Farmer photographs China’s ‘yellow wonder’ for two decades

Lü Guiming at the Hukou Waterfall scenic area Photo: Courtesy of Lü Guiming

In a dense jujube trees grove, through which people can only pass one at a time, a man in a red vest, carrying a camera and holding a tripod, was swiftly moving. With each click of the shutter, the breathtaking scenery of the Hukou Waterfall, the world's largest yellow waterfall, was captured. 

The man is Lü Guiming, a farmer photographer of Jixian county, North China's Shanxi Province. The 52-year-old has been dedicated to photographing the Hukou Waterfall for 24 years. 

The Hukou Waterfall is the second-largest waterfall in China and the largest waterfall on the Yellow River. The Yellow River rushes here, with steep cliffs on both sides converging like the mouth of a pot, hence the name Hukou Waterfall. 

Over the last 20 years, Lü has captured more than 100,000 images of the Hukou Waterfall, using a wide range of cameras including film cameras and digital cameras. Through his lens, he has captured the seasonal transformations of the waterfall, from spring floods to the clear streams and soaring waterfalls of summer, the waterfall groups of autumn, and the ice-hanging cascades of winter.

Photo of the Hukou Waterfall taken by Lü Guiming Photo: Courtesy of Lü Guiming

'Son of the Yellow River'

Lü first saw the Hukou Waterfall when he was about 11 years old and lived only 17 kilometers away from it. While working outside in 1998, he unintentionally saw an image capturing the winter scenery of the waterfall, stirring up deep nostalgia within him. 

Consequently, he returned to his hometown, capturing photos for tourists while observing every subtle change in the waterfall, beginning his journey in photography.

"I am a son of the Yellow River. I have too many deep feelings for the Yellow River and the Hukou Waterfall. It is the Hukou Waterfall that has changed my life," Lü told the Global Times when answering why he has been dedicated to capturing the Hukou Waterfall for decades.

In order to take good photos, Lü started from scratch, diligently studying photography techniques. Besides reading numerous books, whenever photographers came to the Hukou Waterfall scenic area for work, he would accompany them, helping carry their photography equipment or tripods, to gain practical photography experience.

To photograph the Hukou Waterfall, Lü moved to a dilapidated cave near the waterfall, residing there for over 300 days each year. Observing the water flow, colors, and weather changes of Hukou became his daily essential task.

"For over 20 years, in pursuit of distinctive works, I have explored to every corner of the Hukou Waterfall, leaving my footprint even on every hilltop on both sides of the waterfall," he said. 

According to Lü, most of his works were captured in the most ­dangerous areas beyond the protective railings of the Hukou Waterfall.

To capture the desired scenes of the Hukou Waterfall in winter, despite the perpetual mist and muddy banks, he purchased safety ropes and crampons to approach the edge, enduring chilling waits for ideal lighting and compositions. 

"Looking back, it was quite terrifying. But most of the time, once I entered the creative state, all dangers were forgotten," he said.

More than 2,000 photographs by Lü have been published in various newspapers and magazines. In 2017, a collection of his photos of the ­Hukou Waterfall in winter were featured in The Atlantic Monthly.

Photo of the Hukou Waterfall taken by Lü Guiming Photo: Courtesy of Lü Guiming

Improved environment

From starting with a film camera to now utilizing drones for photography, his photography skills have continued to improve, and his lens have documented the changes in the ecological environment of the Hukou Waterfall.

As the icy Yellow River in the upper stream thaws due to the warm weather, the Hukou Waterfall on the border between Shanxi and Northwest China's Shaanxi Province enters the spring flood season when peach trees on both banks of the river are in full blossom, thus the annual spring flood is also known as the "peach blossom flood."

"In the picture I took of the peach blossom flood of the Hukou Waterfall in 2005, the water was very turbid; in the one I took in 2015, the water flow was obviously much clearer," Lü commented on his ­photos of the peach blossom flood of the Hukou Waterfall taken over a decade that have witnessed the changes in the Yellow River. 

The Hukou ­Waterfall is a landmark of the Yellow River. In recent years, a series of important ecological protection and restoration ­projects have been implemented in the Yellow River basin, such as reclaiming farmland for forest, improving the quality and efficiency of economic forests, and wetland restoration.
 

Photo of the Hukou Waterfall taken by Lü Guiming Photo: Courtesy of Lü Guiming

Data shows that the area of water and soil erosion on the Loess Plateau has been reduced from the most serious estimate of 450,000 square kilometers since monitoring began to 231,000 square kilometers, and the sediment yield of the Yellow River has been greatly reduced.

"When I first started taking photos, there was a lot of wind and sand, and my clothes and face were covered with mud dots. Five cameras were broken in a year. Now, look at how clean this drone is when it flies back," Lü said.

As the ecological environment improves, the Hukou Waterfall tourist area has also become a "bird paradise." Black storks, herons, egrets, black-winged stilts, and geese... Lü's subjects for photography are becoming increasingly diverse.

"In the future, if there is an opportunity, I hope to organize an influential photography exhibition and publish the best album of the Hukou Waterfall, so that Hukou can go global and let the whole world know about it," Lü said. "Doing one thing well in a lifetime is enough."