So, I had been a photographer for 18 years before I began the Microsculpture Project. And in that time, I had shot global ad campaigns, I had the opportunity to photograph some of my generation's icons, and I was traveling the world. I got to a point in my career that I dreamed of getting to, and yet, for some reason, I still felt a little bit unfulfilled. Despite the extraordinary things I was shooting and experiencing, they'd started to feel a little bit ordinary to me. I was also getting concerned about how disposable photography had started to feel in the digital world, and I really wanted to produce images that had a sense of worth again. And I needed a subject that felt extraordinary.
Dakle, radio sam kao fotograf 18 godina kada sam započeo projekat Mikroskulpture. A u to vreme sam fotografisao svetske reklamne kampanje, bio sam u prilici da fotografišem neke od kultnih ličnosti moje generacije i putovao sam svetom. Stigao sam do tačke u karijeri do koje sam sanjao da ću stići, pa ipak, iz nekog razloga, i dalje sam se osećao blago neispunjeno. Uprkos izvanrednim stvarima koje sam fotografisao i doživljavao, počele su da mi se čine malčice obično. Takođe sam počeo da brinem oko toga koliko se čini da je fotografija postala jednokratna u digitalnom svetu, a ja sam zaista želeo da pravim slike koje su nanovo imale osećaj vrednosti. A bila mi je potrebna tema koja se činila izvanrednom.
Sometimes I wish I had the eyes of a child. And by that I mean, I wish I could look at the world in the same as I did when I was a small boy. I think there is a danger, as we get older, that our curiosity becomes slightly muted or dulled by familiarity. And as a visual creator, one of the challenges for me is to present the familiar in a new and engaging way.
Ponekad poželim da imam detinji pogled. A pod time podrazumevam to da želim da posmatram svet onako kako sam to radio kad sam bio dečačić. Mislim da postoji opasnost, kako starimo, da naša znatiželja postane blago utišana ili ublažena običnošću. A kao vizuelni stvaralac, za mene je jedan od izazova to da predstavim običnost na nov i angažovan način.
Fortunately for me, though, I've got two great kids who are still curious about the world. Sebastian -- he's still curious about the world, and in 2014, in spring, he brought in a ground beetle from the garden. There was nothing particularly special about this insect -- you know, it was a common species. But he was still curious, and he brought it up to my office, and we decided to look at it under his microscope. He had a little science kit for Christmas. And this is what we saw.
Srećom po mene, ipak, imam dvoje sjajne dece koja su i dalje znatiželjna o svetu. Sebastijan - i dalje je znatiželjan o svetu, a 2014, na proleće, u kuću je uneo običnu bubu iz dvorišta. Ništa nije bilo naročito posebno kod ovog insekta - znate, bila je to rasprostranjena vrsta. No, on je i dalje bio znatiželjan i doneo je u moju kancelariju i odlučili smo da je posmatramo ispod mikroskopa. Dobio je mali naučni komplet za Božić. A ovo smo videli.
Now, when I first saw this, it blew me away. Up here -- this is the back of the ground beetle. When I first saw it, it reminded me of a galaxy. And all the time, this had just been outside our window. You know, I was looking for this extraordinary subject, and it took Seb's eyes and curiosity to bring it in to me.
Kad sam prvi put ovo ugledao, oduševio sam se. Gore - ovo su leđa dvorišne bube. Na prvi pogled me je podsetilo na galaksiju. A sve vreme, to se prosto nalazilo ispod našeg prozora. Znate, tragao sam za nekakvom izvanrednom temom, a bile su potrebne Sebove oči i znatiželja da mi to donesu.
So I decided to photograph it for him, and this is what I produced. I basically asked myself two simple questions. The first one: Could I take all my knowledge and skill of photographic lighting and take that onto a subject that's five millimeters long? But also: Could I keep creative control over that lighting on a subject that size? So I practiced on some other found specimens, and I approached the Oxford University Museum of Natural History to see if I could have access to their collection, to progress the project. And I went up there for a meeting, and I showed them some of the images that I'd been shooting, and they could see the kind of detail I was able to get. I don't think they'd ever really seen anything quite like it before, and from that point forward, they gave me open access to their entire collection and the assistance of Dr. James Hogan, their entomologist.
