Mind-blowing, magnified portraits of insects | Levon Biss

翻译人员: edukm ps 校对人员: Amy H. Fann

So, I had been a photographer

在开始昆虫微拍项目前

for 18 years

我作为摄影师

before I began the Microsculpture Project.

已有18个年头

And in that time, I had shot global ad campaigns,

当时，我曾为很多国际品牌拍摄广告

I had the opportunity to photograph some of my generation's icons,

我拥有机会拍下我时代的符号

and I was traveling the world.

并环游着世界

I got to a point in my career that I dreamed of getting to,

我的职业生涯真如我所梦想的

and yet, for some reason, I still felt a little bit unfulfilled.

然而，因为某些原因，我仍然不满足

Despite the extraordinary things I was shooting and experiencing,

尽管我拍摄和体验的事物如此特别

they'd started to feel a little bit ordinary to me.

但他们开始变得平淡

I was also getting concerned

我也开始有些担心

about how disposable photography had started to feel in the digital world,

在数字世界中，一次性的摄影将如何生存

and I really wanted to produce images that had a sense of worth again.

我真是很想去生产那种有价值感的照片

And I needed a subject that felt extraordinary.

我需要一种独特的项目

Sometimes I wish I had the eyes of a child.

有时候，我希望我拥有儿童之眼

And by that I mean, I wish I could look at the world

这意思是，我希望我看待世界的方式

in the same as I did when I was a small boy.

如同我小时候那般

I think there is a danger, as we get older,

我感觉随着我们年纪渐长

that our curiosity becomes slightly muted or dulled by familiarity.

我门的好奇心开始因为熟悉的东西而变得麻木

And as a visual creator, one of the challenges for me

而作为视觉创作者，我的一大挑战是

is to present the familiar in a new and engaging way.

如何以一种新的更具沉浸式的方式去展现熟悉景象

Fortunately for me, though, I've got two great kids

庆幸的是，我有两个孩子

who are still curious about the world.

仍然对世界充满好奇

Sebastian -- he's still curious about the world, and in 2014, in spring,

塞巴斯蒂安，他仍然对世界抱有好奇，2014年的春天

he brought in a ground beetle from the garden.

他从花园里带回来一只土鳖虫

There was nothing particularly special about this insect --

这昆虫并无特别之处

you know, it was a common species.

就是普普通通那种

But he was still curious,

但他仍然非常好奇

and he brought it up to my office,

他带到了我的办公室

and we decided to look at it under his microscope.

所以我们决定来看看这只昆虫 用他的显微镜

He had a little science kit for Christmas.

圣诞节的科学套件礼物

And this is what we saw.

这就是我们那个时候看到的

Now, when I first saw this, it blew me away.

当我第一眼看到时，真是出乎所料

Up here -- this is the back of the ground beetle.

这里，是土鳖虫的背部

When I first saw it, it reminded me of a galaxy.

当我第一次见到时，我想到的是银河

And all the time, this had just been outside our window.

一直以来，这就在我们的窗外

You know, I was looking for this extraordinary subject,

而我一直在寻找这种独特的项目

and it took Seb's eyes and curiosity to bring it in to me.

而他通过塞巴的眼睛和好奇带到我面前

So I decided to photograph it for him, and this is what I produced.

所以我决定为他拍摄，而这就是我所拍摄的

I basically asked myself two simple questions.

我大体上问了我自己两个简单的问题

The first one:

第一个问题是

Could I take all my knowledge and skill of photographic lighting

我能否用我所有关于拍摄和光影的知识和技能

and take that onto a subject that's five millimeters long?

去拍摄这类5毫米的物体

But also: Could I keep creative control over that lighting

但同时，我能否对这种大小的物体

on a subject that size?

保持光影的创造性控制

So I practiced on some other found specimens,

所以我摸索着另外一些发现的样本

and I approached the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

并来到牛津大学自然历史博物馆

to see if I could have access to their collection,

看能否拍摄他们的收藏

to progress the project.

