Alec Soth + Stacey Baker: This is what enduring love looks like

Translator: dagim zerihun Reviewer: Ahmed Omer

Alec Soth: So about 10 years ago, I got a call from a woman in Texas,

አስር አመት አካባቢ ይሆናል ከቴክሳስ ከአንድ ሴት የስልክ ጥሪ ደረሰኝ

Stacey Baker,

እስቴሲ ቤከር

and she'd seen some of my photographs in an art exhibition

የኔን የተወሰኑ ፎቶግራፎችንና የፎቶ አውደራዕይ ተመልክታ ነበር

and was wondering if she could commission me to take a portrait of her parents.

የቤተሰብ አልበም በክፍያ እንድሰራላት ፈልጋ ነበር

Now, at the time I hadn't met Stacey, and I thought this was some sort of

በጊዜው ከእስቴሲ ጋር አልተገናኘንም ነበር እናም የተሰማኝ ይሄ ነገር

wealthy oil tycoon and I'd struck it rich,

የነዳጅ ሀብት አግኝቼ የከበርኩ ነው የመሰለኝ

but it was only later that I found out

ግን ቆይቶ ነበር ነገሩ የተገለጸልኝ

she'd actually taken out a loan to make this happen.

ይሄንን ለማድረግ ስትል ተበድራ ነበር

I took the picture of her parents,

የናት አባቷን ምስል አነሳሁ

but I was actually more excited about photographing Stacey.

ግን እስቴሲን ፎቶ ማንሳት ነበር ይበልጥ ያስደሰተኝ

The picture I made that day

በእለቱ ያነሳሁት ምስል

ended up becoming one of my best-known portraits.

ከሰራኋቸው ሁሉ የተሻለው ለመሆን በቃ

At the time I made this picture, Stacey was working as an attorney

ይሄን ፎቶ ባነሳሁበት ጊዜ እስቴሲ ጠበቃ ሆና ትሰራ ነበር

for the State of Texas.

በቴክሳስ አስተዳደር

Not long after, she left her job to study photography in Maine,

ብዙም ሳይቆይ ስራዋን በመተው በሜይን የፎቶ ጥበብ ማጥናት ጀመረች

and while she was there, she ended up meeting

እዛ በቆየችበት አጋጣሚ ሳይታሰብ

the director of photography at the New York Times Magazine

የኒውዬርክ ታየምስ መጽሄት የፎቶ ጥበብ ዳይሬክተር ተዋወቀች

and was actually offered a job.

በዛም የስራ እድል ቀረበላት

Stacey Baker: In the years since, Alec and I have done

ከዛን ጊዜ ጀምሮ አሌክና እኔ

a number of magazine projects together,

በጋራ ብዙ የመጽሄት ፕሮጀክቶችን ሰርተናል

and we've become friends.

እንም ጓደኝሞች ለመሆን በቃን

A few months ago, I started talking to Alec about a fascination of mine.

ከጥቂት ወራቶች በፊት ከአሌክ ጋር ስለሚመስጠን አንድ ነገር መነጋገር ጀመርን

I've always been obsessed with how couples meet.

ጥንዶች እንዴት እንደሚገናኙ ማወቅ የሁልጊዜም ጉጉቴ

I asked Alec how he and his wife Rachel met,

አሌክን ከባለቤቱ ራሄል ጋር እንዴት እንደተገናኙ ጠይቄው ነበር

and he told me the story of a high school football game

የሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርት የኳስ ጨዋታ ላይ ነበር

where she was 16 and he was 15,

እሷ 16 እሱ 15 ነበር

and he asked her out.

ጠየቃት

He liked her purple hair.

ሮዝ ጸጉሯን ይወድላት ነበር

She said yes, and that was it.

እሺ አለችው ይሄው ነበር

I then asked Alec if he'd be interested in doing a photography project

በመቀጠል አሌክ ፎቶግራፍ ፕሮጀክት ለመስራት ፍላጎቱን እንዳለው ጠየኩት

exploring this question.

በዚሁ ጉዳይ ላይ የሚያጠነጥን

AS: And I was interested in the question, but I was actually much more interested

ጉዳዩ ስቦኝ ነበር ግን ይበልጥ ፍላጎቴ የነበረው

in Stacey's motivation for asking it,

እስቴሲ ለመጠየቅ ያነሳሳት ነገር ላይ ነበር

particularly since I'd never known Stacey to have a boyfriend.

