TEDGlobal 2012
Becci Manson: (Re)touching lives through photos
Becci Manson: Retušovanie životov prostredníctvom fotiek
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Po zemetrasení a tsunami v Japonsku z roku 2011 sa v troskách nachádzalo množstvo zničených rodinných fotiek. Retušérka Becci Manson spolu s miestnymi dobrovoľníkmi a skupinou kolegov po celom svete, s ktorými sa spojila cez internet, pomohli fotky vyčistiť a opraviť, a tak mohli vrátiť spomienky ich majiteľom.
Becci Manson - Photo Retoucher
After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Becci Manson and her volunteer colleagues cleaned and restored hundreds of damaged photos. Full bio
After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Becci Manson and her volunteer colleagues cleaned and restored hundreds of damaged photos. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:17
Before March, 2011, I was a photographic retoucher
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Pred marcom 2011 som pracovala ako retušérka fotiek
00:21
based in New York City.
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v New Yorku.
00:24
We're pale, gray creatures.
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Sme bledé, sivé tvory.
00:26
We hide in dark, windowless rooms,
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Skrývame sa v tmavých miestnostiach bez okien
00:28
and generally avoid sunlight.
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a vo všeobecnosti sa vyhýbame slnku.
00:30
We make skinny models skinnier, perfect skin more perfect,
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Z chudých modeliek robíme ešte vychudnutejšie, z dokonalej pokožky dokonalejšiu,
00:34
and the impossible possible,
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z nemožného možné
00:36
and we get criticized in the press all the time,
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a vkuse nás v tlači kritizujú,
00:40
but some of us are actually talented artists
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no niektorí z nás sú v skutočnosti talentovaní umelci
00:44
with years of experience
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s mnohoročnými skúsenosťami
00:46
and a real appreciation for images and photography.
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a láskou k fotkám a fotografovaniu.
00:50
On March 11, 2011, I watched from home, as the rest
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11. 3. 2011 som z domu sledovala, podobne ako
00:55
of the world did, as the tragic events unfolded in Japan.
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zvyšok sveta, tragické udalosti v Japonsku.
00:59
Soon after, an organization I volunteer with,
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O pár dní neskôr bola dobrovoľnícka organizácia
01:01
All Hands Volunteers, were on the ground, within days,
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All Hands Volunteers, do ktorej patrím, už v teréne
01:05
working as part of the response efforts.
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a pracovala na obnove krajiny.
01:08
I, along with hundreds of other volunteers,
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Ako stovky ďalších dobrovoľníkov,
01:10
knew we couldn't just sit at home,
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aj ja som vedela, že nemôžem len tak sedieť doma,
01:12
so I decided to join them for three weeks.
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tak som sa k nim rozhodla na tri týždne pridať.
01:15
On May the 13th, I made my way to the town of Ōfunato.
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13.5. som pricestovala do mesta Ofunato.
01:19
It's a small fishing town in Iwate Prefecture,
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Je to malé rybárske mesto v prefektúre Iwate,
01:23
about 50,000 people,
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má asi 50 000 obyvateľov
01:25
one of the first that was hit by the wave.
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a je jedným z prvých miest, ktoré zasiahla tsunami.
01:28
The waters here have been recorded at reaching
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Podľa záznamov tu voda dosiahla
01:31
over 24 meters in height,
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výšku až nad 24 metrov
01:33
and traveled over two miles inland.
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a zašla viac ako 3 km do vnútrozemia.
01:35
As you can imagine, the town had been devastated.
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Ako si iste viete predstaviť, mesto bolo spustošené.
01:39
We pulled debris from canals and ditches.
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Trosky sme odstraňovali z kanálov a priekop.
01:41
We cleaned schools. We de-mudded and gutted homes
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Čistili sme školy. Vyprázdňovali sme domy a zbavovali sme ich bahna,
01:45
ready for renovation and rehabilitation.
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aby sa mohli začať renovovať.
