PBS高端访谈:听摄影师讲述如何身临其境

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: Two photographers aim to capture the richness of rural life. But before they could do it, Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss first had to figure out their way into a world they knew little about. Jeffrey Brown has their story for our series American Creators.

JEFFREY BROWN: Rural Texas in the early 1970s, images highlighting the lives and experiences of African-American families, white farmers and Mexican migrant workers, all captured by documentary photographers Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss.

WENDY WATRISS, Documentary Photographer: I wanted to tell stories. And the camera is an extraordinary instrument for that.

FRED BALDWIN, Documentary Photographer: This was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

JEFFREY BROWN: It was, in many ways, an unlikely journey. The son of a U.S. diplomat¹, Fred Baldwin was born in Switzerland. He began his life as a photographer by convincing none other than Pablo Picasso to sit for him, and later took freelance assignments all over the world, for National Geographic² and other publications. Wendy Watriss spent most of her youth in Greece and Spain, before working as a journalist and photographer, covering conflicts in Europe, Central America and Africa for Newsweek and The New York Times. The two met in the late 1960s at a Manhattan party, fell in love, and came to a decision.

WENDY WATRISS: When we met, we had both lived in many parts of the world and been involved in bigger and smaller news stories, but it hadn't been looking deeply inside our own country, our own culture. And sort of magically, we both said, why don't we take time off and really look at the inside of the country?

JEFFREY BROWN: In 1971, they loaded up a tiny trailer and embarked³ on a journey through some of back roads of rural America, a trip that would shape much of the rest of their careers.

FRED BALDWIN: This trip started in Maryland and wound its way over the Appalachians and into Arkansas and finally into Texas.

JEFFREY BROWN: There, they met Willie Buchanan and his family.

FRED BALDWIN: This pickup⁴ truck came roaring down the road, pulled up and said: What are you all doing here? And we said, Well, we're photographing the church and we're looking for a place to put our trailer. And this guy gave us a beer and he said, Follow me. And we moved into his back pasture and remained there off and on for three years.

JEFFREY BROWN: Their cameras captured scenes inside the Buchanan home, like this one titled Front Room.

FRED BALDWIN: To me, it's an intimate expression of self and comfort in his own house, in his own territory.

JEFFREY BROWN: Buchanan introduced them to several other African-American families living in the area, who became part of what Baldwin and Watriss called the Texas Project, photographing weddings, inside bars, pool halls, and even the local black rodeo. They also met white families, capturing their lives, as well as the racial divide of the time, in both public and private settings.

FRED BALDWIN: We went to church every Sunday, sometimes three times, black churches, white churches. And we set up a free photography service. And we cranked out prints. In every event, in everything that we did, we came there bearing pictures from what we did the last time we were there.

WENDY WATRISS: I think we were there long enough to, in a sense, prove ourselves.

JEFFREY BROWN: The Texas work continued over time, including photographing the lives of Mexican-American farmworkers and the descendants of German settlers in Central and West Texas. The couple settled in Houston and, in 1986, founded FotoFest, a biennial⁵ exhibition, now one of the largest in the world. Their photography and life partnership⁶ has spanned five decades. How does the partnership work? When you take on a photography project, who does what and how does it work?

WENDY WATRISS: We both do everything. When we're dealing⁷ with analog⁸ film, Fred develops film much better than I do. But I'm a slightly better printer than he is.

FRED BALDWIN: You are?

WENDY WATRISS: But we both photograph. And we don't identify who took what picture.

JEFFREY BROWN: Because it's a partnership?

WENDY WATRISS: We wanted people, when they saw the pictures, just to look at the picture.

JEFFREY BROWN: At 90 and 75, Baldwin and Watriss are now sorting through the original images from their Texas Project, and recently returned to many of the places they first photographed in the 1970s.

FRED BALDWIN: The one thing that we discovered was that, when we went in, we didn't have to ask very many questions to find out that things had not changed in certain respects.

WENDY WATRISS: The schools are not serving the larger community. And the old power structure remains⁹ very intact. Yes, there are black officials now and there's some intermarriage and so forth¹⁰. Things have changed, but, underneath¹¹, it hasn't changed that much.

JEFFREY BROWN: They're currently working on a multimedia¹² project, including a short documentary about their time photographing Grimes County, Texas.

WENDY WATRISS: I love looking at those pictures, because they're a wonderful reflection of life, that, yes, there's a lot of hardship all around, but people have this extraordinary capacity to make their own lives with their friends and their family something that's very rich and joyous¹³.

