Member: Yong-ran Zhu

Photography is my serious hobby. I started to learn fine art photography from John Sexton, former assistant of Ansel Adams. The visiting of Ansel Adams house, darkroom, and reviewing of his original negatives and prints inspired me to study fine art photography. So far, I still have a great passion for using large format camera and doing wet darkroom work.

I keep learning black and white photography from Bruce Barnbaum, Howard Bond and others, who use large format cameras, which I use for 90% of my photography. I believe that this is a critical way to improve my vision and skills.

Having been deeply influenced by my Chinese culture, I follow one of the Chinese art guidelines, “The True, The Good and The Beautiful” during my photographic practice. Recently, I have been studying “Zen Art”. In the first century, Buddhism arrived in China. It encountered Confucianism and Taoism. The result was the very direct and practical kind of Buddhism – Zen (禅). Zen art touched artists and audiences deeply, expressed the ineffable, and helped to transform the way we see ourselves in the world. The vision is unique to each individual. Everybody uses his own way to see the world and to express it.

I keep learning and practicing it to improve my photographic creativity and skill. I believe that art is a visual exploration of the world and is the creation of forms to express human feelings. Black and white photography can create some kind of mysteries, which will help viewers see and think more. It helps to convey a photographer’s feeling to his viewers.


Thank you very much for viewing my images. If you have any question, please email me at yzhu@mcw.edu.

Yong-ran Zhu, MD, MS
Transplant Surgery
Medical College of Wisconsin