01:47
We cleared tons and tons of stinking, rotting fish carcasses
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Odstránili sme tony a tony zapáchajúcich hnijúcich mŕtvych rýb
01:52
from the local fish processing plant.
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z miestnej továrne na spracovanie rýb.
01:54
We got dirty, and we loved it.
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Zašpinili sme sa, a páčilo sa nám to.
01:57
For weeks, all the volunteers and locals alike
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Celé týždne dobrovoľníci a aj miestni obyvatelia
02:00
had been finding similar things.
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nachádzali podobné veci.
02:03
They'd been finding photos and photo albums
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Nachádzali fotky, fotoalbumy,
02:06
and cameras and SD cards.
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fotoaparáty a pamäťové karty.
02:08
And everyone was doing the same.
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A všetci robili to isté.
02:09
They were collecting them up, and handing them in to
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Zbierali ich a odovzdávali
02:12
various places around the different towns for safekeeping.
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do úschovy na viacerých mestách.
02:15
Now, it wasn't until this point that I realized
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Dovtedy som si ani neuvedomila,
02:18
that these photos were such a huge part
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že tieto fotky tvorili takú veľkú časť
02:21
of the personal loss these people had felt.
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osobnej straty, ktorú títo ľudia cítili.
02:24
As they had run from the wave, and for their lives,
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Keď utekali pred vlnou, zachraňujúc si holý život,
02:27
absolutely everything they had,
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úplne všetko, čo mali,
02:29
everything had to be left behind.
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všetko museli nechať tak.
02:32
At the end of my first week there, I found myself
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Na konci prvého týždňa, čo som tam strávila,
02:34
helping out in an evacuation center in the town.
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som pomáhala v evakuačnom centre v meste.
02:37
I was helping clean the onsen, the communal onsen,
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Pomáhala som čistiť onsen,
02:41
the huge giant bathtubs.
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čiže obrovské vane.
02:43
This happened to also be a place in the town where
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Zhodou okolností to bolo aj miestom,
02:45
the evacuation center was collecting the photos.
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kde evakuačné centrum zhromažďovalo fotky.
02:48
This is where people were handing them in,
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Ľudia ich tu odovzdávali
02:50
and I was honored that day that they actually trusted me
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a v ten deň som mala tú česť, že som im mohla
02:53
to help them start hand-cleaning them.
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pomáhať začať fotky ručne čistiť.
02:56
Now, it was emotional and it was inspiring,
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Bolo to dojemné a inšpirujúce.
02:59
and I've always heard about thinking outside the box,
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Stále počúvame, že máme byť originálni a tvoriví,
03:02
but it wasn't until I had actually gotten outside of my box
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ale až keď som sama vyšla zo svojej ulity
03:06
that something happened.
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sa niečo stalo.
03:08
As I looked through the photos, there were some
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Keď som si prezerala fotky, niektoré z nich
03:10
were over a hundred years old,
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mali vyše sto rokov,
03:12
some still in the envelope from the processing lab,
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niektoré boli ešte v obálke z fotolabu.
03:16
I couldn't help but think as a retoucher
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Ako retušérka som si zakaždým mimovoľne pomyslela,
03:18
that I could fix that tear and mend that scratch,
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že by som vedela opraviť ten škrabanec alebo tú roztrhnutú časť
03:20
and I knew hundreds of people who could do the same.
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a poznala som stovky ľudí, ktorí by vedeli urobiť to isté.
03:24
So that evening, I just reached out on Facebook
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A tak som sa v ten večer cez Facebook
03:27
and asked a few of them, and by morning
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opýtala niekoľkých z nich a do rána
03:29
the response had been so overwhelming and so positive,
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boli reakcie také ohromné a pozitívne,
03:32
I knew we had to give it a go.
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že sme to nemohli neskúsiť.
03:34
So we started retouching photos.
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Takže sme začali upravovať fotky.
03:37
This was the very first.
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Toto bola úplne prvá.
