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【Editor’s Outline】

From the moment I began approaching the editing of this volume of complete works, my mind was occupied by the question of how to highlight and sublimate Deng Nan-guang’s unique visual aesthetics. Compassion and empathy often interlocked with his contemplation; and the tranquil beauty of the subjects are extracted and manifested. Especially under his Leica lens, rich transitions of shadow and light and subtle distance between him and the subject deeply touch me - under the photographer’s humble, authentic romanticism all is equally forgiving and generous. This perspective carried me through the editing of all three volumes and propped up this most voluminous one of them, and exquisite retrospective of Deng Nan-guang’s life works is within.

The double-page spread design for images made with the miniature Minox camera is intended to boost the visual impact of images made on tiny negatives perhaps easily isolated and neglected over the years. Reviewing these miniature camera works once again brought me considerable pleasure and surprise, revealing numerous fine works, and for me it was the greatest harvest of this editorial undertaking.

Only very few people have read Deng Nan-guang’s writings until now, largely due to the difficulty of searching and collecting documents on Taiwanese photography, not to mention the lack of people dedicated to such tasks. In the interest of diversity and readability we searched for precious information among various early photographic society publications and photography journals. These efforts were rewarded, and we uncovered dozens of articles in Taiwan Photography and Konica under the name Deng Teng-hui (given name) and Deng Nan-guang (pen name), which are collected together to greatly enrich this volume.

Deng Nan-guang left this world suddenly in 1971, leaving behind bountiful stories for the subsequent generations to write and dream about. Meanwhile, his unrestrained enthusiasm for life can certainly replenish the lack of true nature and genuine feeling of the current generation.

By Chien Yun-Ping