አስር አመት አካባቢ ይሆናል ከቴክሳስ ከአንድ ሴት የስልክ ጥሪ ደረሰኝ እስቴሲ ቤከር የኔን የተወሰኑ ፎቶግራፎችንና የፎቶ አውደራዕይ ተመልክታ ነበር የቤተሰብ አልበም በክፍያ እንድሰራላት ፈልጋ ነበር በጊዜው ከእስቴሲ ጋር አልተገናኘንም ነበር እናም የተሰማኝ ይሄ ነገር የነዳጅ ሀብት አግኝቼ የከበርኩ ነው የመሰለኝ ግን ቆይቶ ነበር ነገሩ የተገለጸልኝ ይሄንን ለማድረግ ስትል ተበድራ ነበር የናት አባቷን ምስል አነሳሁ ግን እስቴሲን ፎቶ ማንሳት ነበር ይበልጥ ያስደሰተኝ በእለቱ ያነሳሁት ምስል ከሰራኋቸው ሁሉ የተሻለው ለመሆን በቃ ይሄን ፎቶ ባነሳሁበት ጊዜ እስቴሲ ጠበቃ ሆና ትሰራ ነበር በቴክሳስ አስተዳደር ብዙም ሳይቆይ ስራዋን በመተው በሜይን የፎቶ ጥበብ ማጥናት ጀመረች እዛ በቆየችበት አጋጣሚ ሳይታሰብ የኒውዬርክ ታየምስ መጽሄት የፎቶ ጥበብ ዳይሬክተር ተዋወቀች በዛም የስራ እድል ቀረበላት ከዛን ጊዜ ጀምሮ አሌክና እኔ በጋራ ብዙ የመጽሄት ፕሮጀክቶችን ሰርተናል እንም ጓደኝሞች ለመሆን በቃን ከጥቂት ወራቶች በፊት ከአሌክ ጋር ስለሚመስጠን አንድ ነገር መነጋገር ጀመርን ጥንዶች እንዴት እንደሚገናኙ ማወቅ የሁልጊዜም ጉጉቴ አሌክን ከባለቤቱ ራሄል ጋር እንዴት እንደተገናኙ ጠይቄው ነበር የሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርት የኳስ ጨዋታ ላይ ነበር እሷ 16 እሱ 15 ነበር ጠየቃት ሮዝ ጸጉሯን ይወድላት ነበር እሺ አለችው ይሄው ነበር በመቀጠል አሌክ ፎቶግራፍ ፕሮጀክት ለመስራት ፍላጎቱን እንዳለው ጠየኩት በዚሁ ጉዳይ ላይ የሚያጠነጥን ጉዳዩ ስቦኝ ነበር ግን ይበልጥ ፍላጎቴ የነበረው እስቴሲ ለመጠየቅ ያነሳሳት ነገር ላይ ነበር ምክንያቱም እስቴሲ በጭራሽ ፍቅረኛ ይዛ አይቻት አላውቅም ስለዚህ በዚህ ፕሮጀክት አጋጣሚ ሳስበው የሆነ ሰው ለማግኘት ብትሞክር ጥሩ ይሆናል ሀሳቡ እስቴሲ እስፒድ ዴቲን ማስገባት ነበር ያውም ላስቬጋስ ውስጥ በፍቅረኞች ቀን (ሳቅ) (ጭብጨባ)(ሙዚቃ) በአለም ትልቅ ከሚባለለት የችኮላ "ዴቲንግ" ዝግጅት ላይ ተገኘን 19 ወንድ ተዋውቄአለሁ ከእያንዳንዱ ለ3 ደቂቃ ነበር የቆየሁት ሂደቱ እንዲቀጥል ለተሳታፊዎች የሚያዝናኑ ጥያቄዎች ተሰቶ ነበር ለምሳሌ "እንስሳ መሆን ብትችዪ፣ ምን ትሆኒ ነበር?" እንደዚ የመሰለ ጥያቄ ነበር የመጀመሪያው ኮሊን ነበር እንግሊዛዊ ነው ሚስት ነበረችው አሌክና አኔ ማታ ላይ አግኝተነው ነበር ወረፋ መጠበቂያ ላይ አንድ ሴት እንደሳመ ነገሮናል ዛክና ክሪስ አንድ ላይ ነበር የመጡት ይሄ ካርል ነው ካርልን ሴት ስታገኝ መጀመሪያ የሚታይህ ምንድ ነው አልኩት ጡት አለኝ (ሳቅ) ማቲው ጡንቸኛ እግር ያላት ሴት ትማርከዋለች ስለ ሩጫ አውርተን ነበር እሱ ትሪታሎን ይሰራል አኔ ግማሽ ማራቶን ሮጫለሁ አሌክ አይኑ ያምራል ወደድሽው ሲለኝ ነበር ግን እኔ አልሳበኝም እሱም የተመቸሁት አይመስለኝም ኦስቲንና ማይክ አብረው ነበር የመጡት ማይክ መስቀለኛ ጥያቄ አነሳ "ሊፍት ውስጥ ብትሆኚና ለስብሰባ ረፍዶብሽ ቢሆን የሆነ ሰው ወደ ሊፍቱ እየመጣ ምልክት ቢሰጥሽ ሊፍቱን ትይዢለታለሽ?" አላደርገውም አልኩት (ሳቅ) ክሊፍ ከሴት ቀድሜ የማየው ጥርሷን ነው አለ ጥርሳችን ያምራል ስንባባል ነበር አፉን ከፍቶ ስለሆነ የሚተኛው በሽታ እንዳይዘው ጥረሱን ብዙ ጊዜ መቦረሽ እንዳለበት አወራኝ በምን ያህል ጊዜ ትፍቃለህ ስለው በቀን አንዴ አለ (ሳቅ) እንግዲህ እኔ በቀን ሁለቴ ለሚፍቅ ሰው እሱ እንደሚለው መፋቅ የበዛበት አይመስለኝም እንዲህ ብዬ ግን አልነገርኩትም ቢል የኦዲት ባለሙያ ነው ሦስት ደቂቃውን በሙሉ ስለ ኦዲት ስናወራ ነበር (ሳቅ) እስፔንሰር ከሴት ቀድሞ የሚያየው የፊት ማሰማመሪያን ነው ብዙ ሴቶች ሜክአፕ እንደሚያበዙ ነው የሚሰማው በትንሹ ለመታየት ካልሆን በስተቀር ማድረግ የለባቸውም ባይ ነው ምንም ሜክአፕ አለማድረጌን ነገርኩት ሀሳቡ ሳመቸው አይቀርም ክሬግ ስለ እራሴ ግልጽ መሆን የምፈልግ አልመሰለውም በህይወቴ ስለገጠመኝ የሚያሳፍር ነገር ማስታወስ ባለመቻሌ ሲበሳጭ ነበር የዋሸሁት መስሎታል ግን አልዋሸሁም የወደደኝ አይመስለኝም ግን መጨረሻ ላይ ተመልሶ መጥቶ ሙሉ ቸኮሌት ሰጠን ዊልያም ሊያወሩት የሚከብድ ሰው ነው ሳይክር አልቀረም (ሳቅ) ተዋናይ ክሪስ ማኬና በዝግጅቱ ዋና አድማቂ እሱ ነበር ወጣትና እረፍት አልባ የሚል ፊልም ላይ ነበረበት ከእሱ ጋር አልተገናኘሁም አሌክ ነው ብዙ ሴቶች ስልክ ቁጥር ሲሰጡት ያየው ቢሆንም ፍቅር አልያዘኝም ከማናቸውም ጋር የተለየ የተሰማኝ ነገር አልነበረም እነሱም ቢሆኑ ከኔ ጋር የተሰማቸው ነገር ያለ አይመስለኝም ለኔ ከሁሉም ነገር ውብ ሆኖ የሚታየን (ሳቅ)እንደ ፎቶ አንሺነቴ ተጋላጭነት ነው ውጫዊ አካላችን ውስጣችንን በቀዳዳ አሳልፎ ይሰጠናል በተለይ ውስጣችን ያልተረጋጋ ከሆነ በዚህ ዝግጅት ደግሞ ያን የሚመሰክር ብዙ ነገር አይቻለሁ ግን እስቴሲ ያገኘቻቸውን ወንዶች ሳይና ስለእነሱ ሳዋራት የተረዳሁት ነገር ምን ያህል በፎቶ ያለ ፍቅርና እውነተኛ ፍቅር እንደሚለያይ ነው እውነተኛ ፍቅር ምንድን ነው? እንዴት ነው ሚሰራው? ይሄን ጥያቄ ለመመለስና በትውውቅ ተገናኝቶ አብሮ እስከመኖር እንዴት እንደሚደረስ ለመረዳት ስንል እስቴሲና እኔ ወደ ሰን ሲቲ ሰመርሊን አመራን ያው በላስ ቬጋስ ያለ ትልቁ የአዛውንቶች መጦሪያ ስፍራ ነው አገናኛችን ጆርጅ ይባላል የፎቶግራፍ ክበብ መሪ ነው ለፎቶ የተገኙ ጥንዶችን እንድናነጋግር አመቻችቶልን ነበር ከ45 አመታት የትዳር ቆይታ በኋላ የአንስታሲያ ባለቤት ከሞተ ሁለት ሆኖታል የቆየ የሰርግ ፎቶ እንዳላት ጠይቀናት ነበር ባለቤቷን ያገኘቸው በ15 አመቷ በአስተናጋጅነት ከምትሰራበት በሚቺንጋን ከሚገኝ ትንሽ ምግብ ቤት ውስጥ ነበር እሱ 30 ነበር እድሜዋን ዋሽታለች የመጀመሪያዋ ነበር ዲን ለሁለት አመት በተከታታይ በላስ ቬጋስ የአመቱ ምርጥ ፎቶግራፈር በመሆን ተመጧል ይሄ አሌክን ስቦት ነበር ባለቤቱን ጁድ ያገነበት አኳሀን አሌክ ራሄልን ባገኘበት ተመሳሳይ እድሜ ላይ ነበር ዲን በባህሪው ቆንጆ ሴት ማየት እንደሚወድ ቢያምንም ጁድን ለማግባት የመወሰኑን ትክክለኝነት አይጠራጠርም ጆርጅ ጆሴፊንን ዳንስ ላይ ነበር ያገናት እሱ 18 እሷ 15 ነበሩ በብዛት እንዳገኘናቸው ጥንዶች እነሱ ስላለፈ የህይወት ምርጫቸው የሚፈላሰፉ አልነበሩም ጆርጅ ያነኝ ነገር እስካሁን አብሮኝ አለ "ያ ስሜት ሲሰማሽ ዝም ብለሽ ትከተይዋለሽ" ነበር ያለው ቦብና ትሩዲ እሷ ሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርት ላይ እያለች ነበር የተገናኙት የመዋደድ ስሜት አልነበራቸውም መጀመሪያ የተገናኙ ጊዜ ይሁን እንጂ ብዙም ሳይቆዩ ተጋብተዋል ከሁሉም ተለይቶ ውስጤ የቀረው የጆርጅ የፎቶ ክበብ ሀላፊው ና የባለቤቱ ሜሪ ታሪክ ነበር ጆርጅ ይሄ ነው የሜሪ ደግሞ ሁለተኛ ትዳር በሎዊስቫይል ኬንተርኪ በሚገኝ ሳሃራ ሚባል አገረሰብ ክለብ ነበር የተገኛኙት እሱ ብቻውን እየጠጣ እሷ ደግሞ ከጓደኘቿ ጋር ነበረች መውጣት የጀመሩ ሰሞን እሱ ቴክሳስ ውስጥ 9ሺ ዶላር የታክስ እዳ ነበረበት ከእዳ እንዲወጣ አግዛዋለች ስለዚህ ለቀጣይ አንድ አመት ደመወዙን ለሜሪ ነበር የሚሰጠው በዚህም ከእዳ ነጻ እንዲሆን አድርጋዋለች በመሰረቱ ሲጋቡም ጀምሮ ጆርጅ የመጠጥ ሱሰኛ ነበር ሜሪ ይሄን ታውቃለች በትዳር ውስጥ እያሉ እሱ እንዳለው በቀን 54 ቢራ የጠጣበት አጋጣሚ ነበር በሌላ ጊዜ በጣም ሰክሮ እሷና በሁለት ልጆቿን ላይ የመግደል ሙከራ አድረጓል ግን አምልጠዋል ልዩ የፖሊስ ሀይል ቤታቸው መቶ ነበር የሚያስደንቀው ይቅር ብላ ታረቀችው ከዛ በኋላ ነገሮች እየተሸሉ መጡ ጆርጅ ከመጠት ሱስ ለመገላገል የምክር አገልግሎት ተካፍሏል እናም ለ36 አመት ያህል መጠጥ ጠጥቶ አያቅም (ሙዚቃ) በስተ መጨረሻ ሰን ሲቲን ለቀን ከወጣን ስንወጣ ለአሌክ የነገርኩት እነዚን ጥንዶች የተገናኙበት ታሪክ አይደለም ቁም ነገሩ ዋናው ነገር እንዴት አብረው መቆየት እንደቻሉ ነው ሁሉም ጋር የሚምር ጽናት አለ ግን ላጤዎቹም ቢሆኑ እንደዛው ናቸው ህይወት ከባድ ነው እነሱ ደግሞ ወተው ሌሎችን ሰዎች ለማግኘት እየታገሉ ነው ጥንዶቹ እጅ ለእጅ እንደተያያዙ ነው ከስነት አስርት አመታት በኋላም ቢሆን በዚህ ጉዞ የወደድኩት ምስል የጆይ እና ሮሴአንን ነው እነሱን ባገኘንበት ሰአት የሰርግ ፎቶ መጠየቅን እንደ ልምድ አድረገነው ነበር የነሱ የሚለየው ሁለቱም በተመሳሳይ ጊዜ ከኪስ ቦርሳቸውን አንድ አይነት ፎቶ ማውጣታቸው ነበር ለራሴ ሳስበው የትኛው ነው ይበልጥ የሚያምረው ምስሉ ላይ ያሉት ሁለት ትኩስ ፍቀር ላይ ያሉ ጥንዶች ወይስ የነዚህ ሁለት ሰዎች ለአመታት ይሀንን ምስል ይዘው የመገኘታቸው ሀሳብ አመሰግናለሁ (ጭብጨባ)
Alec Soth: So about 10 years ago, I got a call from a woman in Texas, Stacey Baker, and she'd seen some of my photographs in an art exhibition and was wondering if she could commission me to take a portrait of her parents. Now, at the time I hadn't met Stacey, and I thought this was some sort of wealthy oil tycoon and I'd struck it rich, but it was only later that I found out she'd actually taken out a loan to make this happen. I took the picture of her parents, but