03:40
Not terribly damaged, but where the water had caused
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Nebola až taká zničená, ale miesto, kde voda
03:45
that discoloration on the girl's face
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zmenila farbu tváre dievčaťa,
03:47
had to be repaired with such accuracy and delicacy.
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muselo byť veľmi presne a jemne opravené.
03:50
Otherwise, that little girl isn't going to look
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Ináč by to dievčatko už nevyzeralo
03:53
like that little girl anymore, and surely that's as tragic
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ako toto dievčatko a to by určite bolo podobne tragické,
03:55
as having the photo damaged.
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ako mať zničenú fotku.
03:59
(Applause)
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(Potlesk)
04:05
Over time, more photos came in, thankfully,
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Časom dorazili ďalšie fotky
04:08
and more retouchers were needed,
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a potrebovali sme viac retušérov
04:12
and so I reached out again on Facebook and LinkedIn,
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a tak som znovu napísala na Facebook a LinkedIn
04:15
and within five days, 80 people wanted to help
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a do piatich dní ponúklo svoju pomoc 80 ľudí
04:18
from 12 different countries.
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z 12 krajín.
04:20
Within two weeks, I had 150 people
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Do dvoch týždňov som mala 150 ľudí,
04:22
wanting to join in.
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ktorí sa chceli zapojiť.
04:24
Within Japan, by July, we'd branched out
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V Japonsku sme v júli rozšírili svoju činnosť
04:27
to the neighboring town of Rikuzentakata,
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do susedného mesta Rikuzentakata
04:29
further north to a town called Yamada.
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a severnejšie do mesta Jamada.
04:32
Once a week, we would set up our scanning equipment
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Raz za týždeň sme zapojili skenery
04:35
in the temporary photo libraries that had been set up,
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v provizórnych fotoknižniciach,
04:37
where people were reclaiming their photos.
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kde si ľudia chodili vyzdvihnúť svoje fotky.
04:40
The older ladies sometimes hadn't seen a scanner before,
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Niektoré staršie panie nikdy predtým skener nevideli,
04:43
but within 10 minutes of them finding their lost photo,
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ale keď našli svoju stratenú fotku, v rámci 10 minút
04:47
they could give it to us, have it scanned,
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nám ju mohli dať, nechať si ju naskenovať a
04:49
uploaded to a cloud server, it would be downloaded
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nahrať na cloud server. Potom si ju stiahol
04:51
by a gaijin, a stranger,
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gaidžin, čiže cudzinec,
04:54
somewhere on the other side of the globe,
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niekde na druhej strane zemegule
04:56
and it'd start being fixed.
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a začal ju opravovať.
04:58
The time it took, however, to get it back
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Čas, za ktorý sa fotka dostala naspať k majiteľom,
05:02
is a completely different story,
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bol však už rôzny
05:04
and it depended obviously on the damage involved.
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a závisel samozrejme od miery poškodenia.
05:06
It could take an hour. It could take weeks.
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Mohlo to trvať hodinu. Mohlo to trvať týždne.
05:08
It could take months.
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Mohlo to trvať mesiace.
05:10
The kimono in this shot pretty much had to be hand-drawn,
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Kimono na tomto zábere muselo byť viac-menej ručne namaľované
05:14
or pieced together, picking out the remaining parts of color
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alebo poskladané na základe zvyšných farebných častí
05:18
and detail that the water hadn't damaged.
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a častí kimona, ktoré voda nezničila.
05:20
It was very time-consuming.
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Časovo to bolo veľmi náročné.
05:23
Now, all these photos had been damaged by water,
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Všetky fotky boli zničené vodou,
05:26
submerged in salt water, covered in bacteria,
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ponorené v slanej vode, pokryté baktériami,
05:29
in sewage, sometimes even in oil, all of which over time
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splaškami, niekedy aj olejom, čo by fotky postupom času
05:32
is going to continue to damage them,
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naďalej poškodzovalo,
05:34
so hand-cleaning them was a huge part of the project.
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takže ručné čistenie bolo významnou časťou projektu.
