Focus on fame

Portrait taken by Pang Xiaowei: Actress Zhang Ziyi[Photo provided to China Daily]

After the film celebrity series, Pang was touched by Beijing's excitement to hold the Olympic Games in 2008, and he began his Chinese Olympic champion series, which included 186 Chinese gold medal winners.

That seemed like an impossible task, because many champions then lived in various countries and out of the public eye.

But he did it. His champion series later included Chinese winners from the London Games in 2012.

Apart from celebrities, he is also interested in taking portraits of ordinary people.

For his latest show, which just closed on Tuesday at the National Art Museum, he aimed his lens at craftsmen, local residents and even the boys of a visiting chorus from Saxony in Germany, a cultural project initiated by A. Lange & Sohne, a German manufactory of luxury timepieces.

"Pang's camera perfectly captures talented people, from craftsmen to artists to watchmakers," says Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of A. Lange & Sohne.

Fan Di'an, head of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, says Pang's photos represent a process of using film to reveal a person's inner self.

Pang says: "Who you are is not important. A good portrait can allow viewers to quickly get the character of the person who wears the face."

Pang is now working on a Peking Opera series, and for the first time in his life, he will create portraits of the well-known performers in color－but he will also produce a black-and-white edition of the series.

He has photographed about 130 performers so far.

"You can find all the essence of China's culture in Peking Opera from the actors' costumes, makeup and performances," says Pang.

He adds that Spanish tenor Placido Domingo loved the Peking Opera photos Pang gave him as a gift when the two met in Beijing last year.

Of course, Pang didn't miss the chance to take a picture of Domingo.

Contact the writer at dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn