<p class="ql-block">My Nomadic Blood -- An Interview with photographer Dr Charles R Yang</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">采访者：许子翔 Shawn Xu</p><p class="ql-block">受访者：楊人欽 Charles R Yang</p> <p class="ql-block">2018年10月，华裔脑科学/摄影家Charles R Yang （楊人欽）先生在印地安娜波利斯Circle City工业园区的C13画廊举办了首场个人摄影邀请展，影展非常成功，获得好评如潮。在2021年6月五日，Charles受邀将再举办一场个人摄影展— “亚洲人眼里的亚洲” (Asia Through Asian Eyes) ，记者近日有幸采访到了摄影家Charles Yang老师，多年在世界各地学习，实践和不断的探索，他形成了独特的摄影风格。采访中Charles讲述了他的摄影历程、对摄影的理解以及对摄影艺术的看法。</p><p class="ql-block">Dr. Charles R Yang hosted a very successful first invited photographic print show in October, 2018 in the Circle City Industrial Complex’s Gallery C13 of Tom Potter, Gayle Moore, and Nancy Frass. He has received much praise from a surprisingly large number of visitors. This coming June 5,2021, Charles was again invited to host another personal photographic print show entitled “Asia Through Asian Eyes”. This reporter was fortunate to interview photographer Charles recently. After years of study, practice and continuous exploration around the world, Charles has forged a unique photographic style. Through the interview, Charles talked about his photographic journey, his understanding of photography, and his views on the art of photography.</p> <p class="ql-block">问：我注意到您大多数的作品都是街头摄影，在您看来街头摄影有什么样的独特的魅力？</p><p class="ql-block">答：我在2010年移居上海时就认真地开始了“街头摄影”工作。在那里，当地人对个人隐私并不像美国这边那样偏执。我的目标是在我访问过的每个地方都捕捉到一段社会文化生活。这些短暂的瞬间必须在不到一秒钟的时间内用正确的光线和角度拍摄。因此，摄影师必须保持警惕，并时刻准备捕捉那些转瞬即逝的故事。我喜欢那种随着肾上腺素水平升高而产生的令人兴奋而又强烈的感觉，这是我街头的摄影热情的源泉和动力。我想指出，我拍的照片中几乎有99％是失败的（例如错过了正确的时刻，或捕捉了错误的时刻，又或光线不足，散焦，构图不佳等。）但是那些1％的成功照片常常使我狂喜，这感觉很难用言语形容！）</p><p class="ql-block">Q: I notice that most of your work is street photography. What is the special about street photography?</p><p class="ql-block">A: I started Street Photography seriously when I moved to Shanghai in 2010. There, the locals are not as paranoid about personal privacy as here. My aim was to capture a slice of socio-cultural life in each place that I visited. These brief moments have to be properly composed with the right kind of lighting within a fraction of a second. Hence, the photographer has to be hyper-vigilant and always ready to see a story which can be captured in a fleeting moment. I like the exciting and intense feelings accompanied by the elevated levels of adrenaline that ‘fuels’ the photographic actions on the street. Mind you, almost 99% of the results I came back with were failures (eg, missing the right moments, or capturing the wrong moments, poor lighting, out-of-, bad compositions….etc.). But the 1% presentable results often drive me to ecstacy that it is hard to describe in words !</p> <p class="ql-block">问：摄影对许多人而言，是一种表达自己的方式，是一种对生活的记录。对您而言，摄影意味着什么？</p><p class="ql-block">答：尽管我喜欢写作，但我从来都不是一个好作家。我发现摄影是一种可以很好地表达我观点的媒介。现在它是一种数字媒体，我可以随时与大家分享和获取反馈，来提高自己的水平。我经常尝试将照片与自己的写作结合在一起，以进一步去表达每张照片的含义。我会努力制作带有特殊含义或故事的照片，用这些故事去吸引观众的注意力，让人们理解每张照片中嵌入的视觉故事。</p><p class="ql-block">Q: For many people, photography is a way of expressing themselves and a record of life. What does photography mean to you?</p><p class="ql-block">A: Although I love writing a great deal, I have never been a good writer. Photography is the media that I discovered and it serves me very well in expressing my views. It is now in a digital media that I can readily share with my peers and viewers for feedback to improve my craft. Often, I tried to accompany the photo with some of my own writing in order to express further the meaning of each photo. I try hard to craft my photos that carry special meanings or stories that invite the viewers’ eyes to linger on them and understand the visual narrative embedded in each of the photos。</p> <p class="ql-block">问：我们生活在一个像素爆炸的时代，每天都有成千上万张新照片在各种社交媒体上被展示和传播。为什么有一些照片明明看上去平淡无奇，但却可以打动人心？为什么一些照片看上去精致华丽，但却容易让人产生审美疲劳？</p><p class="ql-block">答：的确，当今所有数字媒体中数字照片正已爆炸式的速度增长。我竭尽所能研究如何拍摄并向公众展示我的照片。我努力拍摄具有视觉叙事，发人深省，具有人际动态的照片，并吸引观众去想象我的照片里试图传达的故事。当动态的人际互动在镜头前展开时，很难在街上预想一个“故事”，然后在一瞬间拍摄“会说故事”的照片。这就是为什么我向您提到我拍的照片中有99％是失败的；它们只是错过了那个“决定性时刻”。但是，当我在计算机显示器前进行处理那仅仅1％的成功作品时，我会情不自禁地笑得心花怒放，喜不自胜。