05:37
We couldn't retouch the photo unless it was cleaned,
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Nemohli sme fotku retušovať, ak nebola vyčistená,
05:40
dry and reclaimed.
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suchá a neprihlásil sa k nej majiteľ.
05:43
Now, we were lucky with our hand-cleaning.
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S ručným čistením sme mali šťastie.
05:46
We had an amazing local woman who guided us.
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Viedla nás jedna úžasná miestna žena.
05:49
It's very easy to do more damage to those damaged photos.
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Je veľmi ľahké poškodené fotky ešte viac zničiť.
05:53
As my team leader Wynne once said,
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Ako raz povedal Wynne, vedúci môjho tímu,
05:55
it's like doing a tattoo on someone.
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je to ako robiť niekomu tetovanie.
05:57
You don't get a chance to mess it up.
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Proste to nemôžeš sfušovať.
06:01
The lady who brought us these photos was lucky,
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Pani, ktorá nám priniesla tieto fotky, mala šťastie,
06:04
as far as the photos go.
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čo sa týka fotiek.
06:06
She had started hand-cleaning them herself and stopped
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Začala ich ručne čistiť sama a prestala,
06:08
when she realized she was doing more damage.
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keď zistila, že robí viac škody ako úžitku.
06:11
She also had duplicates.
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Mala tiež kópie.
06:13
Areas like her husband and her face, which otherwise
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Plochy ako jej manžel alebo jej tvár, ktoré by ináč
06:16
would have been completely impossible to fix,
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vôbec nebolo možné opraviť,
06:18
we could just put them together in one good photo,
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sme mohli jednoducho skombinovať do jednej dobrej fotky
06:21
and remake the whole photo.
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a prerobiť celú fotku.
06:23
When she collected the photos from us,
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Keď si od nás fotky preberala,
06:26
she shared a bit of her story with us.
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podelila sa s nami o svoj príbeh.
06:28
Her photos were found by her husband's colleagues
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Fotky našli kolegovia jej manžela
06:31
at a local fire department in the debris
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v troskách v miestnej požiarnej zbrojnici,
06:33
a long way from where the home had once stood,
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ktorá bola ďaleko od miesta, kde raz stál jej dom,
06:36
and they'd recognized him.
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a spoznali ho.
06:39
The day of the tsunami, he'd actually been in charge
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V deň tsunami mal
06:41
of making sure the tsunami gates were closed.
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skontrolovať, či sú zábrany proti tsunami uzavreté.
06:43
He had to go towards the water as the sirens sounded.
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Keď zazneli sirény, musel ísť k vode.
06:47
Her two little boys, not so little anymore, but her two boys
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Jej dvaja chlapčekovia, vlastne už nie sú takí malí, jej dvaja chlapci
06:50
were both at school, separate schools.
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boli v škole, v rôznych školách.
06:52
One of them got caught up in the water.
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Jedného dobehla vlna.
06:55
It took her a week to find them all again
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Trvalo jej týždeň, kým ich všetkých našla
06:57
and find out that they had all survived.
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a uistila sa, že všetci prežili.
06:59
The day I gave her the photos also happened to be
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V deň, keď som je dala fotky, mal zhodou okolností
07:02
her youngest son's 14th birthday.
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jej najmladší syn 14. narodeniny.
07:06
For her, despite all of this, those photos
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Napriek všetkému boli tieto fotky pre ňu
07:10
were the perfect gift back to him,
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dokonalým darčekom pre svojho syna,
07:12
something he could look at again, something he remembered from before
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boli niečím, na čo sa mohol zas pozrieť, niečím, čo si pamätal,
07:15
that wasn't still scarred from that day in March
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niečím, čo už nebolo zjazvené z toho marcového dňa,
07:20
when absolutely everything else in his life had changed
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keď sa úplne všetko ostatné v jeho živote zmenilo
07:23
or been destroyed.
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alebo zničilo.
