Becci Manson: (Re)touching lives through photos

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Prevoditelj: Suzana Baric Recezent: Katarina Smetko

Before March, 2011, I was a photographic retoucher

Prije ožujka 2011., bavila sam se retuširanjem fotografija

based in New York City.

u New Yorku.

We're pale, gray creatures.

Mi smo blijeda, siva bića.

We hide in dark, windowless rooms,

Skrivamo se u mraku, prostorijama bez prozora

and generally avoid sunlight.

i općenito izbjegavamo sunce.

We make skinny models skinnier, perfect skin more perfect,

Mršave modele činimo još mršavijima, savršenu kožu savršenijom,

and the impossible possible,

a nemoguće činimo mogućim.

and we get criticized in the press all the time,

Stalno nas kritiziraju u medijima,

but some of us are actually talented artists

ali neki od nas zaista su nadareni umjetnici

with years of experience

s godinama iskustva,

and a real appreciation for images and photography.

i zbilja cijene slike i fotografije.

On March 11, 2011, I watched from home, as the rest

11. ožujka 2011., iz svog doma gledala sam,

of the world did, as the tragic events unfolded in Japan.

kao i ostatak svijeta, tragične događaje koji su se odvijali u Japanu.

Soon after, an organization I volunteer with,

Ubrzo nakon toga, organizacija u kojoj volontiram,

All Hands Volunteers, were on the ground, within days,

All Hands Volunteers, bila je na terenu u roku nekoliko dana,

working as part of the response efforts.

i radila u sklopu akcija za pomoć.

I, along with hundreds of other volunteers,

Ja sam, kao i stotine drugih volontera,

knew we couldn't just sit at home,

znala da ne možemo samo sjediti doma

so I decided to join them for three weeks.

pa sam odlučila pridružiti im se na tri tjedna.

On May the 13th, I made my way to the town of Ōfunato.

13. svibnja stigla sam u grad Ōfunato.

It's a small fishing town in Iwate Prefecture,

To je ribarski gradić u prefekturi Iwate,

about 50,000 people,

s 50-ak tisuća stanovnika,

one of the first that was hit by the wave.

jedan od prvih koje je pogodio val.

The waters here have been recorded at reaching

Zabilježeno je da je razina vode dosegla

over 24 meters in height,

više od 24 metra visine

and traveled over two miles inland.

i putovala preko 3 km u unutrašnjost.

As you can imagine, the town had been devastated.

Kao što pretpostavljate, grad je bio razoren.

We pulled debris from canals and ditches.

Čistili smo naplavine iz kanala i jaraka.

We cleaned schools. We de-mudded and gutted homes

Čistili smo škole. Čistili smo domove od blata i praznili ih

ready for renovation and rehabilitation.

kako bi bili spremni za renovaciju i obnovu.

We cleared tons and tons of stinking, rotting fish carcasses

Uklonili smo tone smrdljivih, trulih ribljih lešina

from the local fish processing plant.

iz lokalne tvornice za preradu ribe.

We got dirty, and we loved it.

Zaprljali smo se i to nam se sviđalo.

For weeks, all the volunteers and locals alike

Tjednima su volonteri i mještani

had been finding similar things.

pronalazili slične stvari.

They'd been finding photos and photo albums

Nalazili su fotografije i albume,

and cameras and SD cards.

kamere i SD kartice.

And everyone was doing the same.

Svi su radili isto.

They were collecting them up, and handing them in to

Skupljali su ih i predavali na razna mjesta

various places around the different towns for safekeeping.

diljem gradova na čuvanje.

Now, it wasn't until this point that I realized

Do tog trena nisam shvaćala

that these photos were such a huge part

da su te fotografije tako velik dio

of the personal loss these people had felt.

osobnog gubitka koji su ljudi osjećali.

As they had run from the wave, and for their lives,

Kako su bježali od vala, spašavajući svoj život,

absolutely everything they had,

baš sve što su imali,

everything had to be left behind.

sve su morali ostaviti za sobom.

