Chapter Seventeen: A Camera, A New Journey
1. The First Offer
A week after the exhibition, Lin Ge received an email that caught him off guard.
[Your work caught my eye at the gallery. We're looking for photographers for an upcoming project—something more immersive, beyond just still images. Would you be interested?]
The sender was a documentary producer, someone Lin Ge had never met before.
He read the email twice.
Then a third time.
A part of him still hesitated.
Stepping into something new felt like standing at the edge of a cliff, not knowing whether he would fly or fall.
But wasn't that what he had been doing all along?
Wasn't that what moving forward meant?
Slowly, he typed a response.
[I'd love to hear more.]
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2. A Shift in Perspective
The meeting took place in a small café near the art district.
The producer, a woman in her late forties named Jiang Wei, was direct and efficient.
"We're putting together a documentary on how people heal from grief," she explained. "Not just loss through death, but through change. People who lost relationships, lost dreams, lost versions of themselves."
Lin Ge listened carefully.
"You want me to be the photographer?"
Jiang Wei smiled. "I want you to tell a story through images. To capture the unspoken emotions. The things people don't say."
He thought about it.
For so long, he had been drowning in his own grief.
Now, for the first time, he had the chance to witness others' stories instead of just his own.
"I'm in," he said finally.
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3. Faces of Grief, Faces of Hope
Over the next few weeks, Lin Ge met with the documentary subjects.
Each person had a different story.
A father who lost his son in an accident.
A woman who left a ten-year marriage, trying to rediscover who she was alone.
A retired dancer who could no longer perform after an injury.
As Lin Ge took their portraits, he saw reflections of himself in their eyes.
But he also saw something else.
Resilience.
People who had lost something, yet kept moving forward.
And with every shutter click, Lin Ge realized—
He wasn't just photographing them.
He was seeing himself more clearly than ever before.
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4. The Unexpected Call
One evening, after a long shoot, Lin Ge checked his phone and saw a missed call.
An unknown number.
A message followed.
[It's been a long time. I wasn't sure if I should call. But I saw your work, and I just… I wanted to say I'm happy for you.]
Lin Ge's breath caught.
The sender was Qiu Qian's sister.
It had been over two years since they last spoke.
His fingers hovered over the screen.
For so long, he had avoided anything connected to Qiu Qian's past.
But now?
Now he wasn't sure if he needed to anymore.
He took a deep breath.
And started typing a reply.
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