I was actually more excited about photographing Stacey. The picture I made that day ended up becoming one of my best-known portraits. At the time I made this picture, Stacey was working as an attorney for the State of Texas. Not long after, she left her job to study photography in Maine, and while she was there, she ended up meeting the director of photography at the New York Times Magazine and was actually offered a job. Stacey Baker: In the years since, Alec and I have done a number of magazine projects together, and we've become friends. A few months ago, I started talking to Alec about a fascination of mine. I've always been obsessed with how couples meet. I asked Alec how he and his wife Rachel met, and he told me the story of a high school football game where she was 16 and he was 15, and he asked her out. He liked her purple hair. She said yes, and that was it. I then asked Alec if he'd be interested in doing a photography project exploring this question. AS: And I was interested in the question, but I was actually much more interested in Stacey's motivation for asking it, particularly since I'd never known Stacey to have a boyfriend. So as part of this project, I thought it'd be interesting if she tried to meet someone. So my idea was to have Stacey here go speed dating in Las Vegas on Valentine's Day. (Laughter) (Applause) (Music) SB: We ended up at what was advertised as the world's largest speed dating event. I had 19 dates and each date lasted three minutes. Participants were given a list of ice- breaker questions to get the ball rolling, things like, "If you could be any kind of animal, what would you be?" That sort of thing. My first date was Colin. He's from England, and he once married a woman he met after placing an ad for a Capricorn. Alec and I saw him at the end of the evening, and he said he'd kissed a woman in line at one of the concession stands. Zack and Chris came to the date-a-thon together. This is Carl. I asked Carl, "What's the first thing you notice about a woman?" He said, "Tits." (Laughter) Matthew is attracted to women with muscular calves. We talked about running. He does triathlons, I run half-marathons. Alec actually liked his eyes and asked if I was attracted to him, but I wasn't, and I don't think he was attracted to me either. Austin and Mike came together. Mike asked me a hypothetical question. He said, "You're in an elevator running late for a meeting. Someone makes a dash for the elevator. Do you hold it open for them?" And I said I would not. (Laughter) Cliff said the first thing he notices about a woman is her