在线英语听力室

美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Get Something That No One Else Has Gotten', Says Photographer Mark Seliger

时间:2018-05-28 07:00:05

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

For decades, Americans have seen celebrities1 through the gaze of Mark Seliger. He's a photographer whose work has appeared in magazines like Vanity Fair, GQ and Rolling Stone. Now a new coffee table book collects some of his best images from 30 years, including presidents, actors and rock stars. I began by asking him what he thinks makes an image look like a typical Mark Seliger photograph.

MARK SELIGER: I would say one of my gifts in creating is having a sense of humor to the work. And whether it's a big concept or whether it's a wink2 is really, you know, kind of the broad strokes of the way that I think about photography. So I'd say humor. And I'd also say that I started in magazine photography with really a good balance about color. And that - at the time that I started not a lot of people did that. So that was a benefit for me.

SHAPIRO: When you talk about putting humor in your photographs, it's easy to see how you do that with, for example, a photograph of Jerry Seinfeld as the Tin Man from "Wizard Of Oz," which is one of the images of this book. But then you're also photographing politicians and rappers and people who don't necessarily have a reputation for having a sense of humor. Have there been instances you've tried to inject humor into those photographs with more or less success?

SELIGER: Sometimes I won't tell the subject what I'm going to be up to. But I always have a backup plan, and that is usually a very simple portrait. And, you know, at times the simplest portrait is the hero. It's the one that works the best. But I've been rejected.

SHAPIRO: OK, name names.

SELIGER: (Laughter) Oh, my gosh. One of the times I was rejected was we wanted to paint the Red Hot Chili3 Peppers red and have smoke coming out of their mouths. And I was told by the band that that was not going to happen. But Flea4...

SHAPIRO: Who's one of the band members.

SELIGER: ...One the band members very sympathetically decided5 that he would allow me to paint him halfway6 on his face. And I went ahead and did that. And he looked at me and he said, yeah, we're not going to do this. So...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) And in hindsight, do you think it was a bad idea? Or do you think they just weren't game?

SELIGER: It was - it was a bad idea. You know, I have to admit that I've had some real loser ideas, too.

SHAPIRO: Was there one that surprisingly worked that you thought - like, the Dalai Lama wouldn't be willing to - no, it's a very formal portrait of a Dalai Lama that's in this book. But somebody like the Dalai Lama who you thought would never be game to do something crazy who actually was.

SELIGER: Well, you know, the Dalai Lama's actually a really interesting story because I was told - we had 10 minutes with the Dalai Lama. And we set up a studio downstairs of the conference hall that he was speaking at. And in walked the Dalai Lama with, you know, some of the monks7 that were accompanying him. And they said, you know, you don't ask him to take his watch off or his glasses. And that was the first thing that I asked him to take off. And he said, sure, why not? And I just looked over, and there were some very upset monks. But we got through it.

SHAPIRO: Why did you ask that? Were you just trying to be rebellious8? Or was there something about the image without the glasses and the watch?

SELIGER: I liked the idea that it was reductive. I liked the idea that it was very stripped down and that you really got a chance to see his eyes. And I think I accomplished9 that in the portrait. It wasn't a long session. It was 10 minutes. So I really wanted to have the impact of, you know, the depth of him and the spiritual connection that he, you know, brings into the world. And that felt like the best way to do it. Glasses and a watch on such a - you know, on the holiness just does not make sense to me.

SHAPIRO: Do you ever leave a shoot knowing that if you were choosing images for an art gallery you would choose something different than what's going to be in the magazine? I mean, I'm thinking, for example, there's this incredible photograph here of massive redwood trees. And the ground is blanketed with green. And there's a small human figure laying against one of the trees. Turns out that figure is Brad Pitt. But you might not know it just from looking at the photograph.

SELIGER: Well, I don't really differentiate10 that work from pictures that I - you know, I assign myself, self-assigned stuff. And really it's to create something that I'm going to be happy with. I know that if a photograph strikes me as being - you know, having impact and having an emotional response or feeling that special, that it'll translate in the pages of magazines. And then in terms of, you know, selecting work through the years, I mean, it's an editing process finding, you know, the images that I think hold up and the people that hold up. So it's a little bit of a balance of that as well.

