So if I told you that this was the face of pure joy, would you call me crazy? I wouldn't blame you, because every time I look at this Arctic selfie, I shiver just a little bit. I want to tell you a little bit about this photograph.
如果我告訴你們這是一張充滿喜悅的臉 你們會覺得我瘋了嗎? 我不會怪你們的 因為每當看到這張在北極的自拍, 我都會顫抖一下 我想告訴你們一些有關這張照片的故事
I was swimming around in the Lofoten Islands in Norway, just inside the Arctic Circle, and the water was hovering right at freezing. The air? A brisk -10 with windchill, and I could literally feel the blood trying to leave my hands, feet and face, and rush to protect my vital organs. It was the coldest I've ever been. 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.
我當時正在挪威的羅弗敦群島游泳 剛好在北極圈裡面 水快要結冰了 空氣?頂著凜冽寒風,體感溫度零下10度 我簡直能感受到血液離開我的手、腳和臉 流去保護我身體的重要器官 那是我經歷過最冷的時刻 但是即使雙唇腫脹,眼眶凹陷,雙頰通紅 我發現這正是能給我帶來極大喜悅的地方
Now, when it comes to pain, psychologist Brock Bastian probably said it best when he wrote, "Pain is a kind of shortcut to mindfulness. It makes us suddenly aware of everything in the environment. It brutally draws us in to a virtual sensory awareness of the world much like meditation."
此刻,要是說有什麼痛苦 心理學家 Brock Bastian 說的最好: “痛苦是到達心智全開之捷徑 它讓我們突然之間感受到周遭的一切, 它猛然把我們導引到 一個無形的感官世界,就像冥想一樣。”
If shivering is a form of meditation, then I would consider myself a monk. (Laughter)
如果顫抖是冥想的一種形式, 那我就是一個修道士 (笑)
Now, before we get into the why would anyone ever want to surf in freezing cold water? I would love to give you a little perspective on what a day in my life can look like.
在我們談論 為甚麼會有人想要在寒冷刺骨的水中衝浪之前 我想讓你們知道一些 我每天生活的樣子
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(Video) Man: I mean, I know we were hoping for good waves, but I don't think anybody thought that was going to happen. I can't stop shaking. I am so cold.
(影片)男:我想我們都期待有好海浪 但是我不認為有人相信那會出現 我不停地顫抖 我實在太冷了
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Chris Burkard: So, surf photographer, right? I don't even know if it's a real job title, to be honest. My parents definitely didn't think so when I told them at 19 I was quitting my job to pursue this dream career: blue skies, warm tropical beaches, and a tan that lasts all year long. I mean, to me, this was it. Life could not get any better. Sweating it out, shooting surfers in these exotic tourist destinations. But there was just this one problem. You see, the more time I spent traveling to these exotic locations, the less gratifying it seemed to be. 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 that to me were all the trappings of places heavily touristed in and out of the water, and it didn't take long for me to start feeling suffocated.
Chris Burkard: 講到衝浪攝影師,對嗎? 坦白地講,我甚至不知道 這是不是一個正式的職業名稱 至少我父母不這麼認為 19歲時我曾告訴他們 我要辭職去追尋這個夢想中的職業: 藍天,溫暖的熱帶沙灘, 以及一年四季黝黑色的皮膚 對我來說,生活沒有比這更美好的了 揮灑汗水,在異國旅遊景點拍下衝浪者英姿 但是這裏有個問題 當我花越多的時間去這些異國的旅遊景點 我的滿足感卻越少 我出去追求的本是探險, 但所見的卻都是平凡事物 舉凡wi-fi、電視、美食、 或者隨時行動上網 對我來說, 這些都是過度旅遊開發地區的點綴物 不管是在水裡還是陸地上 不久,我就覺得窒息般難受了
I began craving wild, open spaces, and so I set out to find the places others had written off as too cold, too remote, and too dangerous to surf, and that challenge intrigued me. I began this sort of personal crusade against the mundane, because if there's one thing I've realized, it's that any career, even one as seemingly glamorous as surf photography, has the danger of becoming monotonous.
