ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Stacey Baker - Photo editor
Stacey Baker assigns photography for the wide-ranging vision of the weekly New York Times Magazine.

Why you should listen
Stacey Baker is a photo editor at The New York Times Magazine. She assigns and produces photography for the weekly publication on topics as varied as sports, politics, religion and pop culture. She works with an array of photographers from all over the world, including photojournalists and portrait, fine-art and conceptual photographers. These include Alec Soth, Damon Winter, Lars Tunbjork, Stephanie Sinclair, Nadav Kander and Katy Grannan. She is a former director of photography at More Magazine.
More profile about the speaker
Stacey Baker | Speaker | TED.com
Alec Soth - Photographer
Alec Soth makes large-scale projects that are as much about dreams and heartache as they are about charting the landscape of Middle America.

Why you should listen

Alec Soth is a photographer born and based in Minnesota. He has published several books, including Sleeping by the MississippiNiagara and Broken Manual. The New York Times once wrote that Soth has made a "photographic career out of finding chemistry with strangers." His editorial work routinely appears in The New York Times Magazine, he is a member of the Magnum photo agency, and his work was featured in the Whitney Biennial in 2004.

In 2008, Soth started his own experimental publishing company, Little Brown Mushroom, that explores the possibilities of combining images and text. After publishing seven issues of his own newspaper, Soth compiled this work into his latest monograph, Songbook.

More profile about the speaker
Alec Soth | Speaker | TED.com
TED2015

Alec Soth and Stacey Baker: This is what enduring love looks like

Alec Soth e Stacey Baker: Assim parece o amor duradouro

Filmed:
2,253,525 views

Stacey Baker sempre foi obcecada em como os casais se conhecem. Quando ela pediu ajuda ao fotógrafo Alec Soth para explorar esse tema, eles foram parar no maior evento de namoro relâmpago do mundo, realizado em Las Vegas, no Dia dos Namorados, e depois na maior comunidade de repouso em Nevada. Soth fez retratos de cada casal no local. Entre esses dois extremos, eles desenrolaram uma bela linha de como um casal vai do encontro à criação de uma vida juntos.
- Photo editor
Stacey Baker assigns photography for the wide-ranging vision of the weekly New York Times Magazine. Full bio - Photographer
Alec Soth makes large-scale projects that are as much about dreams and heartache as they are about charting the landscape of Middle America. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

