Chris Burkard: The joy of surfing in ice-cold water

Translator: Lucia Daubnerova Reviewer: Petra Skubanova

So if I told you that this was the face of pure joy,

Ak vám poviem, že toto je výraz dokonalého šťastia,

poviete, že som blázon?

would you call me crazy?

I wouldn't blame you,

Nedávam vám to za vinu,

because every time I look at this Arctic selfie, I shiver just a little bit.

lebo vždy, keď vidím túto selfie z Akrtídy, sa trochu strasiem.

I want to tell you a little bit about this photograph.

Chcem vám niečo o tejto fotografii porozprávať.

I was swimming around in the Lofoten Islands in Norway,

Plával som na Lofotských ostrovoch v Nórsku

just inside the Arctic Circle,

v Severnom polárnom kruhu

and the water was hovering right at freezing.

a voda zamŕzala.

The air? A brisk -10 with windchill,

Vzduch? Silný ľadový vietor a -10 °C .

Doslova som cítil, ako mi krv odchádzala z rúk,

and I could literally feel the blood trying to leave my hands,

feet and face, and rush to protect my vital organs.

nôh a tváre v snahe rýchlo zachrániť životne dôležité orgány.

It was the coldest I've ever been.

Nikdy som nebol na studenšom mieste.

Ale aj napriek napuchnutým perám, skleslým očiam a červeným lícam

But even with swollen lips, sunken eyes, and cheeks flushed red,

I have found that this place right here is somewhere I can find great joy.

cítim, že je to miesto, kde môžem nájsť veľké šťastie.

Now, when it comes to pain, psychologist Brock Bastian

Čo sa týka bolesti, psychológ Brock Bastian

probably said it best when he wrote,

to asi povedal lepšie, keď napísal:

"Pain is a kind of shortcut to mindfulness.

„Bolesť je niečo ako skratka vedúca k úplnej pozornosti.

It makes us suddenly aware of everything in the environment.

Robí nás vedomých si všetkého naokolo.

It brutally draws us in

Brutálne nás priťahuje

to a virtual sensory awareness of the world much like meditation."

k úplnému zmyslovému vnímaniu sveta rovnako ako meditácia.“

Ak je trasenie sa forma meditácie, potom sa považujem za mnícha.

If shivering is a form of meditation, then I would consider myself a monk.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Now, before we get into the why

Skôr než vysvetlím,

would anyone ever want to surf in freezing cold water?

prečo niekto chce surfovať v ľadovej vode,

I would love to give you a little perspective

by som vám chcel priblížiť,

on what a day in my life can look like.

ako môže vyzerať jeden môj deň.

(Music)

(hudba)

(video) Muž: Čakali sme na dobré vlny,

(Video) Man: I mean, I know we were hoping for good waves,

but I don't think anybody thought that was going to happen.

ale nemyslím si, že niekto očakával, že prídu.

I can't stop shaking.

Nemôžem sa prestať triasť.

Je mi hrozná zima.

I am so cold.

(Music)

(hudba)

(Applause)

(potlesk)

Chris Burkard: Fotograf surfistov, však?

Chris Burkard: So, surf photographer, right?

I don't even know if it's a real job title, to be honest.

Pravdupovediac ani neviem, či je to naozaj povolanie.

My parents definitely didn't think so

Moji rodičia si to určite nemyseli,

when I told them at 19 I was quitting my job to pursue this dream career:

keď som im v 19 povedal, že odchádzam z práce, aby som mohol ísť za svojím snom:

blue skies, warm tropical beaches, and a tan that lasts all year long.

modrá obloha, horúce tropické pláže, opálené telo po celý rok.

I mean, to me, this was it. Life could not get any better.

Chcem povedať, pre mňa to bolo všetkým. Nemohol som žiť šťastnejšie.

Potil som sa a fotil som surfistov v exotickým turistických destináciách.

Sweating it out, shooting surfers in these exotic tourist destinations.

But there was just this one problem.

Mal som iba jeden problém.

You see, the more time I spent traveling to these exotic locations,

Čím viac som cestoval na tieto exotické miesta,

tým menej ma napĺňali.

the less gratifying it seemed to be.

Zaumienil som si hľadať dobrodružstvá, ale nachádzal som iba rutinu.

I set out seeking adventure, and what I was finding was only routine.

It was things like wi-fi, TV, fine dining, and a constant cellular connection

Wifi, televízia, reštaurácie a nepretržité mobilné spojenie

that to me were all the trappings of places heavily touristed

boli pôžitky miest plných turistov

in and out of the water,

vo vode aj mimo nej.

and it didn't take long for me to start feeling suffocated.

Skoro som sa začal cítiť stiesnený.

Začal som túžiť po voľných divokých priestranstvách,

I began craving wild, open spaces,

and so I set out to find the places others had written off

a tak som sa dal do hľadania miest, ktoré ostatní zavrhli

as too cold, too remote, and too dangerous to surf,

pre prílišný chlad, diaľku alebo nebezpečenstvo pre surfovanie,

and that challenge intrigued me.

a táto výzva ma zaujala.