我開始渴望野外,更開闊的空間 我開始尋找那些對衝浪來說 太冷,太遠以及太危險的地方 這樣的挑戰令我著迷 我開始這場超越平凡的個人聖戰 因為我發現 任何一種職業 即使是衝浪攝影師 這種看起來很令人嚮往的職業 都有變得單調乏味的可能
So in my search to break up this monotony, I realized something: There's only about a third of the Earth's oceans that are warm, and it's really just that thin band around the equator. So if I was going to find perfect waves, it was probably going to happen somewhere cold, where the seas are notoriously rough, and that's exactly where I began to look. And it was my first trip to Iceland that I felt like I found exactly what I was looking for.
所以在我追尋刺激的過程中 我發現地球上大約只有三分之一的海水是溫暖的 就是在赤道附近那條窄帶 所以如果我要去找完美的海浪 很有可能就要去一些較冷的 眾所週知比較危險的海域 這正是我開始尋找的地方 當我第一次去冰島的時候 我發現這正是我所尋找的地方
I was blown away by the natural beauty of the landscape, but most importantly, I couldn't believe we were finding perfect waves in such a remote and rugged part of the world. At one point, we got to the beach only to find massive chunks of ice had piled on the shoreline. They created this barrier between us and the surf, and we had to weave through this thing like a maze just to get out into the lineup. and once we got there, we were pushing aside these ice chunks trying to get into waves. It was an incredible experience, one I'll never forget, because amidst those harsh conditions, I felt like I stumbled onto one of the last quiet places, somewhere that I found a clarity and a connection with the world I knew I would never find on a crowded beach.
我陶醉於那兒美麗的自然風景 但最重要的是,我無法相信 在這種遙遠而崎嶇的地方會有完美的海浪 有一次,我們到了沙灘上 只能看到堆在海岸線上大塊大塊的冰 這些冰成了我們去衝浪的阻礙 我們必須在冰塊迷宮中迂迴前行 以脫身進入等浪區 等我們到達海浪邊 我們要把這些冰塊推到一邊, 以進入到海浪裡 那是個很不可思議的經驗, 我永遠無法忘記 因為在那樣嚴苛的環境中 我感覺自己突然發現了最後一塊寂土 我感受到一種清明、和世界連結的感覺 我知道我永遠不會在擁擠的海灘上找到這些
I was hooked. I was hooked. (Laughter) Cold water was constantly on my mind, and from that point on, my career focused on these types of harsh and unforgiving environments, and it took me to places like Russia, Norway, Alaska, Iceland, Chile, the Faroe Islands, and a lot of places in between. And one of my favorite things about these places was simply the challenge and the creativity it took just to get there: hours, days, weeks spent on Google Earth trying to pinpoint any remote stretch of beach or reef we could actually get to. And once we got there, the vehicles were just as creative: snowmobiles, six-wheel Soviet troop carriers, and a couple of super-sketchy helicopter flights. (Laughter) Helicopters really scare me, by the way.
我上癮了. 我上癮了(大笑) 由於冷水常縈繞我心中 從那開始 我的生涯就專注在這種 嚴峻且毫不留情的環境上 因此我去過一些地方, 像俄國、 挪威、 阿拉斯加、冰島、 智利 還有法羅群島、還有那之間很多地方 關於這些地方我最喜歡之處在於 如何挑戰及發揮創意,以到達那裏 在Google地球上要花上幾小時, 幾天, 幾星期 才能找出某個 我們真正到達得了的長灘或礁石 而為了到達那裏, 交通工具也一樣要動點創意 雪上摩托車、六輪的蘇聯運兵車 還有幾次超級危險的直升機飛行 (笑聲) 順便說,直升機真的嚇到我了
There was this one particularly bumpy boat ride up the coast of Vancouver Island to this kind of remote surf spot, where we ended up watching helplessly from the water as bears ravaged our camp site. They walked off with our food and bits of our tent, clearly letting us know that we were at the bottom of the food chain and that this was their spot, not ours. But to me, that trip was a testament to the wildness I traded for those touristy beaches.