Alec Soth: Há cerca de 10 anos,
recebi uma ligação de uma mulher no Texas,
00:13
Alec Soth: So about 10 years ago,
I got a call from a woman in Texas,
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00:16
Stacey Baker,
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Stacey Baker,
00:18
and she'd seen some of my photographs
in an art exhibition
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e ela tinha visto algumas das minhas
fotografias em uma exposição de arte
00:22
and was wondering if she could commission
me to take a portrait of her parents.
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e queria saber se poderia me contratar
para fazer um retrato de seus pais.
00:27
Now, at the time I hadn't met Stacey,
and I thought this was some sort of
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Naquele momento eu não conhecia a Stacey,
e achei que eles eram magnatas do petróleo
00:31
wealthy oil tycoon and I'd struck it rich,
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e que eu ficaria rico de repente,
00:35
but it was only later that I found out
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mas foi somente depois que descobri
00:37
she'd actually taken out a loan
to make this happen.
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que ela na verdade pegou um empréstimo
para fazer isso acontecer.
00:41
I took the picture of her parents,
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Eu tirei a foto dos pais dela,
00:43
but I was actually more excited
about photographing Stacey.
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mas fiquei mais animado
em fotografar a Stacey.
00:47
The picture I made that day
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A foto que tirei naquele dia
00:48
ended up becoming
one of my best-known portraits.
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acabou se tornando
um dos meus retratos mais famosos.
Quando tirei essa foto,
a Stacey estava trabalhando como advogada
00:53
At the time I made this picture,
Stacey was working as an attorney
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00:57
for the State of Texas.
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para o Estado do Texas.
00:58
Not long after, she left her job
to study photography in Maine,
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Não muito depois, ela deixou seu trabalho
para estudar fotografia em Maine,
01:03
and while she was there,
she ended up meeting
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e enquanto estava lá,
ela acabou conhecendo
01:05
the director of photography
at the New York Times Magazine
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o diretor de fotografia
da revista New York Times
01:08
and was actually offered a job.
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que lhe ofereceu um emprego.
01:12
Stacey Baker: In the years since,
Alec and I have done
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Stacey Baker: Desse ano em diante,
Alec e eu fizemos
01:14
a number of magazine projects together,
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alguns projetos para a revista juntos,
01:17
and we've become friends.
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e nos tornamos amigos.
01:19
A few months ago, I started talking
to Alec about a fascination of mine.
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Há alguns meses, comecei a conversar
com o Alec sobre um fascínio meu.
01:23
I've always been obsessed
with how couples meet.
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Eu sempre fui obcecada
sobre como os casais se conhecem.
01:27
I asked Alec how he
and his wife Rachel met,
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Eu perguntei ao Alec como ele
e sua esposa Rachel se conheceram
01:30
and he told me the story
of a high school football game
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e ele me contou a história
de um jogo de futebol no colegial
01:33
where she was 16 and he was 15,
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quando ela tinha 16 e ele 15,
01:36
and he asked her out.
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e ele a convidou para sair.
01:38
He liked her purple hair.
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Ele gostava do cabelo roxo dela.
01:40
She said yes, and that was it.
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Ela disse sim, e foi isso.
01:43
I then asked Alec if he'd be interested
in doing a photography project
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Então perguntei ao Alec se teria interesse
em fazer um projeto fotográfico
01:47
exploring this question.
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explorando essa questão.
01:49
AS: And I was interested in the question,
but I was actually much more interested
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AS: Eu estava interessado na questão,
mas me interessava muito mais
01:53
in Stacey's motivation for asking it,
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a motivação da Stacey em pedir isso,
01:56
particularly since I'd never known
Stacey to have a boyfriend.
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particularmente porque nunca soube
que a Stacey tinha tido um namorado.
02:00
So as part of this project,
I thought it'd be interesting
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Então como parte desse projeto,
seria interessante
02:03
if she tried to meet someone.
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se ela tentasse conhecer alguém.
02:05
So my idea was to have Stacey here
go speed dating
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Minha ideia era que a Stacey participasse
de um evento de namoro relâmpago
02:10
in Las Vegas on Valentine's Day.
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em Las Vegas, no Dia dos Namorados.
02:14
(Laughter) (Applause) (Music)
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(Risos) (Aplausos) (Música)
02:20
SB: We ended up at what was advertised
as the world's largest speed dating event.
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SB: Fomos parar no maior e mais conhecido
evento de namoro relâmpago do mundo.
02:25
I had 19 dates
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Eu tive 19 encontros
e cada deles durou três minutos.
02:27
and each date lasted three minutes.
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Cada participante recebeu uma lista
de perguntas para quebrar o gelo
02:30
Participants were given a list of ice-
breaker questions to get the ball rolling,
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e começar a conversa, como: "Se pudesse
ser um animal, qual você seria?"
02:34
things like, "If you could be any kind
of animal, what would you be?"
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02:38
That sort of thing.
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Esse tipo de pergunta.
02:40
My first date was Colin.
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Meu primeiro encontro foi com o Colin.
02:42
He's from England,
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Ele veio da Inglaterra,
02:44
and he once married a woman he met
after placing an ad for a Capricorn.
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e havia se casado
com uma mulher que conheceu
após um anúncio para capricornianos.
02:49
Alec and I saw him
at the end of the evening,
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Eu e Alec o vimos no final da noite,
02:52
and he said he'd kissed a woman in line
at one of the concession stands.
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e ele disse que havia beijado uma mulher
na fila e outra em um dos estandes.
02:57
Zack and Chris came
to the date-a-thon together.
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O Zack e o Chris vieram ao evento juntos.
Este é o Carl.
03:02
This is Carl.
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03:05
I asked Carl, "What's the first thing
you notice about a woman?"
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Perguntei a ele: "Qual é a primeira
coisa que você nota em uma mulher?"
03:10
He said, "Tits."
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Ele disse, "Peitos."
03:12
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
O Matthew gosta de mulheres
com panturrilhas musculosas.
03:17
Matthew is attracted to women
with muscular calves.
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03:20
We talked about running. He does
triathlons, I run half-marathons.
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Falamos sobre corrida. Ele faz triátlon,
eu corro meias-maratonas.
03:24
Alec actually liked his eyes and asked
if I was attracted to him, but I wasn't,
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O Alec gostou dos olhos dele
e me perguntou se senti atração por ele,
mas não e nem acho
que ele se sentiu atraído por mim.
03:29
and I don't think he was
attracted to me either.