At the end of my first week there, I found myself

Krajem mog prvog tjedna ovdje,

helping out in an evacuation center in the town.

pomagala sam u evakuacijskom centru u gradu.

I was helping clean the onsen, the communal onsen,

Pomagala sam čistiti onsen, gradske terme,

the huge giant bathtubs.

ogromne kade.

This happened to also be a place in the town where

To je ujedno bilo i mjesto u gradu

the evacuation center was collecting the photos.

na kojem je evakuacijski centar skupljao fotografije.

This is where people were handing them in,

Ovdje ljudi su ih predavali

and I was honored that day that they actually trusted me

i bila sam počašćena što su mi povjerili

to help them start hand-cleaning them.

pomaganje oko ručnog čišćenja fotografija.

Now, it was emotional and it was inspiring,

Bilo je emotivno i nadahnulo me.

and I've always heard about thinking outside the box,

I prije sam čula za izraz "misliti izvan okvira",

but it wasn't until I had actually gotten outside of my box

ali tek kad sam izišla iz svojih okvira,

that something happened.

nešto se dogodilo.

As I looked through the photos, there were some

Kako sam pregledavala fotografije,

were over a hundred years old,

od kojih su neke bile i starije od 100 godina,

some still in the envelope from the processing lab,

neke još u omotnicama s razvijanja,

I couldn't help but think as a retoucher

nisam mogla ne pomisliti da kao retušer

that I could fix that tear and mend that scratch,

mogu popraviti ovu poderotinu ili ogrebotinu,

and I knew hundreds of people who could do the same.

a znala sam i stotine ljudi koji bi mogli učiniti isto.

So that evening, I just reached out on Facebook

Te večeri otišla sam na Facebook

and asked a few of them, and by morning

i pitala nekoliko njih za pomoć. Do jutra je

the response had been so overwhelming and so positive,

odaziv bio toliko velik i pozitivan

I knew we had to give it a go.

da sam znala da moram pokušati.

So we started retouching photos.

Tako smo počeli retuširati fotografije.

This was the very first.

Ovo je bila prva.

Not terribly damaged, but where the water had caused

Nije odviše oštećena, no voda je promijenila

that discoloration on the girl's face

boju na djevojčičinom licu

had to be repaired with such accuracy and delicacy.

te se to moralo ispraviti s velikom preciznošću i osjetljivošću.

Otherwise, that little girl isn't going to look

Inače ta djevojčica više ne bi izgledala

like that little girl anymore, and surely that's as tragic

kao ta djevojčica, što bi bilo tragično

as having the photo damaged.

koliko i oštećenje fotografije.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Over time, more photos came in, thankfully,

S vremenom je stiglo još fotografija

and more retouchers were needed,

i trebali smo više retušera

and so I reached out again on Facebook and LinkedIn,

pa sam opet otišla na Facebook i LinkedIn

and within five days, 80 people wanted to help

i kroz 5 dana pomoć je ponudilo

from 12 different countries.

80 ljudi iz 12 zemalja.

Within two weeks, I had 150 people

U dva se tjedna 150 ljudi

wanting to join in.

željelo priključiti.

Within Japan, by July, we'd branched out

Do srpnja smo se u Japanu proširili

to the neighboring town of Rikuzentakata,

do susjednog grada Rikuzentakate

further north to a town called Yamada.

i sjevernije do grada Yamade.

Once a week, we would set up our scanning equipment

Jednom tjedno postavili bismo svoju opremu za skeniranje

in the temporary photo libraries that had been set up,

u privremenim pohranama fotografija,

where people were reclaiming their photos.

gdje su ljudi preuzimali svoje fotografije.

The older ladies sometimes hadn't seen a scanner before,

Neke starije gospođe nikad nisu vidjele skener,

but within 10 minutes of them finding their lost photo,

ali u roku 10 minuta nakon pronalaska svoje izgubljene fotografije,

they could give it to us, have it scanned,

mogle su nam je dati, mi bismo je skenirali,

uploaded to a cloud server, it would be downloaded

uploadali na cloud server, a tada bi je downloadao

by a gaijin, a stranger,

gaijin, stranac,

somewhere on the other side of the globe,

negdje na drugoj strani svijeta

and it'd start being fixed.

i počeo je popravljati.

