缪晓春
我们都看重摄影的客观性，但拍摄时先要有一个主观选择。我们要选择题材、地点与拍摄时机，选择进入取景框的人与物，选择光圈与快门速度等等。实在不知道该拍什么，举棋不定;我们也可以选择先拍摄后选择，事后在一大堆图片中亲手或假他人之手挑三拣四，余者束之高阁，留待后人再行选择。想想我们是如何选择前人遗存的照片的呢?我们似乎全盘照收了：有的有艺术价值，有的有文献价值，销毁哪一张都不对。甚至依靠所有图像，都远不足以复原已经消逝的过去。于是，问题又回到了原点，我们在拍摄时该作何选择?或许根本不需要选择，有所选择与毫无选择的拍摄都有成立的理由：前者更主观，后者更客观;前者更表现，后者更文献。
鉴于此，我选择用360度全景转机Seitz Roundshot，这样就不用选择拍摄角度，反正一拍就是360度，前后左右都囊括其中。拿一张北京地图，等距离画上纵横交错的经纬线，经纬线交汇处便是拍摄点，不管重要次要，有趣无趣，只要能架起转机，便都拍上一张，借此拍一些从没想要拍的东西。只想多拍点，再多拍点。因为要说客观记录，怎样才算客观?多少才算完整?也许再多也不算多，多多益善而已。
作品拍摄于2007年5月至2008年8月，天天拍摄，部分作品拍摄于2009年5月, 历时一年半,累计拍摄数千胶卷，拍摄地点按经纬线交织点分布于北京市区，为规模宏大的文献式全景拍摄,尽可能完整记录这一时期北京的城市变迁、人文风貌及市井百态。
Statement on Beijing Index：
Miao Xiaochun
We all give priority to the objectivity of photographs; however, everyone has to make a subjective choice when they shoot photographs. We have to choose the theme, the location and the time of shooting; we have to choose the people and objects entering the frame; we also have to choose the aperture and the shutter speed, etc. If we really do not know what to shoot, we can choose to shoot first and select later. We can choose a few out of a whole bunch of pictures on our own or we can ask someone else to choose for us. After selecting a few, we can leave the other pictures unattended or pigeonholed and wait for later generations to choose again. Think about how we handle pictures left by early generations? It seems like we kept all of them: some have artistic values and some have documentary values; so it is wrong to destroy any of them. Further more; even if we kept all photographs, it is far not enough to restore the past. Thus, the question is still how we make choices when shooting. Maybe we do not need to choose at all. There is a reason for choosing and not choosing: the former is more subjective and latter more objective; the former is more expressive and latter more documentary.
Therefore, I chose to use Seitz Roundshot. This way, I do not have to choose the shooting angle, because it is a 360 degree view. However I shoot it, It includes the front, the back, the left and the right. I would take a map of Beijing and draw meridians and parallels of equal distance. The crossing points of those meridians and parallels would be my shooting locations. Whether those locations are important or not important, interesting or not interesting; I would set up the camera and take a photograph in order to shoot something that's not planned. I just wanted to shoot more, and then some more. When we talk about objective recording, how objective is objective? How complete is complete? Maybe it is never too much; the more the better.
Those photographs were shot everyday from May 2007 to August 2008 (some of them were shot in May 2009) and lasted for one and a half years. I have used several thousand rolls of film to take photos on the intersections of meridians and parallels in Beijing, as a full-length documentary panorama; I was trying to record the changes, the culture and the everyday lives of Beijing during this period to its utmost completeness.
【编辑：小红】
