Levon Biss: Mind-blowing, magnified portraits of insects
ليفون بيس: صورٌ قابلةٌ للتكبيرِ عن حشراتٍ ستثيرُ اهتمامكم.
With his "Microsculpture" series, Levon Biss photographs the incredible details of insects. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
I had shot global ad campaigns,
أصوّرَ حملاتٍ دعائيّةً عالميّةً
some of my generation's icons,
لمشاهيرَ يعتبرونَ رموزاً
that I dreamed of getting to,
كانَ فيها البدءُ بالعملِ كلَّ ما تمنيته
I still felt a little bit unfulfilled.
لم أكنْ أشعرُ بأنّني راضٍ بعد.
I was shooting and experiencing,
كانتْ فريدةً من نوعها
a little bit ordinary to me.
had started to feel in the digital world,
فقدت قيمتها في ظلِّ التطوّر الرقميّ
that had a sense of worth again.
يعيدُ لمهنة التصويرِ قيمتها.
that felt extraordinary.
I had the eyes of a child.
I wish I could look at the world
أستطيعُ أنْ أرى العالمَ مجدّداً
when I was a small boy.
حينما كنتُ طفلاً.
as we get older,
slightly muted or dulled by familiarity.
امتلكناهُ في صغرنا.
one of the challenges for me
in a new and engaging way.
بطريقةٍ جديدةٍ مثيرةٍ للاهتمام.
لديّ طفلانِ مدهشانِ
I've got two great kids
about the world, and in 2014, in spring,
جاءَ (سيباستيان) إليَّ بفضولهِ
from the garden.
about this insect --
في حشرةٍ كهذه
under his microscope.
دُهِشتُ جدّاً صراحةً
it blew me away.
of the ground beetle.
it reminded me of a galaxy.
بصورِ المجرّاتِ في الفضاء.
been outside our window.
منزلي طوالَ الوقت.
for this extraordinary subject,
عن شيءٍ خارجٍ عن المألوف
to bring it in to me.
لأجدَ ماكنتُ أبحثُ عنه.
and this is what I produced.
وهذهِ هيَ الصّورةُ التي التقطتها.
two simple questions.
of photographic lighting
كاملَ خبرتي في مجالِ التصوير
that's five millimeters long?
لا يتجاوزُ طولها خمسةَ ميليمترات؟
creative control over that lighting
هلْ سأتمكّن من إظهارِ لمحةٍ إبداعيّة
on some other found specimens,
لمخلوقاتٍ أخرى مشابهة
Museum of Natural History
المتخصّصِ في تاريخِ العلومِ الطبيعيّة
to their collection,
لي بالعملِ على معروضاتهم
that I'd been shooting,
the kind of detail I was able to get.
التي بإمكاني التقاطها.
anything quite like it before,
شيئاً كهذا في السّابق
they gave me open access
على موافقتهم للعملِ على
their entomologist.
ليساعدني بخبرته.
up into multiple sections,
إلى عدّةِ أجزاءَ
like a small still life.
كما لو كانَ مخلوقاً مستقلّاً بحدّ ذاته.
the eye of the insect,
على تصويرِ عينِ الحشرةِ
and dome-shaped,
that is large and soft and diffuse,
لطيفةٍ منتشرةٍ في اتجاهاتٍ عديدة
on that surface.
نقاطٍ مضاءةٍ أكثرَ من اللازم.
turns over to a hairy leg,
على تصويرِ قدمٍ مُشعِرةٍ لحشرةٍ
will change completely.
look as beautiful as I possibly can,
يبدو بأجملِ شكلٍ ممكن
different sections.
20 أو 25 جزءٍ مختلف.
at high magnification
لأشياءَ صغيرةِ الحجم
a very shallow depth of field.
محتواةً في مسافةٍ صغيرةٍ للغاية.
to move 10 microns in between each shot.
10 مايكروناتٍ بينَ اللقطةِ والأخرى.
of a human hair.
with a deep stack of images.
all the way through.
بما يكفي لإظهار تفاصيله.
that is fully focused from front to back.
مضاءةٍ بكامل تفاصيلها.
25 sections that are fully focused
between 8- and 10,000 separate shots.
لقطةٍ منفصلة.
weeks to create,
لدمجِ هذهِ الصّور
are about four gigabytes.
حوالي 4 غيغا بايت.
to play with when I'm printing.
أيِّ تفصيلٍ أو حذفه من الصورة.
are around the three-meter mark.
عند وضعها في المعارض.
in Milan two weeks ago,
that were nine meters long.
الأسبوعَ الماضي.
in the digital world.
all my blood, sweat and tears
معنىً لكلّ ما تعبت عليه
500 pixels on a screen.
الشاشةِ التي تراها من خلالها.
and Will Cookson,
to immerse themselves
بمشاهدةِ الصورِ
all that microscopic detail.
and I encourage you,
to the Middle East.
في متاحفِ الشرقِ الأوسط.
and goes to Copenhagen this month.
وهي في (كوبنهاغن) خلال هذا الشهر
from all over the world --
من أشخاصٍ من بلدانٍ عديدةٍ
who are using the website in school.
هذه الصّورَ في المدرسةِ
of the project.
I like to do at the exhibitions
the kiddies' reactions.
in front of a three-meter insect,
حشرةٍ بطولِ ثلاثة أمتار
for five minutes, motionless.
يتأمّلُ دونَ حراكٍ لـ 5 دقائق.
at the end of the day at the exhibitions,
the lower third of the big prints --
الثُلُثَ الأسفلَ من الصّور
all those sticky handprints,
is touch those big bugs.
هو لمسُ هذه الحشراتِ الكبيرة.
with one final image, if that's OK.
مع صورةٍ أخيرةٍ
that I photographed
in the box, not my cat.
بل للكائنِ الذي في العلبة.
brought back from Australia
and stared at it for about 20 minutes.
لحواليّ 20 دقيقةً في المطبخ
of this beautiful creature.
بفرصةِ امتلاكِ هذا المخلوقِ الجميل.
was willing to risk me playing with this
بإعطائي كائناً بهذه الأهميّة
that my images had worth --
when I look at this:
make of these images?
لو امتلكَ هذه الصّورة؟"
of his shield bug? I hope so.
أتمنّى هذا.
بأنّني شخصٌ مُبدع
I'm a creative person,
to find my extraordinary subject.
العنانَ لمخيّلتي لولا عينيّ سيباستيان.
thank you very much, Sebastian;
شكراً جزيلاً سيباستيان
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Levon Biss - PhotographerWith his "Microsculpture" series, Levon Biss photographs the incredible details of insects.
Why you should listen
Levon Biss is a British photographer who works across many genres, including reportage, sport and portraiture. His passion for nature and photography have come together to create Microsculpture. For the project, a unique photographic process composites thousands of images using multiple lighting setups to create the final insect portraits. Each specimen was mounted on an adapted microscope stage, allowing close control over the position of the specimen in front of the camera lens. Most insects were photographed in about 30 sections, each section lit differently with strobe lights to accentuate the microsculpture of that particular area of the body. Each insect portrait is created from more than 8,000 separate images. In between his insect projects, Biss continues to photograph humans.
Levon Biss | Speaker | TED.com