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.
Alex Soth: Prije desetak godina, nazvala me jedna Teksašanka Stacey Baker koja je vidjele neke moje fotografije na umjetničkoj izložbi i zamolila me da napravim portret njezinih roditelja. Tada još nisam upoznao Stacey, pa sam mislio da se radi o nekom tajkunu i da me sad čekaju velike pare, ali tek sam kasnije saznao da je podigla kredit da bi to omogućila.
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.
Fotografirao sam njezine roditelje, ali više sam se veselio fotografiranju Stacey. Fotografija koju sam tada uslikao postala je jedna od mojih najpoznatijih portreta. U to je vrijeme Stacey radila kao javna tužiteljica za Teksas. Nedugo zatim napustila je taj posao radi studija fotografije u Maineu Tamo je upoznala direktora fotografije za časopis New York Times koji joj je ponudio posao. Stacey Baker: Otada smo Alec i ja zajedno odradili cijeli niz projekata za časopise i postali prijatelji.
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.
Prije nekoliko mjeseci Alecu sam počela pričati o jednoj svojoj fascinaciji. Uvijek sam voljela priče o upoznavanju parova. Pitala sam Aleca kako su se njegova žena Rachel i on upoznali i ispričao mi je priču o srednjoškolskoj utakmici američkog nogometa. Njoj je bilo 16. godina, a njemu 15 i pozvao ju je na spoj. Sviđala mu se njezina ljubičasta kosa, ona je pristala i to je bilo to. Zatim sam Alecu predložila fotografski projekt koji bi se bavio tim pitanjem.
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)
AS: Mene je to pitanje zanimalo, ali još me više zanimalo što je Stacey motiviralo na to, pogotovo s obzirom na to da nisam znao da Stacey ima dečka. Kao dio projekta mislio sam da bi bilo zanimljivo kad bi pokušala upoznati nekoga. Moja je ideja bila poslati Stacey na brzinske spojeve u Las Vegas na Valentinovo. (Smijeh) (Pljesak) (Glazba)
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.
SB: Završili smo na nečemu promoviranom kao najveći skup brzinskih spojeva. Imala sam 19 spojeva i svaki je spoj trajao tri minute. Sudionicima su dana pitanja za probijanje leda da bi razgovor lakše tekao, poput: "Kad bio mogao/la biti bilo koja životinja na svijetu, što bi izabrao/la?" I slična pitanja.
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.
Prvi sam spoj imala s Colinom iz Engleske. On je nekoć oženio ženu koju je upoznao preko oglasa u kojem je tražio jarca. Alec i ja vidjeli smo ga na kraju večeri i rekao nam je da je poljubio ženu koja je stajala u redu za jedan od štandova.
Zack and Chris came to the date-a-thon together.
Zack i Chris na ovaj su događaj došli zajedno.
This is Carl. I asked Carl, "What's the first thing you notice about a woman?" He said, "Tits." (Laughter)
Ovo je Carl. Pitala sam Carla što prvo primijeti na ženi. Odgovorio je: "Grudi." (Smijeh)
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.
Matthewa privlače žene mišićavih listova. Razgovarali smo o trčanju. On trči triatlone, a ja polumaratone. Alecu su se svidjele njegove oči i pitao me privlači li me, ali rekoh ne, a mislim da ni ja njega nisam privlačila.
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)
Austin i Mike došli su zajedno. Mike mi je postavio hipotetsko pitanje: "U dizalu si i kasniš na sastanak. Netko potrči prema dizalu. Hoćeš li ga zadržati za njih?" Rekoh: "Neću." (Smijeh)
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.
Cliff je rekao da on na ženi najprije primijeti zube, pa smo jedno drugome pohvalili zube. Budući da spava otvorenih usta, kaže da mora češće koristiti zubni konac radi prevencije bolesti desni. Pitala sam koliko često čisti zube zubnim koncem i rekao je: "Svaki drugi dan." (Smijeh) Budući da ja svoje čistim dvaput dnevno, nisam bila sigurna da je to baš "češće", ali mislim da to nisam rekla naglas.
Bill is an auditor, and we talked the entire three minutes about auditing. (Laughter)
Bill je revizor i cijele te tri minute razgovarali smo o financijskoj reviziji. (Smijeh)
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.
Spencer na ženi najprije primijeti ten. Smatra da puno žena nosi previše šminke i da bi trebale nositi tek toliko da naglase svoje najjače strane. Rekla sam mu da uopće ne nosim šminku i on je to izgleda vidio kao pozitivnu stvar. Craig je mislio da nisam voljna biti ranjiva, a frustriralo ga je i to što se nisam mogla sjetiti najneugodnijeg iskustva. Mislio je da lažem, ali nisam lagala. Mislila sam da mu se uopće ne sviđam, ali na kraju večeri prišao mi je i dao mi bombonijeru.