I began this sort of personal crusade against the mundane,

Začal som tento osobný boj proti rutine,

because if there's one thing I've realized,

lebo ak som si niečo uvedomil, tak to,

že každej kariére,

it's that any career,

even one as seemingly glamorous as surf photography,

dokonca aj kariére tak zdanlivo úspešnej ako je fotografovanie surfistov,

has the danger of becoming monotonous.

hrozí, že sa premení na rutinu.

So in my search to break up this monotony, I realized something:

Pri hľadaní, ako sa jej zbaviť, som si uvedomil,

There's only about a third of the Earth's oceans that are warm,

že iba asi tretina svetového oceánu je teplá,

and it's really just that thin band around the equator.

a to ten naozaj úzky pás okolo rovníka.

So if I was going to find perfect waves,

Takže ak som mal nájsť dokonalé vlny,

pravdepodobne sa to malo stať na nejakom studenom

it was probably going to happen somewhere cold,

where the seas are notoriously rough,

mieste, kde sú moria divoké,

and that's exactly where I began to look.

a presne tam som začal hľadať.

And it was my first trip to Iceland

Na mojej prvej ceste na Island

that I felt like I found exactly what I was looking for.

som pocítil, že som našiel presne to, čo som hľadal.

I was blown away by the natural beauty of the landscape,

Prirodzená krása prírody ma ohromila.

To najdôležitejšie je, že som nemohol uveriť, že som našiel dokonalé vlny

but most importantly, I couldn't believe we were finding perfect waves

in such a remote and rugged part of the world.

v takej vzdialenej a nepokojnej končine sveta.

At one point, we got to the beach

V jeden deň sme prišli na pláž

only to find massive chunks of ice had piled on the shoreline.

a našli sme tam nakopené obrovské kusy ľadu.

Vytvorili medzi nami a príbojom bariéru

They created this barrier between us and the surf,

and we had to weave through this thing like a maze

a museli sme si v tom labyrinte

just to get out into the lineup.

preraziť cestu k vode.

and once we got there,

Kusy ľadu sme

we were pushing aside these ice chunks trying to get into waves.

naukladali na jednu stranu, aby sme sa dostali k vlnám.

It was an incredible experience, one I'll never forget,

Bol to neskutočný zážitok, na ktorý nikdy nezabudnem,

because amidst those harsh conditions,

lebo uprostred týchto tvrdých podmienok

I felt like I stumbled onto one of the last quiet places,

som pocítil, že som narazil na jedno z posledných pokojných zákutí planéty,

somewhere that I found a clarity and a connection with the world

kde som našiel pokoj a spojenie so svetom,

I knew I would never find on a crowded beach.

ktoré by som nikdy nebol našiel na pláži plnej ľudí.

Stal som sa závislým. (smiech)

I was hooked. I was hooked. (Laughter)

Cold water was constantly on my mind,

Nemohol som prestať myslieť na studenú vodu

a od tej chvíle

and from that point on,

my career focused on these types of harsh and unforgiving environments,

sa moja kariéra upriamila na tieto nehostinné a kruté končiny

and it took me to places like Russia, Norway, Alaska, Iceland, Chile,

a zaviedla ma na miesta ako Rusko, Nórsko, Aljaška, Island, Čile,

the Faroe Islands, and a lot of places in between.

Faerské ostrovy a mnohé medzizastávky.

And one of my favorite things about these places

Na týchto miestach sa mi páčila

was simply the challenge and the creativity it took just to get there:

výzva a tvorivosť, ktorú si vyžadovalo dostať sa tam.

hours, days, weeks spent on Google Earth

Hodiny, dni, týždne s Google Earth

trying to pinpoint any remote stretch of beach or reef we could actually get to.

hľadajúc akýkoľvek vzdialený kúsok pláže alebo útesu, na ktorý by sa dalo dostať.

And once we got there, the vehicles were just as creative:

A keď sme tam prišli, spôsob dopravy bol veľmi tvorivý: snežné skútre,

snowmobiles, six-wheel Soviet troop carriers,

autá so 6 kolesami na prevoz sovietskych vojsk

and a couple of super-sketchy helicopter flights.

a zopár improvizovaných letov vrtuľníkom.

(smiech)

(Laughter)

Helicopters really scare me, by the way.

Vrtuľníky mi naozaj naháňajú strach.

There was this one particularly bumpy boat ride

Išli sme na lodi plnej výtlkov až na pobrežie

ostrova Vancouver surfovať až na toto vzdialené miesto,

up the coast of Vancouver Island to this kind of remote surf spot,

kde sme bezmocne z vody pozorovali,

where we ended up watching helplessly from the water

as bears ravaged our camp site.

ako nám medvede zničili tábor.

Začali naším jedlom a kúskami stanu

They walked off with our food and bits of our tent,

a dali nám najavo, že sme na spodku potravového reťazca

clearly letting us know that we were at the bottom of the food chain

and that this was their spot, not ours.

a že to je ich miesto, nie naše.