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03:33
Austin and Mike came together.
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O Austin e o Mike vieram juntos.
03:36
Mike asked me a hypothetical question.
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Mike me fez uma pergunta hipotética.
03:39
He said, "You're in an elevator
running late for a meeting.
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Ele disse: "Você está em um elevador,
atrasada para uma reunião.
03:43
Someone makes a dash for the elevator.
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Alguém ver correndo
em direção ao elevador.
03:46
Do you hold it open for them?"
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Você segura a porta para essa pessoa?"
03:49
And I said I would not.
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E eu disse que não.
03:51
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:55
Cliff said the first thing he notices
about a woman is her teeth,
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O Cliff disse que a primeira coisa
que nota em uma mulher são seus dentes,
03:59
and we complimented each other's teeth.
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e nós elogiamos os dentes um do outro.
04:02
Because he's an open mouth sleeper,
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Como ele dorme com a boca aberta,
04:05
he says he has to floss more
to help prevent gum disease,
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ele disse que tem que usar o fio dental
mais para prevenir doenças na gengiva,
04:09
and so I asked him how often he flosses,
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e então perguntei-lhe com qual frequência,
04:11
and he said, "Every other day."
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e ele disse: "Dia sim, dia não".
04:14
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
04:17
Now, as someone who flosses twice a day,
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Como uso o fio dental duas vezes ao dia,
04:19
I wasn't really sure that
that was flossing more
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fiquei em dúvida se aquilo
era usar mais vezes,
04:22
but I don't think I said that out loud.
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mas acho que não disse isso em voz alta.
04:24
Bill is an auditor,
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O Bill é um auditor,
04:27
and we talked the entire three minutes
about auditing. (Laughter)
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e conversamos todos os três minutos
sobre auditoria. (Risos)
04:34
The first thing Spencer notices
about a woman is her complexion.
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A primeira coisa que o Spencer nota
em uma mulher é a sua aparência.
04:38
He feels a lot of women
wear too much makeup,
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Ele acha que muitas mulheres
usam maquiagem demais,
04:41
and that they should only wear enough
to accentuate the features that they have.
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e que elas deveriam usar somente
o necessário para acentuar seus traços.
04:45
I told him I didn't wear any makeup at all
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Eu lhe disse que não usava
maquiagem alguma
04:47
and he seemed to think
that that was a good thing.
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e ele pareceu achar que isso era algo bom.
04:51
Craig told me he didn't think
I was willing to be vulnerable.
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O Craig achou que eu não parecia disposta
a ser vulnerável.
04:55
He was also frustrated when I couldn't
remember my most embarrassing moment.
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Ele também ficou frustrado quando
eu não consegui lembrar do meu maior mico.
05:00
He thought I was lying, but I wasn't.
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Ele achou que eu estava mentindo,
mas não estava.
05:02
I didn't think he liked me at all,
but at the end of the night,
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Eu não achei que ele tivesse
gostado de mim,
mas no final da noite, ele voltou
e me deu uma caixa de chocolates.
05:05
he came back to me and he gave me
a box of chocolates.
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05:09
William was really difficult to talk to.
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Foi muito difícil conversar com o William.
05:12
I think he was drunk.
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Acho que ele estava bêbado.
05:14
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
O ator Chris McKenna
foi o mestre de cerimônia do evento.
05:17
Actor Chris McKenna
was the MC of the event.
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05:20
He used to be on
"The Young and the Restless."
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Ele atuou na novela
"The Young and the Restless".
05:23
I didn't actually go on a date with him.
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Eu não tive um encontro com ele.
05:26
Alec said he saw several women
give their phone numbers to him.
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Alec disse que viu várias mulheres
darem seus números de telefone para ele.
Não é preciso dizer, eu não me apaixonei.
05:30
Needless to say, I didn't fall in love.
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05:35
I didn't feel a particular connection with
any of the men that I went on dates with,
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Eu não senti uma ligação particular
com nenhum dos homens que conheci,
05:39
and I didn't feel like they felt
a particular connection with me either.
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e nem senti que eles sentiram
uma ligação particular comigo.
AS: Agora, o mais belo para mim...
05:45
AS: Now, the most beautiful thing to me --
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05:48
(Laughter) -- as a photographer
is the quality of vulnerability.
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(Risos) como fotógrafo,
é a qualidade da vulnerabilidade.
05:53
The physical exterior reveals a crack
in which you can get a glimpse
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O exterior físico revela uma rachadura
por onde você consegue entrever
05:57
at a more fragile interior.
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um interior mais frágil.
06:00
At this date-a-thon event,
I saw so many examples of that,
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Nesse evento, eu vi muitos exemplos disso,
06:03
but as I watched Stacey's dates
and talked to her about them,
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mas enquanto eu assistia aos encontros
da Stacey e conversava com ela sobre eles,
06:08
I realized how different
photographic love is from real love.
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percebi a grande diferença
entre o amor fotografado e o amor real.
06:14
What is real love? How does it work?
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O que é o amor real? Como ele funciona?
06:18
In order to work on this question
and to figure out how someone goes
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Para responder essa questão
e descobrir como alguém parte
06:22
from meeting on a date
to having a life together,
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de um encontro para uma vida juntos,
06:27
Stacey and I went to Sun City Summerlin,
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eu e a Stacey fomos ao Sun City Summerlin,
06:29
which is the largest
retirement community in Las Vegas.
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que é a maior comunidade de repouso
em Las Vegas.
06:35
Our contact there was George,
who runs the community's photography club.
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Nosso contato lá foi o George, que dirige
o clube de fotografia da comunidade.
06:39
He arranged for us to meet other couples
in their makeshift photo studio.
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Ele organizou encontros com casais
em seu estúdio fotográfico improvisado.
06:44
SB: After 45 years of marriage,
Anastasia's husband died two years ago,
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SB: Depois de 45 anos casados, o marido
da Anastasia morreu, há dois anos,
06:49
so we asked if she had
an old wedding picture.
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então pedimos a ela se ela tinha
uma foto antiga do casamento.
06:52
She met her husband
when she was a 15-year-old waitress
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Ela conheceu seu marido
quando tinha 15 anos e era garçonete
06:56
at a small barbecue place in Michigan.
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em uma pequena churrascaria, em Michigan.
06:58
He was 30.
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Ele tinha 30.
07:00
She'd lied about her age.
