Photography puts biodiversity in flight

In the stillness of Antarctica, a lone penguin stands dead-center on the ice, with a jagged peak rising in the background. Its reflection shimmers faintly on the dark water below.

With wings slightly outstretched, its white belly faces the camera while its head tilts subtly, as if locking eyes with the viewers through one dark orb.

This quiet, meaningful moment is captured by nature and wildlife photographer Zhang Lianjun, better known by his pseudonym Bianyuan ("Edge"), and featured in his latest solo exhibition at the Guardian Art Center in Beijing from June 6 to 9, during which a series of events were also held, including photographer sharing sessions and thematic science lectures.

The show brought together 72 avian photographs, selected from more than 1.3 million that Zhang has taken over 36 years in the field.

Through his lens, birds are never merely subjects — they become metaphors for solitude, migration, kinship, and the interconnected natural world we all share.

Upon entering the exhibition, one can see a crested ibis hidden among the branches of deep-red autumn leaves, its white feathers contrasting with the warm reds in an interplay of cool and warm tones; a close-up of a swan's neck partially submerged as it ducks its head into the water, forming a shape resembling the Chinese calligraphic stroke "一" (one); and a black-and-white photograph in which a flock of birds in flight is rendered as ethereal blurs scattered across the dark, intertwining lines of withered branches, as quiet as a traditional Chinese ink painting.

"There are no Photoshop-manipulated images in the entire exhibition," Zhang explains. Instead, he makes extensive use of techniques such as slow shutter speeds, panning, and multiple exposures to capture the dynamic moments of birds in flight or gliding through water.

Zhang, born in 1963, became fascinated with avian photography in 1989.

His travels have taken him to the North Pole and Antarctica, as well as to over 100 nature reserves across Africa, the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Within China, he has visited more than 300 bird breeding, habitat and migration sites.

Looking back, he divides his photography career into three stages.

"The first 12 years, I focused on capturing the interplay of light and shadow on birds' feathers and their flight postures," Zhang says.

"In the second stage, I aimed to express the relationship between humans and birds through my photographs. In the third stage, I began using my images to convey my own state of mind and philosophical reflections."

In his latest exhibition, every lone bird serves as a metaphor for his solo journey in pursuit of birds' traces, he adds.

"And those flocks of birds," he says, "express that I am not traveling alone — that there are also social bonds and kinship".

During his travels over the passing decades, he has also witnessed China's progress in ecological protection firsthand.

In the early 1990s, he recalls, the country had only a small number of nature reserves, with insufficient government investment and incomplete relevant laws and regulations.

"In remote areas, transportation was difficult," he says, "and sometimes I had to borrow a donkey to carry my equipment, as there was also a lack of strict zoning controls."

Today, however, he notes that nature reserves have implemented a tiered management system consisting of core zones, buffer zones and ecological experiment zones." Government investment has grown tremendously," he says,"and responsibilities have been assigned down to the township, village and even every household, with strict prohibitions against destructive behaviors."

He adds that protecting birds and the ecosystem has now become a consensus among people of various age groups, "forming a positive situation where humans and nature coexist in harmony".

The exhibition was held as part of the fifth anniversary celebration of the launch of the Canon Biodiversity Photography Initiative, a charity program that encourages photography enthusiasts to document China's biodiversity through photographs, raise public awareness of ecological protection, and support the development of ecological photography culture.

Over the past five years, the project has attracted more than 7,000 photography enthusiasts. Participants have traveled to 47 cities and visited over 10 nature reserves, producing more than 60,000 ecological images capturing nearly 1,000 species of nationally protected animals.

"The project has amassed a large volume of high-quality, traceable wild bird images, providing significant supplementary data for avian ecology research and opening an intuitive window for the public to understand the relationship between urbanization and biodiversity," said Zhang Zhengwang, chair of the China Ornithological Society.

Zhang Lianjun joined the project in 2021.

"I don't think bird photography is bound by the length of the lens," Zhang Lianjun says.

"What matters most is how you approach ecology with your heart and enter into a dialogue with living creatures. That, to me, is the most important thing."

Having spent the better part of his life with birds, he was asked what the most important lesson they have taught him is.

"To fly freely," he replies without hesitation.

"Birds have no borders, no national boundaries. The world grants them a green passage wherever they go. This inspires me to view Earth, through my images, as a shared home for all of humanity."