But to me, that trip

Ale pre mňa bola táto cesta

was a testament to the wildness I traded for those touristy beaches.

svedectvom o tom, že som vymenil turistické pláže za divočinu.

Až v Nórsku

Now, it wasn't until I traveled to Norway -- (Laughter) --

(smiech)

that I really learned to appreciate the cold.

som sa naozaj naučil oceniť chlad.

So this is the place

Práve tu

where some of the largest, the most violent storms in the world

niektoré z najväčších a najsilnejších búrok na svete

send huge waves smashing into the coastline.

lámu o pobrežie obrovské vlny.

We were in this tiny, remote fjord, just inside the Arctic Circle.

Boli sme v tomto malom vzdialenom fjorde hneď pod Severným polárnym kruhom.

It had a greater population of sheep than people,

Žije tam viac oviec ako ľudí,

so help if we needed it was nowhere to be found.

ak by sme boli potrebovali pomoc, nenašli by sme ju tam.

I was in the water taking pictures of surfers,

Vo vode som fotil surfistov

and it started to snow.

a začalo snežiť.

And then the temperature began to drop.

Teplota začala klesať.

And I told myself, there's not a chance you're getting out of the water.

Povedal som si, že nemôžem vyjsť z vody.

You traveled all this way, and this is exactly what you've been waiting for:

Cestoval si až sem a toto je presne to, čo si si prial:

freezing cold conditions with perfect waves.

ľadové podmienky s dokonalými vlnami.

And although I couldn't even feel my finger to push the trigger,

Aj keď som pre chlad nemohol ani stlačiť tlačidlo fotoaparátu,

I knew I wasn't getting out.

vedel som, že nemôžem vyjsť.

Urobil som, čo som mohol. Dostal som sa z toho.

So I just did whatever I could. I shook it off, whatever.

But that was the point that I felt

Vtedy som pocítil

this wind gush through the valley and hit me,

vietor z údolia, ktorý mi búšil do tváre,

and what started as this light snowfall quickly became a full-on blizzard,

a to, čo začalo ako slabé sneženie, sa premenilo na silnú víchricu.

and I started to lose perception of where I was.

Začal som strácať pojem o tom, kde som.

I didn't know if I was drifting out to sea or towards shore,

Neviem, či ma unášalo na more alebo k brehu,

bol som schopný rozlíšiť iba slabý zvuk čajok

and all I could really make out was the faint sound of seagulls

a vĺn.

and crashing waves.

Now, I knew this place had a reputation for sinking ships and grounding planes,

Vedel som, že to miesto bolo známe stroskotaniami lodí a leteckými haváriami,

and while I was out there floating, I started to get a little bit nervous.

a, kým som sa vznášal na hladine, začal som byť trochu nervózny.

Actually, I was totally freaking out --

V skutočnosti som úplne prichádzal o rozum

(Laughter) -- and I was borderline hypothermic,

(smiech) na pokraji podchladenia

and my friends eventually had to help me out of the water.

a moji kamaráti mi nakoniec museli pomôcť vyjsť z vody.

And I don't know if it was delirium setting in or what,

Neviem, či som blúznil,

but they told me later

ale neskôr mi povedali,

I had a smile on my face the entire time.

že som mal po celý čas na tvári úsmev.

Now, it was this trip

Na tejto ceste

and probably that exact experience where I really began to feel

a možno presne pri tomto zážitku som naozaj začal cítiť,

like every photograph was precious,

že každá fotografia je cenná,

because all of a sudden in that moment, it was something I was forced to earn.

lebo zrazu, v tej chvíli, som ju musel urobiť.

And I realized, all this shivering had actually taught me something:

Uvedomil som si, že všetky tie triašky ma naučili,

In life, there are no shortcuts to joy.

že v živote neexistujú skratky ku šťastiu.

Všetko, za čím stojí zato ísť, si vyžaduje trošku utrpenia,

Anything that is worth pursuing is going to require us to suffer

just a little bit,

iba trošku,

and that tiny bit of suffering that I did for my photography,

a tá troška utrpenia pre moju fotku

it added a value to my work that was so much more meaningful to me

pridala mojej práci hodnotu pre mňa oveľa dôležitejšiu

than just trying to fill the pages of magazines.

ako iba zaplniť stránky časopisov.

See, I gave a piece of myself in these places,

Pozrite, na tých miestach som nechal kúsok zo mňa

and what I walked away with

a keď som z nich odišiel,

was a sense of fulfillment I had always been searching for.

mal som pocit naplnenia, ktorý som vždy hľadal.

So I look back at this photograph.

Hľadím spätne na túto fotografiu

It's easy to see frozen fingers and cold wetsuits

a vidím zamrznuté prsty a studené neoprénové obleky,

a dokonca boj, ktorý predstavovala cesta tam,

and even the struggle that it took just to get there,

ale hlavne vidím radosť.

but most of all, what I see is just joy.

Thank you so much.

Ďakujem pekne.

(Applause)

(potlesk)