Pa sam odlučio da je fotografišem za njega i ovo sam napravio. U suštini sam sebi postavio dva prosta pitanja. Prvo: mogu li da uzmem sve moje znanje i veštine fotografskog osvetljenja i da to primenim na nešto što je dugo pet milimetara? Ali takođe: mogu li da zadržim kreativnu kontrolu nad tim osvetljenjem na nečemu te veličine? Pa sam vežbao na nekim drugim primercima koje sam našao, i obratio sam se Oksfordovom univerzitetskom muzeju istorije prirode da vidim da li mogu da imam pristup njihovoj kolekciji, kako bih unapredio projekat. I otišao sam tamo na sastanak i pokazao im neke od slika koje sam fotografisao, i oni su videli do kojih detalja sam uspeo da slikam. Mislim da zaista nikad ranije nisu videli ništa slično i od tad, pa nadalje, dali su mi slobodan pristup njihovoj celokupnoj kolekciji, kao i pomoć dr Džejmsa Hogana, njihovog entomologa.
Now, over the next two-and-a-half years, I shot 37 insects from their collection. And the way I work is that I essentially split the insect up into multiple sections, and I treat each one of those sections like a small still life. So for example, if I was photographing the eye of the insect, which is normally quite smooth and dome-shaped, then I'd use a light source that is large and soft and diffuse, so I don't get any harsh hot spots on that surface. But once my attention turns over to a hairy leg, that lighting setup will change completely. And so I make that one tiny section look as beautiful as I possibly can, and I work my way across the insect until I have about 20 or 25 different sections.
Sad, u naredne dve i po godine, fotografisao sam 37 insekata iz njihove kolekcije. Način na koji radim je da u suštini podelim insekta u više delova, i odnosim se prema svakom delu kao prema maloj mrtvoj prirodi. Dakle, na primer, ako fotografišem oko insekta, koje je obično prilično glatko i u obliku kupole, onda koristim izvor svetlosti koji je veliki, mek i razliva se, kako ne bih dobio oštre, jake tačke na toj površini. No, čim mi pažnja pređe na dlakavu nogu podešavanje svetla se potpuno promeni. Te se staram da sićušni deo izgleda što je lepše moguće, i tako se snalazim sa čitavim insektom dok dobijem oko 20 ili 25 različitih delova.
The issue with photography at high magnification is that there is inherently a very shallow depth of field. So to get around that, what I do is, I put my camera on a rail that I can automate to move 10 microns in between each shot. That's about one-seventh the width of a human hair. And then that provides me with a deep stack of images. Each has a tiny sliver of focus all the way through. And I can squash that down to produce one image that is fully focused from front to back. So essentially, that gives me 25 sections that are fully focused and beautifully lit. Now, each one of my images is made up of anywhere between 8- and 10,000 separate shots. They take about three-and-a-half weeks to create, and the file sizes on average are about four gigabytes. So I've got plenty of information to play with when I'm printing. And the prints at the exhibition are around the three-meter mark. In fact, I had a show in Milan two weeks ago, and we had some prints there that were nine meters long.
Problem sa fotografijom koja je drastično uvećana je da je tu po prirodi veoma plitko vidno polje. Kako bih to prenebregao, radim sledeće: stavljam kameru na šine, koje mogu da automatizujem da se kreću 10 mikrona između svake slike. To je otprilike jedna sedmina širine ljudske dlake. A to mi obezbeđuje veliku hrpu slika. Svaka ima trakicu fokusa čitavom dužinom. A to mogu da sabijem kako bih napravio jednu sliku koja je potpuno fokusirana od vrha do dna. U suštini, tako dobijam 25 odeljaka koji su u punom fokusu i prelepo osvetljeni. Sad, svaka moja slika je sastavljena od otprilike između 8 i 10 000 različitih slika. Potrebne su oko tri i po nedelje da se naprave, a veličina fajla je u proseku oko četiri gigabajta. Dakle, imam obilje informacija da se poigravam tokom štampanja. A štampa na izložbi je veličine oko tri metra. Zapravo sam imao izložbu u Milanu pre dve nedelje i tu smo imali slike koje su bile duge devet metara.
But, you know, I realize that these images still have to work in the digital world. There's no point in me putting all my blood, sweat and tears into these pictures if they're only going to be showing 500 pixels on a screen. So with the help of Rob Chandler and Will Cookson, we developed a website that enables the viewer to immerse themselves into the full four-gigabyte files, and they can explore all that microscopic detail. So if you have the time, and I encourage you, please visit microsculpture.net and go and have a play. It's good fun.
