Lin Hsiang-hsiu 林襄修 liked to give a talk entitled “Before Pressing the Shutter”, reflecting his approach to photography. He considered photography and painting as closely related to each other, the only difference being that the photographer is constrained by objective conditions while the painter is hampered by no such constraint. For this reason it is extremely difficult to produce a completely satisfactory photograph.
We live in times when technological advances occur almost daily. But no matter how fine and up-to-date the equipment is, it can only produce the shell of a work. In order to evoke an emotional response from the viewer, a photograph must be the product of thought and have a meaning beneath the shell.
Thus, before pressing the shutter, a photographer should ask himself three questions: Why? (Why am I taking this picture? Is there any point to it?);
What? (What am I to show in the picture in order to convey its meaning?); and
How? (How am I to deploy the equipment to meet the picture's needs?)
Many of Lin Hsiang-hsiu's photographs and essays were widely published in the 1950s and 60s.