William was really difficult to talk to. I think he was drunk. (Laughter)
S Williamom je bilo izrazito teško razgovarati. Mislim da je bio pijan. (Smijeh)
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.
Glumac Chris McKenna bio je organizator događaja. Nekoć je glumio u seriji "Mladi i neobuzdani". S njim nisam išla na spoj. Alec je rekao da je vidio nekoliko žena kako mu daju svoj broj.
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.
Ne treba ni reći da se nisam zaljubila. Nisam osjetila neku posebnu kemiju ni s jednim od muškaraca, a i mislim da je bilo uzajamno.
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.
AS: Ono što je meni bilo najljepše u cijeloj priči (Smijeh) -- meni kao fotografu bila je kvaliteta ranjivosti. Fizička vanjština otkriva pukotinu kroz koju možete ugledati tračak još ranjivije unutrašnjosti. Na ovom skupu brzinskih spojeva vidio sam puno takvih primjera, ali gledajući Staceyine spojeve i pričajući s njom o njima, shvatio sam koliko je fotografska ljubav drugačija od one prave.
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,
Što je prava ljubav i kako funkcionira? Kako bismo odgovorili na ovo pitanje i shvatili kako netko kreće od spoja do zajedničkog života. Stacey i ja posjetili smo Sun City Summerlin, najvećeu zajednicu umirovljenika u Las Vegasu. Veza nam je bio George, voditelj foto-sekcije za umirovljenike. Dogovorio nam je susret s drugim parovima u improviziranom foto-studiju. SB: Anastasijin je suprug umro prije dvije godine nakon 45 godina braka,
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.
pa smo je zamolili za staru sliku s vjenčanja. Muža je upoznala kao petnaestogodišnja konobarica u maloj roštiljarnici u Michiganu. Njemu je bilo 30 godina, a ona je o svojim godinama lagala. On joj je bio prvi dečko.
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.
Dean je dvije godine zaredom imenovan fotografom godine, što je zainteresiralo Aleca, kao i činjenica da je svoju suprugu Judy upoznao kada je bio istih godina kao i Alec kad je upoznao Rachel. Dean je priznao da voli gledati lijepe žene, ali nikad nije požalio zbog svoje odluke da oženi 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."
AS: George je upoznao Josephine na župnom plesu. Njemu je bilo 18., a njoj 15. Kao i većina parova koje smo upoznali, ni oni nisu previše filozofirali oko svojih ranih odluka. George je rekao nešto što me zaista zateklo. Rekao je: "Kad dobiješ taj osjećaj, samo ga slijedi."
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.
Bob i Trudy upoznali su se na spoju naslijepo dok je ona bila u srednjoj. Priznali su da jedno drugome nisu bili pretjerano privlačni kad su se tek upoznali, no bez obzira na to, ubrzo su se vjenčail.
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.
SB: Mene se najviše dojmila Georgeva priča, priča predsjednika foto-sekcije i njegove supruge Mary. Oboma je to bio drugi brak. Upoznali su se u zapadnjačkom country klubu "Sahari" u Louisvilleu u Kentuckyju. On je pio sam, a ona je bila s prijateljicama. Kad su počeli izlaziti, on je Poreznoj upravi dugovao 9.000 dolara, a ona mu je ponudila pomoći da se izvuče iz dugova, stoga je naredne godine svoje plaće davao Mary koja ga je izvukla iz dugova. George je bio alkoholičar kad su se vjenčali i Mary je to znala. Kaže da je u određenoj fazi njihova braka popio 54 piva u jednom danu. Drugom prilikom, pijan je prijetio Mary da će ubiti i nju i njezinih dvoje djece, ali pobjegli su i specijalci su im pozvani u kuću. Čudom, Mary ga je primila nazad i s vremenom su se stvari popravile. George se uključio u anonimne alkoholičare i ne pije već 36 godina.
(Music)
(Glazba)
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.
Na kraju dana, kad smo napustili Sun City, rekla sam Alecu da mi priče o upoznavanju nisu pretjerano zanimljive. Zanimljvije su mi priče o tome kako su ti parovi ostali zajedno.
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.
AS: Svi su imali tu predivnu sposobnost izdržljivosti, baš kao i samci. Svijet je okrutan, a samci se ondje pokušavaju povezati s drugim ljudima, a parovi imaju jedni druge nakon tolikih desetljeća.
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?
Moja najdraža fotografija s ovog puta jest ona Joeva i Roseanneina. Dok smo upoznali Joe i Roseanne, već smo se naviknuli tražiti parove staru sliku s vjenčanja. U njihovu slučaju oni su istovremeno iz novčanika izvukli istu fotografiju. Što je ljepše, pomislih, ova slika mladog para koji se tek zaljubio ili pomisao da tih dvoje ljudi čuva tu sliku već desetljećima?
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)