teeth, and we complimented each other's teeth. Because he's an open mouth sleeper, he says he has to floss more to help prevent gum disease, and so I asked him how often he flosses, and he said, "Every other day." (Laughter) Now, as someone who flosses twice a day, I wasn't really sure that that was flossing more but I don't think I said that out loud. Bill is an auditor, and we talked the entire three minutes about auditing. (Laughter) The first thing Spencer notices about a woman is her complexion. He feels a lot of women wear too much makeup, and that they should only wear enough to accentuate the features that they have. I told him I didn't wear any makeup at all and he seemed to think that that was a good thing. Craig told me he didn't think I was willing to be vulnerable. He was also frustrated when I couldn't remember my most embarrassing moment. He thought I was lying, but I wasn't. I didn't think he liked me at all, but at the end of the night, he came back to me and he gave me a box of chocolates. William was really difficult to talk to. I think he was drunk. (Laughter) Actor Chris McKenna was the MC of the event. He used to be on "The Young and the Restless." I didn't actually go on a date with him. Alec said he saw several women give their phone numbers to him. Needless to say, I didn't fall in love. I didn't feel a particular connection with any of the men that I went on dates with, and I didn't feel like they felt a particular connection with me either. AS: Now, the most beautiful thing to me -- (Laughter) -- as a photographer is the quality of vulnerability. The physical exterior reveals a crack in which you can get a glimpse at a more fragile interior. At this date-a-thon event, I saw so many examples of that, but as I watched Stacey's dates and talked to her about them, I realized how different photographic love is from real love. What is real love? How does it work? In order to work on this question and to figure out how someone goes from meeting on a date to having a life together, Stacey and I went to Sun City Summerlin, which is the largest retirement community in Las Vegas. Our contact there was George, who runs the community's photography club. He arranged for us to meet other couples in their makeshift photo studio. SB: After 45 years of marriage, Anastasia's husband died two years ago, so we asked if she had an old wedding picture. She met her husband when she was a 15-year-old waitress at a small barbecue place in Michigan. He was 30. She'd lied about her age. He was the first person she'd dated. Dean had been named photographer of