The legendary Life of Amano Shang (Ⅱ)

6. Arson II Exotic Cultural Exchange

Crocodiles are part of our food supply, although we fight them in the Amazon. Rice and dynamos are brought from Japan, and the rest of our vegetables and fruits are raised locally.

Even piranha sashimi I have tasted, very delicious, excellent sashimi ah! It tastes like halibut marinated in salt, perfect as an accompaniment! Fish is eaten here almost every day, and I think I could write a book on Amazon Fish Cooking! While I am in the Amazon, I always carry mustard with me in case of a meal. Amano said proudly.

This is the main food of the Amazon River. Large catfish. Catfish is a carnivorous fish. It tastes sweet. The catfish in the picture is 1.5 cm long and weighs about 60 kg.

Even so, severe food shortages still occur, such as when visiting Gambia, Africa below red, Amano's team was caught in a severe food shortage crisis.

Amano still said: there is no local fish food, bring rice and constantly reduce, some of our team said that the indigenous guides usually eat bark, wood grow out of the fruit to live, it is better to save a little food for them to keep their own use, but I immediately refused! since we are all in the same boat and are equal, how can we withhold what others deserve? Instead, food should be distributed first to indigenous guides. This is the basic condition for mutual trust and respect between people.

The local indigenous guides often gave us their wood fruit, which was stained with mud and looked strange. Everyone threw it away, but I ate it anyway. The temperature in Gambi beans was very hot, and the sweat flowed like a waterfall from morning to night. Every other member of our group was tired, but I didn't feel tired at all; the reason was that the locals ate the wood fruit!

The indigenous people walk more than 50 miles in the forest every day. The fruit of the tree is rich in vitamins and minerals, which are very effective in replenishing physical strength! Amano said.

On this journey, the locals often give us food, and our attitude towards those foods will be completely different. We accept their food, which means we accept their living habits. On the contrary, it is a serious disrespect to throw away the food sincerely given by the other party! These are basic respects I have learned from traveling around the world.

Masao Amano has been overseas since he was in his twenties and has been to more than 50 countries.

Amano continued: In Borneo in Southeast Asia, Indonesia called her Kalimantan Island (Kalimantan), is the world's third largest island, where there is a movie like the park where dinosaurs once lived, surrounded by a mountain almost 3,000 meters above sea level with Mount Fuji, the terrain is steep, ordinary people want to climb into very difficult. But I carried my camera and climbed into it with a rope hook from the top of the cliff. I have a strong curiosity, no matter how many dangerous places also want to lie down, try to see, curiosity overshadowed everything, this personality even I am a little afraid of it!

Taken in November 1996 under the Borneo cliff, Amano hired two locals as guides to hide the camera from detection.

Photos of Borneo by Masao Amano

West Africa photos taken by Masao Amano

7. Megalichthys ovis

About 17 years ago, I knew that there was a very special fish called Cold porgy in Sado Island. At first, I happened to read a magazine about diving in a bookstore and it introduced this fish. Later, I also published a photo of this strange fish in an advertisement about diving in Sado Island, but the photo was very small and blurred... Amano said.

Amano Masakimichi: In Sado Island near my hometown, there was such a strange fish with unique appearance. At that moment, I had the impulse to photograph it immediately, so I ran to learn diving, take courses, lectures, and soon I obtained the qualification to dive. Without doubt, I immediately set out to Sado Island!

The male fish grows up with a lump protruding from his forehead like the male head of a longevity star, so it is called a tumor fish. The adult fish is about one meter long.

In order to catch the occurrence of the giant snapper, I dive into the sea called Kita-Koura on the northeast side of Sado Island. I try to swim as close as possible to the fish 5~10 cm away, because at such a close distance, I can take the most powerful photos with an ultra-wide angle lens, and the close distance can reduce the refraction of the sea water and make the photos clearer. Amano said.

At first, Amano bought cuttlefish as bait and hired boats from the Kita-Koura Fishing Association to go out to sea, but the cost of each charter was 20,000 yen, which was very expensive. Therefore, Amano boldly bargained with local fishermen.

Amano: If we go out to sea once in the morning and once in the afternoon, we'll spend forty thousand yen a day!

So I boldly told the local fishermen,"Sado is a treasure of Sado Island. If you let me take a close-up picture of it, I guarantee that Sado Island will become famous in Japan. Tourists will come to this island. Do you believe me?" Are you brave enough to bet with me?

as a result, amano succeeded in persuading the fishermen to reduce the charter fee from 20,000 yen to 2,000 yen for one trip and 5,000 yen for three trips! However, local fishermen gave Amano a condition, that is, to make this place known.

Amano still dive into the sea many times to feed, in the North Xiaopu seabed, there are a lot of kelp, algae and other natural resources.