</p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block">Q: We live in an era of pixel explosion. Every day thousands of new photos are displayed and disseminated on various social media. Why are there some photos that seem plain and uninspiring, but they can move people's hearts? Why do some photos look exquisite and gorgeous, but they are easy to cause aesthetic fatigue?</p><p class="ql-block">A: You are right in pointing out the explosion of digital photos in all digital media nowadays. I have searched long and hard how to take, and then to present, my images to the public. I strive to take photos that have a visual narrative, are thought-provoking, possess inter-personal dynamics, and draw viewers to imagine the stories that my photos try to communicate. It is extraordinarily difficult to preconceive ‘a story’ on the street and then to take the photo in a split second as the dynamic human interactions unfold in front of the camera. That’s why I mentioned to you that 99% of my shots were failures; they just missed the ‘decisive moments’. But the 1 % of the satisfactory ones give me immense satisfaction as I process them in front of the computer monitor.</p> <p class="ql-block">问：您最喜欢的摄影家是谁？他对您的摄影风格和理念有着何种影响？</p><p class="ql-block">答：我有几位我视为导师的摄影师。如果你爱街头摄影，那你将无法避免地受到法国大师亨利·卡蒂埃-布雷松（Henri Cartier-Bresson）的影响。在摄影方面，他是第一位创造“决定性时刻”一词的宗师， “决定性时刻”描述了所有视觉事件和元素汇聚在一起形成的关键时刻，该画面囊括了在那个特殊时刻发生的故事。</p><p class="ql-block">因为我在英国长大，英国摄影师唐·麦卡林（Don McCullin）的战争和社会纪录片新闻摄影也对我影响颇多，他的黑白作品非常感人和善解人意。</p><p class="ql-block">•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=749qwPhPrxo</p><p class="ql-block">最近，巴西摄影师塞巴斯蒂奥·萨尔加多（Sebastio Salgado）令人难以置信的社会文化作品极大地震撼了我。他早期关于社会不公正的标志性作品，战争给平民的附带伤害，以及他最近的作品在全球范围内记录了令人窒息的美丽而又脆弱的自然风光，向我们展示了大自然在我们人类具有破坏性手中正在快速消失的残酷现实。</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastiao_salgado_the_silent_drama_of_photography?language=zh-CN。</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Sebasti%C3%A3o-Salgado/dp/B01LWPTR0K/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=sabatio+salgado&qid=1579358262&s=instant-video&sr=1-1-fkmr0</p><p class="ql-block">何藩---何藩是我名单上唯一的中国摄影师，他在50年代和60年代香港的摄影作品至今仍然无与伦比。他的每张照片都将光，影，图形等元素令人难以置信的结合在一起，并真正地教会了我构成视觉冲击力的所有关键要素的重要性。</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMHf6eGwqYE</p><p class="ql-block">上述所有摄影师都广泛使用单色作为他们的主要媒介。</p><p class="ql-block">几位美国摄影师也对我产生了很大的影响。他们是：</p><p class="ql-block">1.《国家地理》杂志上“阿富汗女孩”的著名摄影师的史蒂夫·麦卡里（Steve McCurry）。他在世界各地拍摄的作品色彩斑斓，具有很强的视觉冲击力，并且教会了我如何避免在旅行中拍摄明信片式的照片。</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0plNvaR0bg</p><p class="ql-block">2. Edward Steichen是上世纪末的一位真正的摄影艺术工匠，他探索早期摄影，例如使用光来制作他的绘画般的照片。</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdbF788fBSU</p><p class="ql-block">3.尤金·史密斯（W Eugene Smith）是另一位社会文化纪录片摄影师，他的作品种类繁多，无法在此进行总结。当他为《时代生活， Time-Life》杂志工作时，他发明了“照片散文”形式的视觉传达，每篇文章都附有一系列照片，以讲述一个完整的故事：西班牙村庄，工业汞污染毒害许多渔民家庭（日本），乡村医生，助产士……等。这些不是短暂相遇的快照，每一个都是他长期与被摄对象在一起一段时期后制作出来的艺术品-在数周和数月内互相认识与了解后拍摄，然后自己在暗室中进行了处理和打印。</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK9Pl9p8X8</p><p class="ql-block">Q: Who is your favorite photographer? How has he / she influenced your photography style and philosophy?</p><p class="ql-block">A: I have several photographers whose work serves as my artistic guideposts. If one is a street photographer, one cannot avoid the influential work of the French Master of the craft, Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was the first photographer who coined the phrase ‘Decisive Moment’ to describe the critical moment when all visual events come together to form the picture that encapsulates the story that happen at that special moment in time.</p><p class="ql-block">British photographer Don McCullin’s war and social documentary photojournalism also attracted me a great deal as I was growing up in Britain. His monochrome work is very moving and empathetic.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=749qwPhPrxo</p><p class="ql-block">More recently, the incredible body of socio-cultural work by the Brazilian photographer Sebastio Salgado has deeply impacted my psyche. His iconic earlier work on social injustice, the collateral damage of civilians in war zones, and his more recent work documenting globally the hauntingly beauty but fragile aspects of nature show us how fast our natural world is diminishing in our damaging hands.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastiao_salgado_the_silent_drama_of_photography?language=en.