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邓伟教授从事摄影近30年，是英国皇家摄影协会高级会士。他是一位多产的摄影家和作家，是中国和海内外知名的和备受尊敬的摄影家。作为英国皇家摄影学会的主席，我很荣幸能够为邓教授在英国举办他的“风从中国来”展览，并出版展览画册，以此提供他在英国展现优秀作品的机会。
邓伟于1978年进入北京电影学院学习，毕业后在学院摄影系任教师，并拍摄了很多部影视作品。他的摄影生涯开始于20世纪70年代，当时是为中国的文化名人拍摄肖像，并一直持续到80年代。1986年邓伟首次出版《中国文化人影录》，这些肖像作品被公认为是划时代的作品。在《邓伟摄影作品选》序言中，中国摄影家协会主席邵华这样描述他的作品：构思新颖、用光独特。通过采用暗色调和局部用光，邓伟聚焦于被拍摄者脸部，尽力发掘他们的内心世界。这种特写通过简约的形式表达深远的含义。任何看过他的作品的人都会认为，这位极具才华的摄影家，能够通过其熟练掌握的摄影关键技术：构图、照明和恰当的把握时机来展现被拍摄对象的性格特征。
1990年邓伟着手实施他雄心勃勃的计划：自费环球拍摄世界名人。为了达到自己的在摄影方面的卓越追求，邓伟克服了很多常人难以想象的身体和经济上的困难。他向世界100位知名的政治家、艺术家和科学家发出了拍摄邀请。其中包括很多位美国总统，多位国家总理、诺贝尔奖得主、探险家以及艺术和科学界的国际名人，其中就包括加拿大摄影家尤素福·卡什。他的作品强烈反映了他通过摄影达到不同文化的相互理解和了解的愿望。
我有幸最近在北京和邓伟会面，并拜读了他2004年出版的作品《邓伟和50位名人》，其中精选了53位对当代世界格局有重要影响的世界领导人。他不仅仅是一位世界顶级的肖像摄影家，他的作品中还蕴涵了杰出的摄影艺术和以彩色或单色调渲染的纪实摄影特征。该书中展现的是其作品的杰出代表，作品贯穿了多种艺术风格，而这些风格都是具有邓伟的。
2004年RPS授予邓伟最高级别的会员资格：高级会士，以表彰他的杰出成就和提交的作品中所展现的卓越才能。邓伟还是十几本专著的作者，一个在无限的摄影领域挥洒着无尽的激情的大师。我非常高兴RPS能够为这位杰出的摄影家提供这样的机会，以使更多的人熟悉他的作品，让他得到应得的更广泛的认可和尊敬。
拉尔夫·杰克森
英国皇家摄影学会主席
出自《风从东方来-邓伟英国摄影作品展》
PREFACE
Professor Deng Wei FRPS is a prolific photographer and writer, well known and highly regarded in China and beyond. He has been taking photographs for almost thirty years. It is my very great pleasure, as President of The Royal Photographic Society , to provide Professor Deng with the opportunity to make his work better known in the UK through his exhibition ‘Wind from China’ and the publication of this catalogue.
He is a graduate of Beijing Film Academy which he entered in 1978. After graduation, he worked as a lecturer in the photography department of the Academy and made a number of motion picture films. His photography began in the 1970s with taking pictures of some well-known scholars in China at that time which continued in to the 1980s when his Photographs of China's Scholars were first published in 1986. These portraits were regarded as epoch making and in the Foreword to Deng Wei’s book Selection of Photographic Works, the Chairperson of the Chinese Photographers Association, Shao Hua, described his work: as being distinct, with their fresh conception and special ambience. Adopting dark colours and local lighting, he focused on his subjects' faces at a particular moment, attempting to bring forth their inner world. This unique feature expresses deep meaning through simple forms. Anyone who views his work will agree with this description of a very gifted photographer who is able to reveal the character of his subjects by the complete mastery of the key techniques of composition, lighting and the right moment.
In the 1990s he embarked at his own expense on a very ambitious project photographing eminent people around the world. In doing so he suffered many physical and financial hardships in pursuit of excellence in his photographic work. He invited 100 well known political figure, artists and scientists to be the subject of his photographs. His subjects included a number of Presidents of the USA, many prime ministers, Nobel laureates, explorers and international figures from the arts and sciences, including the photographer Yosuf Karsh. His work is very much concerned with his desire for different cultures to achieve a mutual understanding through photography.
I was privileged to meet him recently in Beijing and be presented with his book Deng Wei and Fifty Faces, published in 2004, that contains 53 portraits selected from his exhibition of photographs of the world’s leaders who created and shaped the modern world. He not only is a portrait photographer who ranks amongst the best in the world but his work embraces fine art photography, as well as photojournalism in colour and monochrome. The photographs reproduced in this catalogue are representative of his work as a whole and span many photographic genres all of which are imprinted with his own unique and characteristic style.
He was awarded a Fellowship of The Society in 2004 which is The Society’s highest distinction, awarded for excellence and distinguished ability in submitted work. He is the author of more than 11 books, a man of boundless energy with a passion for photography that is unlimited. I am delighted that The Royal Photographic Society is in a position to provide this eminent photographer with the means and opportunity for many more people to become familiar with his work and act as a catalyst for an even wider recognition that he so richly deserves.
Professor Ralph Jacobson ASIS Hon FRPS
President