The time it took, however, to get it back

Potpuno je druga priča vrijeme

is a completely different story,

za koje je slika vraćena,

and it depended obviously on the damage involved.

a ovisilo je, naravno, o šteti na fotografiji.

It could take an hour. It could take weeks.

Moglo je trajati sat vremena, ali i tjednima

It could take months.

ili mjesecima.

The kimono in this shot pretty much had to be hand-drawn,

Kimono na ovoj snimci većinom se morao ručno nacrtati,

or pieced together, picking out the remaining parts of color

ili spojiti zajedno, birajući preostale dijelove boje

and detail that the water hadn't damaged.

i detalje koje voda nije oštetila.

It was very time-consuming.

Trebalo je mnogo vremena.

Now, all these photos had been damaged by water,

Sve ove fotografije oštetila je voda,

submerged in salt water, covered in bacteria,

bile su uronjene u slanu vodu, prekrivene bakterijama,

in sewage, sometimes even in oil, all of which over time

kanalizacijskom vodom, ponekad čak i uljem, a sve to

is going to continue to damage them,

i dalje će ih oštećivati

so hand-cleaning them was a huge part of the project.

pa je ručno čišćenje bilo ogroman dio projekta.

We couldn't retouch the photo unless it was cleaned,

Nismo mogli retuširati fotografiju ako nije očišćena,

dry and reclaimed.

suha i ako vlasnik nije pronađen.

Now, we were lucky with our hand-cleaning.

Imali smo sreće s ručnim čišćenjem.

We had an amazing local woman who guided us.

Vodila nas je jedna čudesna mještanka.

It's very easy to do more damage to those damaged photos.

Vrlo je lako još više oštetiti oštećene fotografije.

As my team leader Wynne once said,

Kako je Wynne, voditeljica mog tima, jednom rekla,

it's like doing a tattoo on someone.

to je poput tetoviranja.

You don't get a chance to mess it up.

Ne smijete pogriješiti.

The lady who brought us these photos was lucky,

Žena koja nam je donijela ove fotografije imala je sreće,

as far as the photos go.

što se tiče fotografija.

She had started hand-cleaning them herself and stopped

Počela ih je sama ručno čistiti i stala je

when she realized she was doing more damage.

kad je shvatila da ih još više uništava.

She also had duplicates.

Imala je duplikate.

Areas like her husband and her face, which otherwise

Područja poput njenog muža i njenog lica,

would have been completely impossible to fix,

koja bi inače bilo nemoguće popraviti,

we could just put them together in one good photo,

jednostavno smo spojili u jednu dobru fotografiju

and remake the whole photo.

i iznova načinili cijelu fotografiju.

When she collected the photos from us,

Kad je preuzela slike,

she shared a bit of her story with us.

ispričala nam je dio svoje priče.

Her photos were found by her husband's colleagues

Njezine fotografije pronašle su kolege njezinog muža

at a local fire department in the debris

u mjesnom vatrogasnom domu među naplavinama

a long way from where the home had once stood,

daleko od mjesta gdje je nekad bio njihov dom

and they'd recognized him.

i prepoznali su ga.

The day of the tsunami, he'd actually been in charge

Na dan tsunamija, on je bio zadužen

of making sure the tsunami gates were closed.

osigurati da su brane za tsunami zatvorene.

He had to go towards the water as the sirens sounded.

Morao je ići prema vodi kad su se sirene oglasile.

Her two little boys, not so little anymore, but her two boys

Njezina dva sinčića, koja više nisu tako mala,

were both at school, separate schools.

bila su u školi, u dvije različite škole.

One of them got caught up in the water.

Jednog od njih sustigla je voda.

It took her a week to find them all again

Trebalo joj je tjedan dana kako bi ih sve pronašla

and find out that they had all survived.

i saznala da su svi preživjeli.

The day I gave her the photos also happened to be

Onog dana kad sam joj predala slike ujedno je bio

her youngest son's 14th birthday.

i 14. rođendan njenog mlađeg sina.