這一次坐船特別顛簸 我們沿著溫哥華島海岸北上, 到達這處遙遠的衝浪地點 在那邊我們最後無助的從水上 看著熊蹂躪我們的營地 他們帶走了我們的食物 而且咬了我們營帳幾口 很顯然是想告訴我們, 位在食物鏈底層的是我們 這是牠們的地盤,不是我們的 但對我而言, 那趟旅行 證明我愛的是野外, 而非那些擠滿旅客的海灘
Now, it wasn't until I traveled to Norway -- (Laughter) -- that I really learned to appreciate the cold. So this is the place where some of the largest, the most violent storms in the world send huge waves smashing into the coastline. We were in this tiny, remote fjord, just inside the Arctic Circle. It had a greater population of sheep than people, so help if we needed it was nowhere to be found. I was in the water taking pictures of surfers, and it started to snow. And then the temperature began to drop. And I told myself, there's not a chance you're getting out of the water. You traveled all this way, and this is exactly what you've been waiting for: freezing cold conditions with perfect waves. And although I couldn't even feel my finger to push the trigger, I knew I wasn't getting out. So I just did whatever I could. I shook it off, whatever. But that was the point that I felt this wind gush through the valley and hit me, and what started as this light snowfall quickly became a full-on blizzard, and I started to lose perception of where I was. I didn't know if I was drifting out to sea or towards shore, and all I could really make out was the faint sound of seagulls and crashing waves.
再來,要等到我去挪威 (笑聲) (車上的字: 衝浪) 我才學會怎麼欣賞冷天 就是這裡 一些世界最大、最猛烈的風暴 送出巨浪打擊海岸線 我們當時在這個遙遠的小海灣, 位置剛好在北極圈內 這裡羊比人多 所以我們即使求救也沒用 我當時在水中拍攝一些衝浪者的照片 然後開始下雪了 氣溫開始下降 我告訴自己,你不能就這樣離開 你旅行了這麼遠, 而這些就是你所期盼的 刺骨的冷天和完美的海浪 雖然我已經感覺不到按快門的手指 我知道我不能離開 所以我儘可能作點什麼, 不顧一切擺脫寒冷 就在此時我感到 一陣風吹過峽谷,打在我身上 然後原來一場小雪突然變成一陣暴風雪 我開始失去方位感 我不曉得我正飄向海或飄向岸 我唯一能分辨的是海鷗微弱的叫聲 還有拍打的波浪
Now, I knew this place had a reputation for sinking ships and grounding planes, and while I was out there floating, I started to get a little bit nervous. Actually, I was totally freaking out -- (Laughter) -- and I was borderline hypothermic, and my friends eventually had to help me out of the water. And I don't know if it was delirium setting in or what, but they told me later I had a smile on my face the entire time.
我知道此處以沈船和墜機聞名 隨著我在那兒漂浮,我開始有點緊張 事實上, 我快徹底抓狂了 (笑聲) 就在我接近低溫症邊綠 朋友們終於幫我離開水中 我不知道是出於精神錯亂還是怎樣 他們之後告訴我 我那段時間臉上滿是笑容
Now, it was this trip and probably that exact experience where I really began to feel like every photograph was precious, because all of a sudden in that moment, it was something I was forced to earn. And I realized, all this shivering had actually taught me something: In life, there are no shortcuts to joy. Anything that is worth pursuing is going to require us to suffer just a little bit, and that tiny bit of suffering that I did for my photography, it added a value to my work that was so much more meaningful to me than just trying to fill the pages of magazines. See, I gave a piece of myself in these places, and what I walked away with was a sense of fulfillment I had always been searching for.
現在,就是這趟旅程 也許就是這個經驗, 我真的開始覺得 每張相片都是珍貴的 因為在拍照那一瞬間, 我都要很勉強才能拍得成 我也體會到, 冷得顫抖實際上教會我一樣東西: 人生沒有獲得喜悅的捷徑 追求任何值得的事物都需要吃苦 吃一點苦 我為了攝影而吃的那一點苦 它增加了我工作的價值,對我來說 我不再只是從事一份填滿雜誌版面的工作 了解嗎, 我貢獻出我的一部份給這些地方 而我離開所獲得的 是我一直夢寐以求的滿足感
So I look back at this photograph. It's easy to see frozen fingers and cold wetsuits and even the struggle that it took just to get there, but most of all, what I see is just joy.
所以我回顧這張照片 上面很容易看到凍僵的手指和冰冷的潛水衣 以及為了到達那個地方所花費的努力 但最重要的是, 我看到了喜悅
Thank you so much.
非常謝謝你們
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