SHAPIRO: Did you always know that you would be this kind of a photographer? Or did you ever think you wanted to be Ansel Adams or some other kind of artist?

SELIGER: Yeah, it's funny that you say that, Ari. That's a great question because I was really not drawn11 to photography to take pictures. I was actually really inspired through the darkroom. Actually, I made a darkroom in my parents' house when I was growing up. And they would go out on a Saturday night, and I would spend hours making prints. I just fell in love with the process. And as that love kind of grew, I had to have something to be able to print. So I thought, I better start taking pictures. And that's how it all evolved.

SHAPIRO: I can't let you go without asking you about the image that's on the back of this book.

SELIGER: OK. So I was photographing President Obama for the cover of Rolling Stone. And I had this idea to do a diptych. And we set up a white background in the Rose Garden. And as we moved through the session, which was six minutes long...

SHAPIRO: You had six minutes?

SELIGER: Six minutes, which...

SHAPIRO: And you had decided you were going to get two good images?

SELIGER: I was - well, that was the goal, was to be able to have one takeaway image for myself and, you know, treating it like I would never have the opportunity again to photograph him. So I asked President Obama if it was OK if I did a diptych of him, and he said, sure. And he walked up to the white background, and we did the front version of him. And then I asked him to turn around, and we started to shoot the back of him. And as I was shooting the back, I was giving him instructions to extend his elbows out. And I looked over, and there were all the White House people, and then there was the Rolling Stone writer Jann Wenner and a couple of other people. And they were looking at me in disbelief and...

SHAPIRO: Like, appalled12 that you had a chance to photograph the president, and you said you wanted to photograph his back?

SELIGER: His back, yes. And as I was giving him direction, he goes, wait. Is this going to make my ears look big?

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

SELIGER: And I said, absolutely not. And he goes, all right, that's enough art, Mark.

SHAPIRO: That's enough art, Mark.

SELIGER: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: That's great.

SELIGER: And then he walked away. And we actually did one other photograph, and that was the day. But what I love about, you know, doing portraits is that if you can get something that no one else has gotten and do something special, then, you know, you've done your job. And I love that kind of challenge to go in there and create something that's never been done before.

SHAPIRO: Well, Mark Seliger, thanks so much for talking with us about your work.

SELIGER: Thank you for having me, Ari, and hopefully I'll see you soon.

SHAPIRO: I hope so. The book is called "Mark Seliger Photographs."

(SOUNDBITE OF REAL ESTATE SONG, "DARLING")


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 celebrities d38f03cca59ea1056c17b4467ee0b769     
n.(尤指娱乐界的)名人( celebrity的名词复数 );名流;名声;名誉
参考例句:
  • He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
  • a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目
2 wink 4MGz3     
n.眨眼,使眼色,瞬间;v.眨眼,使眼色,闪烁
参考例句:
  • He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
  • The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间,那颗卫星就消失了。
3 chili JOlzm     
n.辣椒
参考例句:
  • He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
  • It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉,辣椒,和其他的调味品。
4 flea dgSz3     
n.跳蚤
参考例句:
  • I'll put a flea in his ear if he bothers me once more.如果他再来打扰的话,我就要对他不客气了。
  • Hunter has an interest in prowling around a flea market.亨特对逛跳蚤市场很感兴趣。
5 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
6 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
7 monks 218362e2c5f963a82756748713baf661     
n.修道士,僧侣( monk的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
  • He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 rebellious CtbyI     
adj.造反的,反抗的,难控制的
参考例句:
  • They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反,他们就要发生危险。
  • Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和,但她的心里十分反感。
9 accomplished UzwztZ     
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的
参考例句:
  • Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
  • Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。
10 differentiate cm3yc     
vi.(between)区分;vt.区别;使不同
参考例句:
  • You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
  • He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。
11 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
12 appalled ec524998aec3c30241ea748ac1e5dbba     
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的
参考例句:
  • The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
  • They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。