ምክንያቱም እስቴሲ በጭራሽ ፍቅረኛ ይዛ አይቻት አላውቅም

So as part of this project, I thought it'd be interesting

ስለዚህ በዚህ ፕሮጀክት አጋጣሚ ሳስበው

if she tried to meet someone.

የሆነ ሰው ለማግኘት ብትሞክር ጥሩ ይሆናል

So my idea was to have Stacey here go speed dating

ሀሳቡ እስቴሲ እስፒድ ዴቲን ማስገባት ነበር

in Las Vegas on Valentine's Day.

ያውም ላስቬጋስ ውስጥ በፍቅረኞች ቀን

(Laughter) (Applause) (Music)

(ሳቅ) (ጭብጨባ)(ሙዚቃ)

SB: We ended up at what was advertised as the world's largest speed dating event.

በአለም ትልቅ ከሚባለለት የችኮላ "ዴቲንግ" ዝግጅት ላይ ተገኘን

I had 19 dates

19 ወንድ ተዋውቄአለሁ

and each date lasted three minutes.

ከእያንዳንዱ ለ3 ደቂቃ ነበር የቆየሁት

Participants were given a list of ice- breaker questions to get the ball rolling,

ሂደቱ እንዲቀጥል ለተሳታፊዎች የሚያዝናኑ ጥያቄዎች ተሰቶ ነበር

things like, "If you could be any kind of animal, what would you be?"

ለምሳሌ "እንስሳ መሆን ብትችዪ፣ ምን ትሆኒ ነበር?"

That sort of thing.

እንደዚ የመሰለ ጥያቄ ነበር

My first date was Colin.

የመጀመሪያው ኮሊን ነበር

He's from England,

እንግሊዛዊ ነው

and he once married a woman he met after placing an ad for a Capricorn.

ሚስት ነበረችው

Alec and I saw him at the end of the evening,

አሌክና አኔ ማታ ላይ አግኝተነው ነበር

and he said he'd kissed a woman in line at one of the concession stands.

ወረፋ መጠበቂያ ላይ አንድ ሴት እንደሳመ ነገሮናል

Zack and Chris came to the date-a-thon together.

ዛክና ክሪስ አንድ ላይ ነበር የመጡት

This is Carl.

ይሄ ካርል ነው

I asked Carl, "What's the first thing you notice about a woman?"

ካርልን ሴት ስታገኝ መጀመሪያ የሚታይህ ምንድ ነው አልኩት

He said, "Tits."

ጡት አለኝ

(Laughter)

(ሳቅ)

Matthew is attracted to women with muscular calves.

ማቲው ጡንቸኛ እግር ያላት ሴት ትማርከዋለች

We talked about running. He does triathlons, I run half-marathons.

ስለ ሩጫ አውርተን ነበር እሱ ትሪታሎን ይሰራል አኔ ግማሽ ማራቶን ሮጫለሁ

Alec actually liked his eyes and asked if I was attracted to him, but I wasn't,

አሌክ አይኑ ያምራል ወደድሽው ሲለኝ ነበር ግን እኔ አልሳበኝም

and I don't think he was attracted to me either.

እሱም የተመቸሁት አይመስለኝም

Austin and Mike came together.

ኦስቲንና ማይክ አብረው ነበር የመጡት

Mike asked me a hypothetical question.

ማይክ መስቀለኛ ጥያቄ አነሳ

He said, "You're in an elevator running late for a meeting.

"ሊፍት ውስጥ ብትሆኚና ለስብሰባ ረፍዶብሽ ቢሆን

Someone makes a dash for the elevator.

የሆነ ሰው ወደ ሊፍቱ እየመጣ ምልክት ቢሰጥሽ

Do you hold it open for them?"

ሊፍቱን ትይዢለታለሽ?"

And I said I would not.

አላደርገውም አልኩት

(Laughter)

(ሳቅ)

Cliff said the first thing he notices about a woman is her teeth,

ክሊፍ ከሴት ቀድሜ የማየው ጥርሷን ነው አለ

and we complimented each other's teeth.

ጥርሳችን ያምራል ስንባባል ነበር

Because he's an open mouth sleeper,

አፉን ከፍቶ ስለሆነ የሚተኛው

he says he has to floss more to help prevent gum disease,

በሽታ እንዳይዘው ጥረሱን ብዙ ጊዜ መቦረሽ እንዳለበት አወራኝ

and so I asked him how often he flosses,

በምን ያህል ጊዜ ትፍቃለህ ስለው

and he said, "Every other day."

