Photographer: Li Mingshun

2013-03-15 17:08

By (Guo Rong)

Li Mingshun, who started shooting in 2007, is a photographer focusing on seniors.

The Panda photography team, founded by Li Mingshun and his friends in June 2011, took pictures for 10,000 seniors and sent them prints for free in 2012.

Li, who is the team leader, said of the establishment of the Panda team: "Once an old man asked me if I could develop photos after I took pictures for him. I promised to do so and gave the photos back after one week."

"The old man thanked me a lot because he barely had one printed photo," Li said. "I was moved by the old man's happiness."

"The living conditions of seniors were not very good when they were younger, so they barely took any photos," Li said. "It is meaningful to take pictures for seniors and record their happy remaining years."

Since the establishment of the team, they traveled almost 10,000 kilometers to take pictures of seniors in communities, old people's homes, and mountain villages.

Li said of the difference between urban seniors and village seniors: "The aged in urban areas are more natural when I take pictures for them, while the aged in villages are more simple and unadorned."

Li has a three-year plan to take pictures for 200,000 seniors. In 2013, he plans to photograph 50,000 seniors.

"One day we will be old," Li said. "If we treat the aged well, we will get the same treatment in the future."