For her, despite all of this, those photos

Unatoč svemu, za nju su te fotografije

were the perfect gift back to him,

bile savršen dar za njega,

something he could look at again, something he remembered from before

nešto što je mogao gledati, nešto čega se mogao sjećati otprije,

that wasn't still scarred from that day in March

što nije imalo ožiljke od onog dana u ožujku

when absolutely everything else in his life had changed

kad se baš sve ostalo u njegovom životu promijenilo

or been destroyed.

ili je bilo uništeno.

After six months in Japan,

Nakon šest mjeseci u Japanu

1,100 volunteers had passed through All Hands,

1100 volontera izmijenilo se kroz All Hands.

hundreds of whom had helped us hand-clean

Stotine njih pomoglo nam je ručno očistiti

over 135,000 photographs,

preko 135.000 fotografija,

the large majority — (Applause) —

od kojih je velika većina -- (Pljesak) --

a large majority of which did actually find their home again,

od kojih je velika većina opet pronašla svoj dom.

importantly.

a to je važno.

Over five hundred volunteers around the globe

Više od 500 volontera iz cijelog svijeta

helped us get 90 families hundreds of photographs back,

pomoglo nam je vratiti stotine fotografija 90 obitelji,

fully restored and retouched.

potpuno obnovljene i retuširane.

During this time, we hadn't really spent more than

Tijekom tog razdoblja, nismo potrošili

about a thousand dollars in equipment and materials,

više od 1000 dolara na opremu i materijale,

most of which was printer inks.

većinom na tintu za printere.

We take photos constantly.

Stalno stvaramo fotografije.

A photo is a reminder of someone or something,

Fotografija je podsjetnik na nekoga ili nešto,

a place, a relationship, a loved one.

na mjesto, vezu, voljenu osobu.

They're our memory-keepers and our histories,

One su čuvari naših sjećanja i naše povijesti,

the last thing we would grab

zadnja stvar koju bismo zgrabili

and the first thing you'd go back to look for.

i prva stvar koju se vraćamo potražiti.

That's all this project was about,

To je bila poanta našeg projekta:

about restoring those little bits of humanity,

obnavljanje tih komadića ljudskosti,

giving someone that connection back.

vraćanje te veze ljudima.

When a photo like this can be returned to someone like this,

Kad ovakvu fotografiju nekome možemo vratiti ovakvu,

it makes a huge difference

to mnogo znači

in the lives of the person receiving it.

u životu osobe koja je prima.

The project's also made a big difference in the lives of the retouchers.

Projekt je ostavio traga i u životima retušera.

For some of them, it's given them a connection

Nekima od njih dao je vezu

to something bigger, giving something back,

s nečim većim, vraćanjem natrag,

using their talents on something

korištenjem njihovih talenata za nešto drugo

other than skinny models and perfect skin.

osim mršavih modela i savršene kože.

I would like to conclude by reading an email

Za kraj bih pročitala e-mail

I got from one of them, Cindy,

koji sam dobila od Cindy, jedne od retušera,

the day I finally got back from Japan after six months.

na dan kad sam se napokon vratila iz Japana nakon šest mjeseci.

"As I worked, I couldn't help but think about the individuals

"Kako sam radila, nisam mogla ne misliti o pojedinim ljudima

and the stories represented in the images.

i pričama prikazanima na slikama.

One in particular, a photo of women of all ages,

Jedna me posebno ganula -- fotografija sa ženama svih dobi,

from grandmother to little girl, gathered around a baby,

od bake do djevojčice, okupljenima oko djeteta,

struck a chord, because a similar photo from my family,

zato što slična fotografija moje obitelji,

my grandmother and mother, myself,

moje bake, majke i mene,

and newborn daughter, hangs on our wall.

novorođene kćeri, visi na našem zidu.

Across the globe, throughout the ages,

Diljem svijeta, kroz razna razdoblja,

our basic needs are just the same, aren't they?"

naše su osnovne potrebe iste, zar ne?"

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala. (Pljesak)

(Applause)

(Pljesak)