በቀን አንዴ አለ

(Laughter)

(ሳቅ)

Now, as someone who flosses twice a day,

እንግዲህ እኔ በቀን ሁለቴ ለሚፍቅ ሰው

I wasn't really sure that that was flossing more

እሱ እንደሚለው መፋቅ የበዛበት አይመስለኝም

but I don't think I said that out loud.

እንዲህ ብዬ ግን አልነገርኩትም

Bill is an auditor,

ቢል የኦዲት ባለሙያ ነው

and we talked the entire three minutes about auditing. (Laughter)

ሦስት ደቂቃውን በሙሉ ስለ ኦዲት ስናወራ ነበር (ሳቅ)

The first thing Spencer notices about a woman is her complexion.

እስፔንሰር ከሴት ቀድሞ የሚያየው የፊት ማሰማመሪያን ነው

He feels a lot of women wear too much makeup,

ብዙ ሴቶች ሜክአፕ እንደሚያበዙ ነው የሚሰማው

and that they should only wear enough to accentuate the features that they have.

በትንሹ ለመታየት ካልሆን በስተቀር ማድረግ የለባቸውም ባይ ነው

I told him I didn't wear any makeup at all

ምንም ሜክአፕ አለማድረጌን ነገርኩት

and he seemed to think that that was a good thing.

ሀሳቡ ሳመቸው አይቀርም

Craig told me he didn't think I was willing to be vulnerable.

ክሬግ ስለ እራሴ ግልጽ መሆን የምፈልግ አልመሰለውም

He was also frustrated when I couldn't remember my most embarrassing moment.

በህይወቴ ስለገጠመኝ የሚያሳፍር ነገር ማስታወስ ባለመቻሌ ሲበሳጭ ነበር

He thought I was lying, but I wasn't.

የዋሸሁት መስሎታል ግን አልዋሸሁም

I didn't think he liked me at all, but at the end of the night,

የወደደኝ አይመስለኝም ግን መጨረሻ ላይ

he came back to me and he gave me a box of chocolates.

ተመልሶ መጥቶ ሙሉ ቸኮሌት ሰጠን

William was really difficult to talk to.

ዊልያም ሊያወሩት የሚከብድ ሰው ነው

I think he was drunk.

ሳይክር አልቀረም

(Laughter)

(ሳቅ)

Actor Chris McKenna was the MC of the event.

ተዋናይ ክሪስ ማኬና በዝግጅቱ ዋና አድማቂ እሱ ነበር

He used to be on "The Young and the Restless."

ወጣትና እረፍት አልባ የሚል ፊልም ላይ ነበረበት

I didn't actually go on a date with him.

ከእሱ ጋር አልተገናኘሁም

Alec said he saw several women give their phone numbers to him.

አሌክ ነው ብዙ ሴቶች ስልክ ቁጥር ሲሰጡት ያየው

Needless to say, I didn't fall in love.

ቢሆንም ፍቅር አልያዘኝም

I didn't feel a particular connection with any of the men that I went on dates with,

ከማናቸውም ጋር የተለየ የተሰማኝ ነገር አልነበረም

and I didn't feel like they felt a particular connection with me either.

እነሱም ቢሆኑ ከኔ ጋር የተሰማቸው ነገር ያለ አይመስለኝም

AS: Now, the most beautiful thing to me --

ለኔ ከሁሉም ነገር ውብ ሆኖ የሚታየን

(Laughter) -- as a photographer is the quality of vulnerability.

(ሳቅ)እንደ ፎቶ አንሺነቴ ተጋላጭነት ነው

The physical exterior reveals a crack in which you can get a glimpse

ውጫዊ አካላችን ውስጣችንን በቀዳዳ አሳልፎ ይሰጠናል

at a more fragile interior.

በተለይ ውስጣችን ያልተረጋጋ ከሆነ

At this date-a-thon event, I saw so many examples of that,

በዚህ ዝግጅት ደግሞ ያን የሚመሰክር ብዙ ነገር አይቻለሁ

but as I watched Stacey's dates and talked to her about them,

ግን እስቴሲ ያገኘቻቸውን ወንዶች ሳይና ስለእነሱ ሳዋራት

I realized how different photographic love is from real love.

የተረዳሁት ነገር ምን ያህል በፎቶ ያለ ፍቅርና እውነተኛ ፍቅር እንደሚለያይ ነው

What is real love? How does it work?

እውነተኛ ፍቅር ምንድን ነው? እንዴት ነው ሚሰራው?