Ali, znate, shvatam da te slike i dalje moraju da deluju u digitalnom svetu. Nema svrhe da stavljam svu svoju krv, znoj i suze u ove slike, ako će se jedino prikazivati u 500 piksela na ekranu. Pa, uz pomoć Roba Čendlera i Vila Kuksona, napravili smo vebsajt koji omogućava gledaocu da se udubi u celokupne fajlove od četiri gigabajta, i mogu da istražuju sve te mikroskopske detalje. Pa, ako imate vremena, a ja vas ohrabrujem, molim vas, posetite microsculpture.net i poigrajte se. Dobra je zabava.
I first showed the work at Oxford, and since then, it's moved on to the Middle East. It's now back in Europe and goes to Copenhagen this month. And the feedback has been great. You know, I get emails, actually, from all over the world -- from teachers, at the moment, who are using the website in school. The kids are using them on the tablet. They're zooming into the pictures and using it for art class, biology class. And that's not something I planned. That's just a beautiful offshoot of the project. In fact, one of the things I like to do at the exhibitions is actually look at the kiddies' reactions. And, you know, standing in front of a three-meter insect, they could have been horrified. But they're not. They look in wonder. This little chap here, he stood there for five minutes, motionless.
Prvo sam svoj rad prikazao na Oksfordu, a od tad se preselio na Bliski istok. Ponovo se vratio u Evropu i ovog meseca ide u Kopenhagen. A reakcije su sjajne. Znate, dobijam imejlove, zapravo iz čitavog sveta - od nastavnika, koji trenutno koriste vebsajt u školama. Deca koriste slike na tabletima. Zumiraju slike i koriste ih na času likovnog, biologije. A to nisam planirao. To je prosto prelep izdanak ovog projekta. Zapravo, nešto što volim da radim na izložbama je da posmatram reakciju klinaca. I, znate, stoje ispred insekta od tri metra, mogli bi da budu prestravljeni. Ali nisu. Posmatraju u čudu. Ovaj delija ovde, stajao je tu pet minuta, ne pomerajući se.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And at the end of the day, actually, at the end of the day at the exhibitions, we have to wipe down the lower third of the big prints -- (Laughter) just to remove all those sticky handprints, because all they want to do is touch those big bugs.
A na kraju dana, zapravo, na kraju dana svake izložbe, moramo da brišemo donju trećinu velikih postera - (Smeh) kako bismo uklonili sve te lepljive otiske ruku jer sve što deca žele je da dotaknu te velike bube.
I do want to leave you with one final image, if that's OK. This has to do with Charles Darwin. One of the recent images that I photographed was this one here. I'm talking about the creature in the box, not my cat. And this is a shield bug that Charles Darwin brought back from Australia on the HMS Beagle in 1836. And when I got it home, I stood in my kitchen and stared at it for about 20 minutes. I couldn't believe I was in possession of this beautiful creature. And at that moment, I kind of realized that this validated the project for me. The fact that the museum was willing to risk me playing with this kind of showed me that my images had worth -- you know, they weren't disposable.
Želim da vas ostavim sa poslednjom slikom, ako je to u redu. Ona ima veze sa Čarlsom Darvinom. Jedna od slika koju sam nedavno fotografisao je bila ova. Govorim o biću u kutiji, ne o mojoj mački. A ovo je smrdibuba koju je Čarls Darvin doneo iz Australije na Biglu, brodu Njenog veličanstva, 1836. A kad sam je doneo kući, stajao sam u kuhinji i zurio u nju dvadesetak minuta. Nisam mogao da verujem da je kod mene ovo prelepo biće. A u tom trenutku, nekako sam uvideo da ovo daje težinu mom projektu. Činjenica da je muzej spreman da rizikuje da bih se ja igrao s ovim, nekako mi je pokazala da moje slike vrede - znate, nisu jednokratne.
That's the image that I produced. I often wonder, still, when I look at this: What would Charles Darwin make of these images? Do you think he'd like his picture of his shield bug? I hope so.
Ovo je slika koju sam napravio. Često se i dalje pitam, posmatrajući je: šta bi Čarlsu Darvinu značile ove slike? Da li mislite da bi mu se svidela slika njegove smrdibube? Nadam se.
So --
Dakle -
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
You know, I think it's strange in a way. I'm a visual person, I'm a creative person, but I still needed the eyes of a child to find my extraordinary subject. That's the way it was. So all I can say is, thank you very much, Sebastian; I am very, very grateful.
Znate, mislim da je nekako čudno. Ja sam vizuelna osoba, ja sam kreativna osoba, ali i dalje mi je trebao dečji pogled kako bih otkrio izvanrednu temu. Tako je to bilo. Pa, samo mogu da kažem: Sebastijane, mnogo ti hvala; Veoma, veoma sam zahvalan.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)