Veteran photographer considers nature a 'good teacher'

Li Minguo and her two daughters lead a close-to-nature life in Yunnan province, which is revealed in Xiao's photos. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Camera lenses are portrait photographer Xiao Quan's "eyes".

His recently published photo album, Xiao Quan in Linda and Wanda's World－part of his work on photos of ordinary people－captures images from the lives of two girls, who live in the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

An ongoing exhibition on the same theme at the SKP Rendez-Vous gallery in Beijing displays dozens of photos of teenage sisters Linda Margraf and Wanda Margraf growing up in a "rainforest" built by their parents.

Seven years ago, Xiao visited Xishuangbanna to take photos. There he met the Margraf 's family－the Chinese mother, Li Minguo, and her two daughters.

A portrait of Wanda Margraf by Xiao Quan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Li's husband, Josef Margraf, was a German ecologist known for his efforts in reviving rainforests. He died of a heart attack in 2010.

When he was alive, Josef Margraf had rented land along the Lancang River (known as the Mekong outside of China) in Xishuangbanna to establish a biodiversity system. Along with Li, he had built a localstyle wooden house and planted trees in the area, which became their children's garden to play and learn.