In order to work on this question and to figure out how someone goes

ይሄን ጥያቄ ለመመለስና

from meeting on a date to having a life together,

በትውውቅ ተገናኝቶ አብሮ እስከመኖር እንዴት እንደሚደረስ ለመረዳት ስንል

Stacey and I went to Sun City Summerlin,

እስቴሲና እኔ ወደ ሰን ሲቲ ሰመርሊን አመራን

which is the largest retirement community in Las Vegas.

ያው በላስ ቬጋስ ያለ ትልቁ የአዛውንቶች መጦሪያ ስፍራ ነው

Our contact there was George, who runs the community's photography club.

አገናኛችን ጆርጅ ይባላል የፎቶግራፍ ክበብ መሪ ነው

He arranged for us to meet other couples in their makeshift photo studio.

ለፎቶ የተገኙ ጥንዶችን እንድናነጋግር አመቻችቶልን ነበር

SB: After 45 years of marriage, Anastasia's husband died two years ago,

ከ45 አመታት የትዳር ቆይታ በኋላ የአንስታሲያ ባለቤት ከሞተ ሁለት ሆኖታል

so we asked if she had an old wedding picture.

የቆየ የሰርግ ፎቶ እንዳላት ጠይቀናት ነበር

She met her husband when she was a 15-year-old waitress

ባለቤቷን ያገኘቸው በ15 አመቷ በአስተናጋጅነት

at a small barbecue place in Michigan.

ከምትሰራበት በሚቺንጋን ከሚገኝ ትንሽ ምግብ ቤት ውስጥ ነበር

He was 30.

እሱ 30 ነበር

She'd lied about her age.

እድሜዋን ዋሽታለች

He was the first person she'd dated.

የመጀመሪያዋ ነበር

Dean had been named photographer of the year in Las Vegas two years in a row,

ዲን ለሁለት አመት በተከታታይ በላስ ቬጋስ የአመቱ ምርጥ ፎቶግራፈር በመሆን ተመጧል

and this caught Alec's attention,

ይሄ አሌክን ስቦት ነበር

as did the fact that he met his wife, Judy,

ባለቤቱን ጁድ ያገነበት አኳሀን

at the same age when Alec met Rachel.

አሌክ ራሄልን ባገኘበት ተመሳሳይ እድሜ ላይ ነበር

Dean admitted that he likes to look at beautiful women,

ዲን በባህሪው ቆንጆ ሴት ማየት እንደሚወድ ቢያምንም

but he's never questioned his decision to marry Judy.

ጁድን ለማግባት የመወሰኑን ትክክለኝነት አይጠራጠርም

AS: George met Josephine at a parish dance.

ጆርጅ ጆሴፊንን ዳንስ ላይ ነበር ያገናት

He was 18, she was 15.

እሱ 18 እሷ 15 ነበሩ

Like a lot of the couples we met, they weren't especially philosophical

በብዛት እንዳገኘናቸው ጥንዶች እነሱ

about their early choices.

ስላለፈ የህይወት ምርጫቸው የሚፈላሰፉ አልነበሩም

George said something that really stuck with me.

ጆርጅ ያነኝ ነገር እስካሁን አብሮኝ አለ

He said, "When you get that feeling, you just go with it."

"ያ ስሜት ሲሰማሽ ዝም ብለሽ ትከተይዋለሽ" ነበር ያለው

Bob and Trudy met on a blind date when she was still in high school.

ቦብና ትሩዲ እሷ ሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርት ላይ እያለች ነበር የተገናኙት

They said they weren't particularly attracted to each other

የመዋደድ ስሜት አልነበራቸውም

when the first met.

መጀመሪያ የተገናኙ ጊዜ

Nevertheless, they were married soon after.

ይሁን እንጂ ብዙም ሳይቆዩ ተጋብተዋል

SB: The story that stayed with me the most

ከሁሉም ተለይቶ ውስጤ የቀረው

was that of George, the photography club president, and his wife, Mary.

የጆርጅ የፎቶ ክበብ ሀላፊው ና የባለቤቱ ሜሪ ታሪክ ነበር

This was George and Mary's second marriage.

ጆርጅ ይሄ ነው የሜሪ ደግሞ ሁለተኛ ትዳር

They met at a country-western club in Louisville, Kentucky called the Sahara.

በሎዊስቫይል ኬንተርኪ በሚገኝ ሳሃራ ሚባል አገረሰብ ክለብ ነበር የተገኛኙት

He was there alone drinking and she was with friends.