JEFFREY BROWN: For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jeffrey Brown in Houston.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今天来讲讲2名摄影师的事儿。他们两人都旨在捕捉乡村生活的富足。但在动手之前，佛瑞德·鲍尔温和温迪·瓦曲丝首先要弄明白如何进入他们完全不了解的环境。下面请听杰弗里·布朗发回的《美国创造者》系列报道。

杰弗里·布朗：上世纪70年代初期的《德州乡村》凸显了非裔美国家庭、白人农民、墨西哥农民工的生活和体验。这些景象都为纪实摄影师佛瑞德·鲍尔温和温迪·瓦曲丝拍摄下来了。

温迪·瓦曲丝，纪实摄影师：我想向人们讲述故事。而镜头就是一种绝好的手段。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温，纪实摄影师：我想用余生来做这件事。

杰弗里·布朗：这次拍摄，无论怎么看，都不像是可能完成的任务。佛瑞德·鲍尔温出生在瑞士，他的父亲是美国的一名外交官。他摄影师职业生涯的开启是因为他居然说服巴勃罗·毕加索让自己为其作画。后来，他开始在全球各地为《国家地理》等出版刊物做自由摄影师。温迪·瓦曲丝童年的大部分时光是在希腊和西班牙度过的，之后才做了记者和摄影师，报道欧洲、中美洲和非洲的战事。期间，他在《新闻周刊》和《纽约时报》工作过。他们两人是在上世纪60年代末在曼哈顿的一个舞会上相知相爱的，随后结了婚。

温迪·瓦曲丝：我们相遇时，彼此都在世界上的很多地方生活过了，也都参与过或大或小的新闻报道。但从来没有哪一次是关于我们自己家乡、自己文化的深度报道。而奇迹般地，我们两人异口同声地想到，为什么不花一些时间，真正地看看国家的大好山河呢？

杰弗里·布朗：1971年，他们驾着一辆小拖车，开启了美国民间乡野小路的探索之旅。而这段旅程也改变了他们接下来的职业生涯。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温：旅程开始于马里兰州，徐徐走过阿帕拉契山脉、阿肯色州以及德克萨斯州。

杰弗里·布朗：他们在那里遇到了威利·布坎南一家人。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温：当时，这辆小货车沿着道路快速向下行驶的时候，但车突然停下。然后他对我们说：你俩在这儿干嘛呢？于是我们回答说，我们正在拍摄教堂，然后想找一个地方放一下我们的小拖车。他听了后，给了我们一瓶就说，跟我走吧。然后我们就来到了他的牧场，断断续续在那儿待了3年左右。

杰弗里·布朗：他们拍摄过布坎南家里的情况，比如这个倾斜的前室。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温：对我来说，这是展现他温馨小家舒适度的亲密表达方式，这里是他自己的领地。

杰弗里·布朗：布坎南将把他们夫妻介绍给了其他非裔美国家庭，这些家庭都在这片儿生活。这段经历被佛瑞德·鲍尔温和温迪·瓦曲丝成为德克萨斯州项目——拍摄各种婚礼、酒吧、台球厅甚至是当地的竞技表演。他们还见到了许多白人家庭，拍摄了他们的生活以及当时的种族分裂情况。拍摄场所有在公共场合的，也有在私人空间的。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温：每周日，我们都会去教堂，有时候去三次。我们会去黑人教堂，也会去白人教堂。每次我们免费提供拍摄服务的时候，总会拍摄很多张照片。对于参加过的每一次活动以及做过的每一件事，我们都会在下次来的时候带上上次的照片。

温迪·瓦曲丝：我认为，从某种程度上说，我们在那里的时间足够长，足以证明自己了。

杰弗里·布朗：这个项目持续了一段时间，包括拍摄墨西哥裔美洲农民以及德克萨斯州中部和西部的德国移居者后裔的生活。1986年，他们夫妇在休斯敦定居，并成立了FotoFest国际摄影节展。这个展已经是世界上最大规模的展览之一了。他们一起拍摄、一起生活了50年。你们的婚姻生活是怎样的呢？如果你们接一个拍摄项目的话，每个人的分工是怎样的，机制是怎样的呢？

温迪·瓦曲丝：我们两个人都事必躬亲。我的印刷功力可能比他要强一些。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温：有吗？

温迪·瓦曲丝：但摄影是我们两个一起做的事情。我们不会就谁拍了哪张照片做区分。

杰弗里·布朗：因为你们是伴侣吗？

温迪·瓦曲丝：我们希望大家在看到作品的时候，能尽情地欣赏作品本身。

杰弗里·布朗：现在已经90岁和75岁的鲍尔温和瓦曲丝正在整理当初德克萨斯州项目的照片。而最近，他们重回上世纪70年代第一次拍摄的一些地方。

佛瑞德·鲍尔温：我们发现了一件事——我们进去的时候，不用问很多问题，就能发现很多事情在很多方面并没有改变。

温迪·瓦曲丝：学校依旧不会服务于更大的社群。以前的电力设施也都没有变。是的，现在有黑人做官了，也有异族结婚等。情况在发生改变，但从本只看，其实没有太大变化。

杰弗里·布朗：他们最近着手的项目是多媒体的，包括拍摄一部他们在德克萨斯州格赖姆斯县度过时光的简短纪录片。

温迪·瓦曲丝：我喜欢回顾这些照片，因为他们完美地展现了生活，即生活总有苦滋味，但人们就是有一种神奇的能力，可以让自己跟家人朋友在一起的生活变得富足快乐。

杰弗里·布朗：感谢收听杰弗里·布朗从休斯顿发挥的《新闻一小时》报道。

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

4 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

5 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 analog   

n.类似物，模拟

参考例句：

• The analog signal contains high-frequency video information,which helps make up the picture.模拟信号包括有助于构成图像的高频视频信息。
• The analog computer measures continuously,without proceeding step by step.模拟计算机不是一步一步地进行，而是连续地进行量度。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

11 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

12 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

13 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。