Xiaomu Feng - Fine Art Photographer and World Traveler

Xiaomu Feng was born and raised in China, and studied photography at Capital Normal University in Beijing, China. After graduating, he worked as a photographer for the Chinese government and photographed many significant events including the return of Macau to China, China's first manned spacecraft, and the Relay of the Beijing Olympic Torch to Mount Everest in 2008. Feng is a member of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and travels around the world each year to take pictures of endangered animals. He enjoys photographing animals and using his photography to bring awareness about those that are endangered.

In 2019, Feng had a photography exhibition called "Poetry for the Journey" that kicked off in Los Angeles for a world exhibition tour. This exhibition included many photographs that showed the beauty of nature, animals, people, and cultures. When viewing his photos, you can see that he is very passionate about nature and has exceptional skills at photography, especially composition, color, and the use of natural light.

Many of Fengs's photographs have a cinematic and ethereal quality which brings a feeling of serenity and elegance to what might otherwise be an ordinary moment in time. The majestic moment of the swan raising its wings as it moves across the water, is combined with the atmospheric background of mist and softness of the depth of field, which adds a romantic and cinematic quality to the photograph.

When you look at his some of Feng's photographs, many look like they could be paintings in a museum rather than photographs of actual locations. While some are stunning locations of beauty that he has chosen to photograph, it is still a skill to capture the ambience, the mood, and the vibrant and muted colors of nature. For photographers shooting landscapes, there is often a lot of time spent waiting for the sunlight to fall at the right time of day and at the right angle to get a memorable photograph. These are just some of the important elements of landscapes that he uses well and integrates together to create the poetry he has mastered in his photos.

The capturing of textures by the effective use of light and shadow is one of the most visually impactful ways to transform an everyday scene into a exceptional moment that captures the attention of the viewer. Combined with the use of color, this can also give a photograph a painterly quality. The autumn leaves, the lush foliage, and vibrant red/orange colors against a contrasting blue river, are very strong elements combined with light from the sun and the shadows falling on the river and on the ground below. However, when you notice the sunlight, you can then start to feel the warmth of the sun that is touching upon the leaves, and then in contrast, feel the icy chill of the water that is shaded and running past the rocks below.

Today, fine art photographers often find themselves referred to as visual artists in their abilities to creatively express emotions, ideas, and messages in the form of a photographic image. When it comes to fine art photography, there are a wide range of styles, skills, and techniques involved in the process of creating a photograph that makes it defined as fine art rather than just a photograph. It is not a well-defined genre of fine art as it often very subjective as to whether an image was created for its aesthetic and artistic expression, or was just recording of a subject or moment in time. This often requires talking to the artist about their work, however, when you look at the images in Feng's current collection, it is evident that these are fine art photographs, with each one carefully chosen and curated as an artistic expression of his work.