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Ela mentiu sobre a idade dela.
07:02
He was the first person she'd dated.
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Ele foi a primeira pessoa que ela namorou.
07:05
Dean had been named photographer of
the year in Las Vegas two years in a row,
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O Dean foi nomeado o fotógrafo do ano
em Las Vegas dois anos seguidos,
07:09
and this caught Alec's attention,
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e isso chamou a atenção do Alec,
07:11
as did the fact
that he met his wife, Judy,
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assim como o fato
de que ele conheceu sua esposa, Judy,
07:14
at the same age when Alec met Rachel.
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com a mesma idade
que o Alec conheceu a Rachel.
07:17
Dean admitted that he likes
to look at beautiful women,
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Dean admitiu que ele gosta
de olhar para mulheres bonitas,
07:20
but he's never questioned
his decision to marry Judy.
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mas ele nunca questionou
sua decisão de casar-se com a Judy.
07:24
AS: George met Josephine
at a parish dance.
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AS: George conheceu a Josephine
em um baile paroquial.
07:27
He was 18, she was 15.
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Ele tinha 18, ela tinha 15.
07:29
Like a lot of the couples we met,
they weren't especially philosophical
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Como muitos casais que conhecemos,
eles não eram especialmente filosóficos
07:33
about their early choices.
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sobre suas escolhas na juventude.
07:35
George said something
that really stuck with me.
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O George me disse algo
que realmente mexeu comigo.
07:38
He said, "When you get that feeling,
you just go with it."
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Ele disse: "Quando você tem aquela
sensação, você a segue."
O Bob e a Trudy se conheceram
07:46
Bob and Trudy met on a blind date
when she was still in high school.
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em um encontro às cegas,
quando ela fazia o colegial.
07:49
They said they weren't particularly
attracted to each other
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Eles disseram que não se sentiram
particularmente atraídos ao se conhecer.
07:52
when the first met.
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Mesmo assim, eles se casaram logo depois.
07:53
Nevertheless, they were
married soon after.
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07:57
SB: The story that stayed with me the most
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SB: A história que mais me marcou
07:59
was that of George, the photography club
president, and his wife, Mary.
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foi a do George, presidente do clube
de fotografia, e sua esposa, Mary.
08:04
This was George and Mary's
second marriage.
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Este era o segundo casamento dos dois.
08:07
They met at a country-western club
in Louisville, Kentucky called the Sahara.
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Eles se conheceram em uma boate country
em Louisville, Kentucky, chamada Sahara.
08:12
He was there alone drinking
and she was with friends.
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Ele estava sozinho bebendo
e ela estava com amigas.
08:16
When they started dating,
he owed the IRS 9,000 dollars in taxes,
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Quando eles começaram a namorar,
ele devia US$ 9 mil em impostos à Receita,
08:21
and she offered to help him
get out of debt,
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e ela se ofereceu para ajudá-lo
a saldar dívida,
08:24
so for the next year, he turned
his paychecks over to Mary,
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então, durante o próximo ano,
ele enviou seus salários para a Mary,
08:28
and she got him out of debt.
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e ela fez com que ele saísse da dívida.
08:30
George was actually an alcoholic
when they married, and Mary knew it.
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George, na verdade, era alcoólatra
quando se casaram e a Mary sabia disso.
08:35
At some point in their marriage,
he says he consumed
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Em algum momento em seu casamento,
08:38
54 beers in one day.
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ele consumia 54 cervejas em um dia.
08:41
Another time, when he was drunk,
he threatened to kill Mary
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Outra vez, quando estava bêbado,
ele ameaçou matar a Mary
08:44
and her two kids,
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e seus dois filhos,
08:45
but they escaped and a SWAT team
was called to the house.
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4446
mas eles escaparam e uma equipe da SWAT
foi até a casa deles.
Incrivelmente, Mary o aceitou de volta,
08:50
Amazingly, Mary took him back,
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2171
08:52
and eventually things got better.
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2322
e eventualmente tudo se ajeitou.
08:54
George has been involved
in Alcoholics Anonymous
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George participa do Alcoólicos Anônimos
08:57
and hasn't had a drink in 36 years.
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2903
e ele não bebe há 36 anos.
09:00
(Music)
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Ao final do dia,
depois que saímos do Sun City,
09:01
At the end of the day,
after we left Sun City,
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2347
09:04
I told Alec that I didn't actually think
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disse ao Alec que eu não achava
09:06
that the stories of how these couples met
were all that interesting.
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4133
que as histórias de como esses casais
se conheceram eram tão interessantes.
09:10
What was more interesting
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O que era mais interessante
09:12
was how they managed to stay together.
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era como eles conseguiram ficar juntos.
09:16
AS: They all had this beautiful
quality of endurance,
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4180
AS: Eles todos tinham
a bela qualidade da persistência,
09:20
but that was true of the singles, too.
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mas isso era verdade
para os solteiros, também.
09:23
The world is hard,
and the singles were out there
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O mundo é duro,
e os solteiros estão por aí
09:26
trying to connect with other people,
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2345
tentando se conectar com outras pessoas,
09:29
and the couples
were holding onto each other
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2624
e os casais estão se mantendo juntos
09:31
after all these decades.
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depois de todas essas décadas.
09:35
My favorite pictures on this trip
were of Joe and Roseanne.
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3309
Minha foto favorita dessa viagem
foi a do Joe e da Roseanne.
09:39
Now, by the time we met Joe and Roseanne,
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2244
Quando conhecemos o Joe e a Roseanne,
09:41
we'd gotten in the habit of asking couples
if they had an old wedding photograph.
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5511
tínhamos adquirido o hábito de pedir
aos casais uma foto antiga do casamento.
09:46
In their case, they simultaneously
pulled out of their wallets
169
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No caso deles, eles simultaneamente
tiraram de suas carteiras
09:51
the exact same photograph.
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4296
exatamente a mesma foto.
O que será mais belo, eu pensei:
09:56
What's more beautiful,
I thought to myself,
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3134
09:59
this image of a young couple
who has just fallen in love
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a imagem de um casal jovem
que acabou de se apaixonar
10:03
or the idea of these two people
holding onto this image for decades?
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5206
ou a ideia de que essas duas pessoas
mantém essa foto há décadas?
Obrigado.
10:10
Thank you.
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(Aplausos)
10:12
(Applause)
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5410
Translated by Evelise Venceslau Müller
Reviewed by Maricene Crus