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.amazon.com/Meeting-Sebasti%C3%A3o-Salgado/dp/B01LWPTR0K/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=sabatio+salgado&qid=1579358262&s=instant-video&sr=1-1-fkmr0</p><p class="ql-block">Fan Ho --- Fan is the only Chinese photographer on my list whose extensive work of lives in Hong Kong in the 50’s and 60’s remains peerless. Each of his photos shows an incredible combination of light, shadow, graphical composition and really taught me the importance of all these key ingredients that create visual impact.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMHf6eGwqYE</p><p class="ql-block">All of the above photographers used monochrome extensively as their primary media.</p><p class="ql-block">Several US photographers also influenced me a great deal. They are:</p><p class="ql-block">1. Steve McCurry of the Afghan girl fame in National Geographic magazine. His body of colorful work taken globally has a very strong visual impact and taught me a great deal to avoid post card shots in wherever I travel to.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0plNvaR0bg</p><p class="ql-block">2. Edward Steichen, a true craftsman from the turn of last century, he explored early photography like using light to make his painting-like photographs.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdbF788fBSU</p><p class="ql-block">3. W Eugene Smith, another socio-cultural documentary photographer whose diverse body of work is too extensive to be summarized here. While he worked for Time-Life magazine, he literally invented the ‘Photo-Essay’ form of visual communication with a series of photos accompanying each essay to tell a full story: Spanish village, industrial mercury pollution that poisoned many fisherman families in Minamata (Japan), country doctor, midwife……etc. These were not snap shots from brief encounters, each was a body of art crafted from his long-term stay with his subjects, knowing them and photographing them over weeks and months, and then processed and printed them in by himself in his own darkroom.</p><p class="ql-block">• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK9Pl9p8X8U</p> <p class="ql-block">问：您在许多国家和地区生活过 (香港，英国，加拿大，美国，中国)，见过形形色色的人，体验过不同的文化和生活。您理想中的生活应该是什么样的呢？您多元化的成长背景给您的摄影创作带来了怎样的影响？</p><p class="ql-block">答：我相信所谓的“理想生活”在现实中并不存在。在我们定居的每个地方，我们都不会停止寻找更接近理想的生活。我内心充满“游牧的血液”，并且不安地拒绝总是定居在一个地方。我刻意不断地寻求改变，我是那些相信不断的改变能塑造，历练，成就人生的怪人之一。有趣的是，我不安的旅行者的基因现在传给了我26岁的女儿，这个女儿已去生活和体验过许多同龄人没去过的世界不同国家和地区。我坚信，通过旅行，我们对世界另一端的生活和思想会有更多的了解，我们可以学会分享互惠互利的多样化思想，并且懂得如何更好地解决冲突的方法，避免一场潜在的丑陋而痛苦的战争。在我这个年龄，我仍然是个理想主义者。</p><p class="ql-block">Q: You have lived in many countries and regions, met various people, and experienced different cultures and lives. What would your ideal life be like? How did your diverse growth background affect your photography?</p><p class="ql-block">A: I believe that the so-called ‘ideal life’ does not exist in reality. We never stop searching for a life closer to ideal in each place that we settle in as home base. I have ‘nomadic blood’ in me and restlessly refuse to settle in one place. I deliberately seek changes constantly and I am one of those odd people who believes that one can excel in life best with semi-frequent changes in life. It is interesting to see that my restless traveler’s genes have now passed onto my 26 years old daughter who have already traveled and lived in more places in the world than I had at the same age. I believe strongly that through travels, the more we understand how the other side of the world lives and thinks, we learn to share diverse ideas that can benefit each others, and know ways to resolve arising conflicts much better in order to avoid yet another potential ugly and painful war due to misunderstandings. I am still an idealist at my age.</p> <p class="ql-block">CIRCLE CITY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX,</p><p class="ql-block">Gallery C13, Entrance 4,</p><p class="ql-block">1125 Brookside Ave, Indianapolis, IN</p><p class="ql-block">六月五日 （周六） 11 am - 4 pm：展览会，（1点和摄影师本人见面）</p><p class="ql-block">(赞助单位：印州华美协会，印州华报</p><p class="ql-block">Sponsored by Indiana Association Of Chinese Americans, Indy Asian American Times) </p>