Almost every day I dive into the seamounts to feed them, and for over two years, the big fish here are gradually losing their natural defenses, getting to know me, and never panicking when they come near me. Tumour fish is very understanding of the fish, facial expression is very rich, there are joys and sorrows of expression, unexpectedly fish also has its eyes, it is hard to believe! Amano still recalls.

Finally, after more than two years, Amano still took a photo of the giant tumor. With this photo, he participated in the 1992 Fuji Film Photography Competition and stood out among more than 50,000 entries. Later, he published the rest of the photos taken at the bottom of Beixiaopu to diving magazines. Beixiaopu was immediately widely known and became a hot spot for diving enthusiasts. Soon, it developed into a diving center. Today, Kitakopura is still one of Japan's top diving hot spots.

Amano said seriously: I finally fulfilled my promise, so that Kita-Koura this place is widely known, local fishermen held a local festival invited me to attend, to their village, from noon to go house to toast toast, very lively, the banquet is already late at night. In fact, my heart is happy at the same time, also put down the heart of the stone!

Amano not only made Kita-Koura a famous fishing port, but also made a name for himself.

8. Giant Sequoia sado

Since the beginning of my twenties, I have never finished my wish, that is, to take photos with natural themes, and finally completed it in the Amazon River region of South America. Unfortunately, in the past five or six years, the Amazon River has also suffered serious environmental damage, the original forest has been converted into farmland, and a large number of trees have been cut down and burned, and those ashes have polluted the river, and the natural ecology has been destroyed. It is not as good as before!

Due to environmental changes, so the interest in the Amazon River region in South America has greatly decreased, suddenly remembered that I once photographed the Sado Island, the shooting period many times into the mountains, where the natural scenery is beautiful, red and purple, set off the natural beauty of the scenery, so three or four years ago, ten years apart set foot on Sado Island again.

Unfortunately, after entering the mountain, those naturally beautiful weeds and trees were also dug up in large numbers, and there was a little melancholy in my heart. Amano sighed.

I couldn't find a subject to shoot, so I ran around to different trees in the mountains. When I was disappointed, I saw a photo of a giant cedar in the owner's photo album. I was immediately shocked. It felt like I was electrified, just like I was attracted to the giant snapper in Sado. "Yes," he said excitedly. I thought I knew everything about Sado Island, but I didn't think there was such a natural ecological place I didn't know. It was like a slap in the face, but I was very excited! After careful inquiry, the original location was located in the training trees of Niigata University, so I was accommodated by the university and ran into the native forest with a large camera in early summer!! Amano said proudly.

Masao Amano walks into the primeval forest of Sado Island and is photographing a millennium giant sequoia. Taken in 2007.

Amano went on to say formally: We climbed the mountain more than 900 meters above sea level and saw the giant fir tree. The tree diameter is close to seven to nine meters thick. I am afraid it is at least 1,000 years old. The kind of intimidating momentum is suffocating; just like the scenery of ancient times, it is incredible!

The giant cedar roots of Sado Island are unique in shape, curved and elastic, like ropes around the giant cedar. It can be seen that the giant cedar has experienced many hardships, just like the ups and downs of life. Immediately take out the big judge camera, take pictures of her form, her soul essence one by one, even the surrounding plants, lichen, etc., also thoroughly photographed.

from the underwater world at a depth of more than 40 meters to the native forest at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, naoto amano clearly photographed every piece of natural ecological scenery. during the one year period from april 2007 to march 2008, naoto amano's solo photography tour exhibition was held at three exhibition venues in tokyo, niigata city and sado city, attracting about 15,000 people twice in sado city. One in four people in Sado, a city of 60,000 people, has seen one of his exhibitions.

The photo of giant cedars clustered around the swamp is titled "forest of chikugi" and was one of the photos exhibited at the seminar held in toya, hokkaido. Sado Island, 2006 The weather is mild, summer and winter are distinct, and it is also very suitable for the production of apples, oranges and other fruits. All year round, no matter what time of the scenery has her beauty, like a computer sketch machine to record her one by one, more than dozens of times to go!

In my mind, Sado Island's natural heritage is priceless and worthy of pride. Unfortunately, outsiders continue to destroy the environment!! Tian Ye still sighed.

Amano continued: Therefore, my photo exhibition is to wake up the local people and all people, tell them the original beauty of Sado Island, let the local people cherish their natural priceless heritage; now many people start to talk about environmental protection issues, but I personally think that environmental protection should start from the natural ecology around you, pay more attention to the scenery around you!

Amano is shooting Vajra Sugi on Sado Island.

Sado Island scenery photographed by Masao Amano

Lishan scenery

Yakushima scenery

To be continued...

There's a surprise here.