| "The utilitarianism of winning awards only made my works cater to the taste of visitors," Xie says. "I couldn't find any style that was particular to me." It was then he started photographing rural schools. By March 1991, he had visited and photographed schools in three provinces: Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shaanxi. But there was still a major problem: he lacked a platform to show people what he saw. |
“为了获奖而摄影，只会让我的作品一味迎合观众的口味。”解海龙说。“那时，我找不到属于自己的风格。”也就是从那个时候起，他开始拍摄农村地区的学校。到1991年3月为止，他已经参观和拍摄了江苏、浙江和陕西三省的学校，但是缺乏一个平台来展示自己的摄影作品。 |
| A fateful stroll down Wang Fujing Street in 1991 led Xie to Project Hope and catapulted the charity into the public eye - and Xie, as well. Upon seeing a poster for the charity, he knew he had found a place for his work. Project Hope only had slogans at that point and needed something visual, Xie recalls. He soon signed a contract with the CYDF that ensured all of his pictures could be used under the name of Project Hope. Over the next year, he would travel to 28 counties in 12 provinces, visit thousands of students and teachers in mountainous areas, and record what he saw with his camera. His most famous photograph, known as "Big Eyes," became the iconic image of the charity. |
1991年，在王府井的偶然经历把他引向希望工程，并把这项慈善事业和他自己推向了公众的视野。当他看到希望工程的宣传海报时，他知道他找到了自己的事业之所在。“那时的希望工程只有口号，缺乏视觉展现。”他回忆道。解海龙很快与中国青少年发展基金会签订了合同，保证他拍摄的所有照片以希望工程的名义刊登。一年后，他拜访了12个省、28个县、数千名山区学生和教师，用摄影机记录了他的所见。其中最著名的作品----“大眼睛”成为希望工程的宣传标志。 |
| As part of the agreement, the CYDF sponsored a solo exhibition for Xie's work from his travels after he returned. Before Xie had finished explaining the story behind each picture in the 40-piece exhibit, donations had started to pour in. |
作为合同的一部分，中国青少年发展基金会为解海龙举办了一场个人画展，展出他在那些地方拍摄的作品。还没有等解海龙叙述完40件展出作品背后的故事时，捐赠已经纷纷涌来。 |
| "The donated money was laid on the floor and heaped up like a small hillock," Xie recalls. By the end of that year, Project Hope had raised 120 million yuan - eight times what they received from 1990 to 1991. |
“捐款堆在地上就像一座小山丘。”谢龙海回忆道。到1992年底，希望工程已经募集了1亿2千万元人民币，这个金额是他们在90至91年间收到捐款的八倍。 |
| Xie's work would continue to bring in money for the charity. In 1994, Xie compiled his works into a book, "I Desire to Go to School," and donated the proceeds. "Big Eyes" fetched 308,000 yuan (US$38,623) at an auction in 2006. Xie, who was by then the director of the Chinese Photographer Association, again donated the proceeds to Project Hope, which was enough to build a Hope primary school in Tibet. He suggested a name for it: "Big Eyes." |
解海龙的作品为希望工程带来了更多的捐助。1994年，解海龙把自己的作品集结成《我想上学》一书出版，并将全部所得捐出。“大眼睛”在2006年的拍卖会上拍出了30.8万。当时还是中国摄影家协会主席的解海龙又一次把拍卖所得捐赠给了希望工程，足够在西藏建立一所希望小学。把作品取名为“大眼睛”，也是解海龙自己的建议。 |
| "The title of 'Big Eyes' doesn't belong to [Su Mingjuan, the girl in the photo] or me, it is an icon of the time and society," Xie says. |
“大眼睛”这一称谓并不属于苏明娟（照片中的女孩），也不属于我自己，而是这个时代和社会的符号，解海龙说。 |
| For someone who has made his career out of telling stories with images, Xie is also surprisingly effusive. He can recount the stories behind every picture he took, the lives of every subject he captured. He still keeps track of the children he photographed 20 years ago. |
对于借助图像说故事的人来说，解海龙是个感情非常丰富的人。他能够讲述出每幅作品背后的故事，以及拍摄对象背后的生活。他还一直与20年前所拍摄的孩子们保持联系。 |
!['Big Eyes' - the iconic image of Project Hope [CPA]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20091009/0011432100f50c38ea8f0d.jpg "'Big Eyes' - the iconic image of Project Hope [CPA]")
