(Fiction)
Every room, every object, every smell, and every sound makes me think about all those moments we shared together and how terribly short our time was. You might be gone, but there’s a ghost lurking behind me, reminding me of how happy and dreamlike my life was when you were around. There’s no way to hide it, and even though I’m embarrassed to say it, I long for your arms, your caresses, your kisses, and the things you whispered in my ear, things I couldn’t reply to and left me giggling, unable to wittily put into words everything I was feeling.
Now, I’m staring out my window and looking at one of the trees outside, especially that small, weirdly-shaped one we used to laugh at, and I can’t help but regret not saying all those things I felt back then. Would you still be here if I’d told you? Probably. I’m going to stop torturing myself with that, though. I’m really happy our love is still so strong that even though we’re not together anymore, our connection keeps growing and growing. Even though this lives only in my memory, I know that wherever you are you’re feeling the same.
(End of fiction)
With a very peculiar esthetic vision, Chinese photographer Li Hui creates romantic and ethereal images that give you that vibe of a melancholic love story between her faceless subjects. As a self-taught photographer, Hui decided to experiment with her camera until she found a style that spoke to her and the spectator in a more emotional way rather than just conveying obvious messages. That’s when she discovered double exposure. She studied the effect and made it her own.
The images might look simple, but a lot of work goes into them. She uses analog cameras and never alters anything digitally. When she’s done developing them, she scans and uploads them to Instagram as well as her personal website. If you take a look at these, you can get how difficult it is to achieve all these images without any digital aid. Her photos aren’t flawless, but when you look at them, you realize that it doesn’t matter. Actually, it’s those little imperfections what make them even more honest and relatable. Aren’t life, love, and relationships all beautifully flawed?
Li Hui explains in an interview with Metal Magazine that most of her inspiration comes from movies, nature, music, and the human body. In that way, by playing with the light and the movements of her subjects, she delivers relatable and intimate stories anyone can relate to. Moreover, by playing and experimenting with her now signature double exposure style and her iconic use of lightning, she creates an aura of fantasy that takes to our deepest fantasies.
If you want to see more of this photographer’s work, check our her website and Instagram account.
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