以推进这个项目

And I went up there for a meeting,

我在那跟他们开了个会

and I showed them some of the images that I'd been shooting,

并向他们展示我所拍摄的照片

and they could see the kind of detail I was able to get.

他们看到了我当时所拍摄的细节

I don't think they'd ever really seen anything quite like it before,

我相信他们过去从没有看过这样的细节

and from that point forward, they gave me open access

从那以后，他们向我开放了

to their entire collection

所有的馆藏

and the assistance of Dr. James Hogan, their entomologist.

并得到了昆虫学家詹姆斯·迪恩博士的协助

Now, over the next two-and-a-half years,

在过去两年半的时间里

I shot 37 insects from their collection.

我从他们的馆藏中拍摄了37中昆虫

And the way I work

我拍摄的方式

is that I essentially split the insect up into multiple sections,

基本上是把昆虫分为不同的部分

and I treat each one of those sections like a small still life.

并将这一个个部分视为小静生物进行拍摄

So for example, if I was photographing the eye of the insect,

例如，我拍摄了昆虫的眼睛

which is normally quite smooth and dome-shaped,

它们通常圆润光滑

then I'd use a light source that is large and soft and diffuse,

我就使用宽大，柔和，扩散的光源

so I don't get any harsh hot spots on that surface.

这样就不会在表面留下任何热燥点

But once my attention turns over to a hairy leg,

但一旦转向毛茸茸的腿时

that lighting setup will change completely.

光影的设定就完全不同了

And so I make that one tiny section look as beautiful as I possibly can,

我让每一个细节都尽可能地漂亮

and I work my way across the insect

于是我绕着昆虫开始了工作

until I have about 20 or 25 different sections.

直至拍完20或25个不同的细节部分

The issue with photography at high magnification

当时有个问题是高放大比例的摄影照片

is that there is inherently a very shallow depth of field.

天生具有非常浅的景深

So to get around that, what I do is,

为了解决这个问题，我的做法是

I put my camera on a rail

我把镜头放在摄影轨道上

that I can automate to move 10 microns in between each shot.

这样我就可以在每一次拍摄时移动10微米

That's about one-seventh the width of a human hair.

这相当于人类头发1/7大小

And then that provides me with a deep stack of images.

这样我就得到了深栈的图像

Each has a tiny sliver of focus all the way through.

每一处都是一个个小的聚焦点

And I can squash that down

所以我可以把它们

to produce one image that is fully focused from front to back.

去合成一张从前到后都是完全聚焦的照片

So essentially, that gives me 25 sections that are fully focused

所以实际上，我拍了25个全面聚焦的部分

and beautifully lit.

漂亮地发光

Now, each one of my images

现在，我的每一张照片

is made up of anywhere between 8- and 10,000 separate shots.

由8-10千张独立的拍摄组成

They take about three-and-a-half weeks to create,

需要历时3.5周的时间去创作

and the file sizes on average are about four gigabytes.

文件的平均大小有4GB

So I've got plenty of information to play with when I'm printing.

所以我打印的时候拥有丰富的信息

And the prints at the exhibition are around the three-meter mark.

展览的印刷作品大约3米

In fact, I had a show in Milan two weeks ago,

实际上，两周以前，我在米兰有个展览

and we had some prints there that were nine meters long.

那边有一些印刷作品长达9米

But, you know, I realize

但你知道， 我意识到

that these images still have to work in the digital world.

这些照片同样应该展示在数字世界中

There's no point in me putting all my blood, sweat and tears

我没有必要把我的心血和汗水

into these pictures

倾注在这些照片中

if they're only going to be showing 500 pixels on a screen.

如果他们只是在500像素的屏幕中展示

So with the help of Rob Chandler and Will Cookson,

在罗伯钱德勒和威尔库克森的帮助下

we developed a website

我们开发了个网站

that enables the viewer to immerse themselves

可以让观看者沉浸式地体验

into the full four-gigabyte files,

高达4GB的版本

and they can explore all that microscopic detail.