እሱ ብቻውን እየጠጣ እሷ ደግሞ ከጓደኘቿ ጋር ነበረች

When they started dating, he owed the IRS 9,000 dollars in taxes,

መውጣት የጀመሩ ሰሞን እሱ ቴክሳስ ውስጥ 9ሺ ዶላር የታክስ እዳ ነበረበት

and she offered to help him get out of debt,

ከእዳ እንዲወጣ አግዛዋለች

so for the next year, he turned his paychecks over to Mary,

ስለዚህ ለቀጣይ አንድ አመት ደመወዙን ለሜሪ ነበር የሚሰጠው

and she got him out of debt.

በዚህም ከእዳ ነጻ እንዲሆን አድርጋዋለች

George was actually an alcoholic when they married, and Mary knew it.

በመሰረቱ ሲጋቡም ጀምሮ ጆርጅ የመጠጥ ሱሰኛ ነበር ሜሪ ይሄን ታውቃለች

At some point in their marriage, he says he consumed

በትዳር ውስጥ እያሉ እሱ እንዳለው

54 beers in one day.

በቀን 54 ቢራ የጠጣበት አጋጣሚ ነበር

Another time, when he was drunk, he threatened to kill Mary

በሌላ ጊዜ በጣም ሰክሮ እሷና

and her two kids,

በሁለት ልጆቿን ላይ የመግደል ሙከራ አድረጓል

but they escaped and a SWAT team was called to the house.

ግን አምልጠዋል ልዩ የፖሊስ ሀይል ቤታቸው መቶ ነበር

Amazingly, Mary took him back,

የሚያስደንቀው ይቅር ብላ ታረቀችው

and eventually things got better.

ከዛ በኋላ ነገሮች እየተሸሉ መጡ

George has been involved in Alcoholics Anonymous

ጆርጅ ከመጠት ሱስ ለመገላገል የምክር አገልግሎት ተካፍሏል

and hasn't had a drink in 36 years.

እናም ለ36 አመት ያህል መጠጥ ጠጥቶ አያቅም

(Music)

(ሙዚቃ)

At the end of the day, after we left Sun City,

በስተ መጨረሻ ሰን ሲቲን ለቀን ከወጣን ስንወጣ

I told Alec that I didn't actually think

ለአሌክ የነገርኩት

that the stories of how these couples met were all that interesting.

እነዚን ጥንዶች የተገናኙበት ታሪክ አይደለም ቁም ነገሩ

What was more interesting

ዋናው ነገር

was how they managed to stay together.

እንዴት አብረው መቆየት እንደቻሉ ነው

AS: They all had this beautiful quality of endurance,

ሁሉም ጋር የሚምር ጽናት አለ

but that was true of the singles, too.

ግን ላጤዎቹም ቢሆኑ እንደዛው ናቸው

The world is hard, and the singles were out there

ህይወት ከባድ ነው እነሱ ደግሞ ወተው

trying to connect with other people,

ሌሎችን ሰዎች ለማግኘት እየታገሉ ነው

and the couples were holding onto each other

ጥንዶቹ እጅ ለእጅ እንደተያያዙ ነው

after all these decades.

ከስነት አስርት አመታት በኋላም ቢሆን

My favorite pictures on this trip were of Joe and Roseanne.

በዚህ ጉዞ የወደድኩት ምስል የጆይ እና ሮሴአንን ነው

Now, by the time we met Joe and Roseanne,

እነሱን ባገኘንበት ሰአት

we'd gotten in the habit of asking couples if they had an old wedding photograph.

የሰርግ ፎቶ መጠየቅን እንደ ልምድ አድረገነው ነበር

In their case, they simultaneously pulled out of their wallets

የነሱ የሚለየው ሁለቱም በተመሳሳይ ጊዜ ከኪስ ቦርሳቸውን

the exact same photograph.

አንድ አይነት ፎቶ ማውጣታቸው ነበር

What's more beautiful, I thought to myself,

ለራሴ ሳስበው የትኛው ነው ይበልጥ የሚያምረው

this image of a young couple who has just fallen in love

ምስሉ ላይ ያሉት ሁለት ትኩስ ፍቀር ላይ ያሉ ጥንዶች

or the idea of these two people holding onto this image for decades?

ወይስ የነዚህ ሁለት ሰዎች ለአመታት ይሀንን ምስል ይዘው የመገኘታቸው ሀሳብ

Thank you.

አመሰግናለሁ

(Applause)

(ጭብጨባ)