Countryside" National Photographic Competition and Exhibition

2006 Collection Award - Chinese People's Clothing Photographic Competition

2004 Title of Top Ten Featured University Photographers in China

2004 Red Candle Award - Commendation Fund for Photographic Education in Chinese Universities

2004 Gold Award - 3rd Austrian Super Photo Circuit Exhibition

2003 Title of Top Ten Contemporary Chinese Body Art Photographers

2003 Grand Award - 2002 Epson Annual Chinese Portraits Grand Competition

2003 Expert’s Choice Award - Portrait Category, China National Epson Digital Photographic Competition

2002 Gold Award - 9th China Lucky Film Photographic Art Competition

2002 Gold Award - 20th National Photographic Art Exhibition

2002 First Prize - Minolta Alpha Cup China National Photographic Competition

Exhibitions:
2016 Under Bengali Sky, Xi'an Qujiang Book City, Xi'an, China

2016 Under Bengali Sky, Sony U Space, Beijing, China

2014 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China (2004-2014), Shenzhen, China

2014 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China (2004-2014), First Chang'an Photographic Festival, Donguan, China

2014 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China (2004-2014), LonGallery, Beijing, China

2012 The Heaviness of Life: Li Fan’s Photographic Works, Xi’an Arts Gallery, Xi'an, China

2012 Christianity in Yunnan, China, China (Qinghai) Sanjiangyuan International Photography Festival, Xining, China

2012 The Look of Existence: Li Fan’s Photographic Works, Beijing Epson Photo Gallery, Beijing, China

2011 Christianity in Yunnan, China, Beijing Jingyuan Photography Festival, Beijing, China

2011 Christianity in Yunnan, China, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China

2010 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China, representing Chinese Photographers Association at Arles Photography Festival, Arles, France

2010 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China, Dali International Photography Festival, Dali, China

2009 Folk Sports in China, Sony Photography Festival, Cannes, France

2008 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China, Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, China

2007 Ethnic Yi People in Liangshan, China, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China

2004 Joint Exhibition of “Love of Millennium across Taiwan Straits”, representing Chinese Photographers Association