the year in Las Vegas two years in a row, and this caught Alec's attention, as did the fact that he met his wife, Judy, at the same age when Alec met Rachel. Dean admitted that he likes to look at beautiful women, but he's never questioned his decision to marry Judy. AS: George met Josephine at a parish dance. He was 18, she was 15. Like a lot of the couples we met, they weren't especially philosophical about their early choices. George said something that really stuck with me. He said, "When you get that feeling, you just go with it." Bob and Trudy met on a blind date when she was still in high school. They said they weren't particularly attracted to each other when the first met. Nevertheless, they were married soon after. SB: The story that stayed with me the most was that of George, the photography club president, and his wife, Mary. This was George and Mary's second marriage. They met at a country-western club in Louisville, Kentucky called the Sahara. He was there alone drinking and she was with friends. When they started dating, he owed the IRS 9,000 dollars in taxes, and she offered to help him get out of debt, so for the next year, he turned his paychecks over to Mary, and she got him out of debt. George was actually an alcoholic when they married, and Mary knew it. At some point in their marriage, he says he consumed 54 beers in one day. Another time, when he was drunk, he threatened to kill Mary and her two kids, but they escaped and a SWAT team was called to the house. Amazingly, Mary took him back, and eventually things got better. George has been involved in Alcoholics Anonymous and hasn't had a drink in 36 years. (Music) At the end of the day, after we left Sun City, I told Alec that I didn't actually think that the stories of how these couples met were all that interesting. What was more interesting was how they managed to stay together. AS: They all had this beautiful quality of endurance, but that was true of the singles, too. The world is hard, and the singles were out there trying to connect with other people, and the couples were holding onto each other after all these decades. My favorite pictures on this trip were of Joe and Roseanne. Now, by the time we met Joe and Roseanne, we'd gotten in the habit of asking couples if they had an old wedding photograph. In their case, they simultaneously pulled out of their wallets the exact same photograph. What's more beautiful, I thought to myself, this image of a young couple who has just fallen in love or the idea of these two people holding onto this image for decades? Thank you. (Applause)