他们可以探索显微镜级别的细节

So if you have the time, and I encourage you,

如果大伙有空，我建议你们

please visit microsculpture.net

访问microsculpture.net

and go and have a play.

去使用和体验

It's good fun.

非常有趣

I first showed the work at Oxford,

我最早是在牛津展示我的作品

and since then, it's moved on to the Middle East.

那之后，就去了中东

It's now back in Europe and goes to Copenhagen this month.

现在又回到欧洲，这个月在哥本哈根（丹麦首都）

And the feedback has been great.

反馈非常令人振奋

You know, I get emails, actually, from all over the world --

我收到了来自全球各地的邮件

from teachers, at the moment, who are using the website in school.

有在学校中使用网页访问的老师

The kids are using them on the tablet.

在平板上使用的小孩

They're zooming into the pictures

他们缩放着照片

and using it for art class, biology class.

用在艺术，生物课上

And that's not something I planned.

这些都超乎我的计划

That's just a beautiful offshoot of the project.

这些都是这个项目的美丽衍生

In fact, one of the things I like to do at the exhibitions

实际上，我在展览中喜欢做的一件事是

is actually look at the kiddies' reactions.

看着孩子们的反应

And, you know, standing in front of a three-meter insect,

你知道，站在三米高的昆虫面前

they could have been horrified.

他们可能会被吓坏

But they're not. They look in wonder.

但实际上，他们并没有，他们好奇地打量着

This little chap here, he stood there for five minutes, motionless.

这个小伙子，他就这样站在五分钟，一动不动的

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And at the end of the day, actually, at the end of the day at the exhibitions,

展览结束那天

we have to wipe down the lower third of the big prints --

我不得不擦拭这些大画展的下面1/3部分

(Laughter)

（笑声）

just to remove all those sticky handprints,

以清除这些手印

because all they want to do is touch those big bugs.

因为他们都想触摸这些大虫子

I do want to leave you with one final image, if that's OK.

我真想给你们留下最后一张照片，如果可以的化

This has to do with Charles Darwin.

这与查尔斯达尔文有关

One of the recent images that I photographed

我最近的拍摄的照片之一

was this one here.

是这一张

I'm talking about the creature in the box, not my cat.

我说的是盒子里面的生物，不是我的猫

And this is a shield bug

这是一只盾虫

that Charles Darwin brought back from Australia

是1836年达尔文乘坐小猎犬号

on the HMS Beagle in 1836.

从澳洲带回来的盾虫

And when I got it home,

那时当我回到家时

I stood in my kitchen and stared at it for about 20 minutes.

我站在厨房，看了它又20分钟

I couldn't believe I was in possession of this beautiful creature.

难以置信我会拥有如此漂亮的生物

And at that moment, I kind of realized

而那一刻，我多少意识到

that this validated the project for me.

这验证了我的项目

The fact that the museum was willing to risk me playing with this

事实上博物馆冒得被我折腾这些的风险

kind of showed me that my images had worth --

多少向我表明了我的照片一定值得

you know, they weren't disposable.

并不会让他们失望

That's the image that I produced.

这就是我的作品

I often wonder, still, when I look at this:

看着这些，我常常好奇

What would Charles Darwin make of these images?

达尔文会如何看待这些图片

Do you think he'd like his picture of his shield bug? I hope so.

你觉得他会喜欢盾虫这种照片吗？我希望如何

So --

所以

(Applause)

（掌声）

You know, I think it's strange in a way.

这多少有点奇怪

I'm a visual person, I'm a creative person,

我是一个视觉人员，我是一个创意人员

but I still needed the eyes of a child to find my extraordinary subject.

但我仍然需要儿童的眼睛去寻找我的独特项目

That's the way it was.

事情就是如此

So all I can say is, thank you very much, Sebastian;

所以我只能说，非常谢谢，塞巴斯蒂安

I am very, very grateful.

非常，非常感激

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）