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Stacey Baker - Photo editor
Stacey Baker assigns photography for the wide-ranging vision of the weekly New York Times Magazine.

Why you should listen
Stacey Baker is a photo editor at The New York Times Magazine. She assigns and produces photography for the weekly publication on topics as varied as sports, politics, religion and pop culture. She works with an array of photographers from all over the world, including photojournalists and portrait, fine-art and conceptual photographers. These include Alec Soth, Damon Winter, Lars Tunbjork, Stephanie Sinclair, Nadav Kander and Katy Grannan. She is a former director of photography at More Magazine.
More profile about the speaker
Stacey Baker | Speaker | TED.com
Alec Soth - Photographer
Alec Soth makes large-scale projects that are as much about dreams and heartache as they are about charting the landscape of Middle America.

Why you should listen

Alec Soth is a photographer born and based in Minnesota. He has published several books, including Sleeping by the MississippiNiagara and Broken Manual. The New York Times once wrote that Soth has made a "photographic career out of finding chemistry with strangers." His editorial work routinely appears in The New York Times Magazine, he is a member of the Magnum photo agency, and his work was featured in the Whitney Biennial in 2004.

In 2008, Soth started his own experimental publishing company, Little Brown Mushroom, that explores the possibilities of combining images and text. After publishing seven issues of his own newspaper, Soth compiled this work into his latest monograph, Songbook.

More profile about the speaker
Alec Soth | Speaker | TED.com