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This year marks the tenth year that photographer Chen Chong has been capturing images of the Canton Tower and the fifth year of his self-initiated "Canton Tower Collection Plan." Over the past decade, he has taken more than 300 photos featuring the tower, both intentionally and unintentionally. "Sometimes, photographing the Canton Tower is the same as photographing Guangzhou," he said. To him, the 600-meter-high tower is not just a city landmark, but also a witness to urban transformation.
Chen, who describes himself as a new Guangzhou resident, sees the Canton Tower as the best symbol of the city's image. "Around 2010, Guangzhou felt like a freshly built city to me. Canton Tower stood right between the old and the new, reshaping the city's identity," he said. Around 2015, he became fascinated with elevated urban photography, documenting the city's rapid rise from above. He soon noticed that no matter the angle or elevation, Canton Tower always found its way into the frame—"like a stamp on the photo, instantly identifying it as Guangzhou."
So in 2021, while reviewing his photo archive, Chen was inspired to launch the "Searching for Canton Tower" project, aiming to document the city's growth through the lens of the tower. He marked hundreds of shooting locations on a map, with the farthest reaching as far as Sanshui in Foshan. As the pace of urban renewal accelerated, he realized many scenes were vanishing overnight. "A place I photographed yesterday might be demolished tomorrow," he said.
As the cityscape changed, so did Chen's perspective in photography. While he initially preferred rooftop views, he began "moving downward in recent years." At the zoo, he captured a monkey mid-jump, aligned with the tip of the tower. In an urban village, the tower suddenly emerged at the end of a narrow alley. During the renovation of the Kanglu area in Guangzhou's Haizhu district, he climbed to the rooftops to photograph workers having lunch with the shadow of the tower keeping them company.
After photographing Canton Tower for ten years and accumulating over 300 images, Chen concluded, "Guangzhou actually has three faces: the old Guangzhou with its Cantonese charm, the new Guangzhou along the new central axis, and the in-between Guangzhou—the urban villages." These elements often coexist in the same frame. While shooting in the southeast of Haizhu district, he unexpectedly captured a terraced architectural view stretching from Xiaozhou Village to Zhujiang New Town. "It visually illustrates Guangzhou's step-by-step urban growth. It's a diverse city where all levels of life interact closely." He mentioned.
Chen has compiled over a hundred of his works into a photo book titled "Searching for Canton Tower". In his lens, the tower has transcended its architectural identity to become a "mobile landmark" that records the city's life, emotions, and memories.
Source: Lingnan on the Cloud
一个摄影师与广州塔的十年“对话”
今年，是陈冲拍摄广州塔的第十年，也是他“广州塔收集计划”进行的第五年。十年来，他在无意与刻意中拍下三百多张含有广州塔的照片，“有时候拍摄广州塔，就是拍摄广州。”对他来说，广州塔不仅是600米高的城市地标，更是城市变迁的见证者。
陈冲坦言，作为“新广州人”，广州塔就是他心中的广州城市形象的最好代表，“2010年左右的广州给我一种‘新建成’的感觉，而广州塔就站在城市新旧更替之间，重塑了这座城市的形象。”2015年左右，他迷上“爬楼摄影”，在高处记录飞速崛起的城市。那时他发现，无论从哪一层视角拍，广州塔总会闯入镜头，“就像给照片打了个钢印，一看就知道这是在广州。”
因此，2021年左右，陈冲看着整理出的一系列照片，萌生了“寻找广州塔”的想法，希望能通过拍摄广州塔，记录城市生长。陈冲在地图上标记数百个拍摄点，最远甚至延伸到佛山三水。随着城市更新加速，陈冲发现许多拍摄场景转瞬即逝，“可能昨天还在这儿拍，明天它就被拆了。”
场景在变换，陈冲的拍摄视角也在改变。起初他多在高处取景，近年来他选择“往下走”。在动物园里，他拍到猴子一跃与塔尖平齐；在城中村，狭窄巷子尽头豁然出现广州塔；位于海珠的康鹭村改造期间，他爬上村楼，记录下工人们在天台吃饭、塔影作伴的生活瞬间。
拍摄广州塔十年，积攒下三百多张照片，在陈冲看来，“广州其实有三个。一个是广式风情里的老广州，一个是新中轴线上的新广州，还有夹缝中的广州，也就是城中村”。这三者常常出现在同一张画面中。他在海珠区东南部拍摄时，意外捕捉到从小洲村到珠江新城的建筑阶梯式分布，“可以很直观地看到城市的阶梯性发展。广州是一个多元的城市，各层次之间交互性又极强。”
他将这些年来的百余张作品集结成册，取名《寻找广州塔》。在他镜头里，广州塔超越了建筑意义，成为记录城市生活、情感与记忆的“流动地标”。
文｜谢小婉
图｜受访者提供
译｜曾敏
英文审校｜肖凯欣