07:27
After six months in Japan,
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Počas šiestich mesiacov v Japonsku
07:29
1,100 volunteers had passed through All Hands,
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prostredníctvom organizácie All Hands pôsobilo 1100 dobrovoľníkov,
07:32
hundreds of whom had helped us hand-clean
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a stovky z nich nám pomohli ručne vyčistiť
07:34
over 135,000 photographs,
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vyše 135 000 fotiek,
07:37
the large majority — (Applause) —
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z ktorých veľká väčšina -- (Potlesk) --
07:43
a large majority of which did actually find their home again,
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z ktorých si veľká väčšina znova našla
07:46
importantly.
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svojich majiteľov.
07:49
Over five hundred volunteers around the globe
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Vyše päťsto dobrovoľníkov z celého sveta
07:52
helped us get 90 families hundreds of photographs back,
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nám pomohlo vrátiť 90 rodinám stovky fotiek späť,
07:57
fully restored and retouched.
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a to úplne obnovených a upravených.
07:59
During this time, we hadn't really spent more than
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Počas celej doby sme na vybavenie a materiál
08:01
about a thousand dollars in equipment and materials,
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neminuli viac než tisíc dolárov
08:04
most of which was printer inks.
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a väčšina z toho šla na farbu do tlačiarne.
08:08
We take photos constantly.
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Ľudia fotia neustále.
08:10
A photo is a reminder of someone or something,
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Fotka nám pripomína niekoho alebo niečo,
08:13
a place, a relationship, a loved one.
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miesto, vzťah, milovanú osobu.
08:16
They're our memory-keepers and our histories,
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Uchovávajú nám spomienky a sú našimi príbehmi,
08:18
the last thing we would grab
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poslednou vecou, na ktorú by sme siahli
08:21
and the first thing you'd go back to look for.
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a prvou, po ktorú by sme sa vrátili.
08:24
That's all this project was about,
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Tento projekt bol presne o tom:
08:26
about restoring those little bits of humanity,
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obnoviť tieto kúsky ľudskosti
08:29
giving someone that connection back.
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a vrátiť ľuďom toto spojenie.
08:31
When a photo like this can be returned to someone like this,
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Keď môžeme takúto fotku vrátiť niekomu takémuto,
08:37
it makes a huge difference
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má to obrovský význam
08:39
in the lives of the person receiving it.
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v živote človeka, ktorý ju príjme.
08:42
The project's also made a big difference in the lives of the retouchers.
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Projekt mal veľký význam aj v živote retušérov.
08:46
For some of them, it's given them a connection
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Pre niektorých to bola šanca podieľať sa
08:49
to something bigger, giving something back,
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na niečom veľkom, šanca odvďačiť sa,
08:51
using their talents on something
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použiť svoj talent na niečo iné
08:53
other than skinny models and perfect skin.
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než vychudnuté modelky a dokonalú pokožku.
08:57
I would like to conclude by reading an email
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Na záver by som chcela prečítať jeden mail,
08:59
I got from one of them, Cindy,
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ktorý som dostala od retušérky Cindy
09:02
the day I finally got back from Japan after six months.
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v deň, keď som sa po šiestich mesiacoch vrátila z Japonska:
09:06
"As I worked, I couldn't help but think about the individuals
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„Keď som pracovala, stále som musela rozmýšľať o jednotlivých ľuďoch
09:10
and the stories represented in the images.
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a príbehoch zachytených na fotkách.
09:13
One in particular, a photo of women of all ages,
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Hlavne jedna, viacgeneračná fotka žien
09:17
from grandmother to little girl, gathered around a baby,
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od starej mamy po malé dievča, zhromaždených okolo bábätka,
09:21
struck a chord, because a similar photo from my family,
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mi zahrala na citlivú strunu, lebo podobná fotka mojej rodiny,
09:24
my grandmother and mother, myself,
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na ktorej je babka, mama, ja
09:27
and newborn daughter, hangs on our wall.
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a novonarodená dcéra, visí u nás na stene.
09:30
Across the globe, throughout the ages,
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Naprieč zemeguľou, v každej dobe
09:33
our basic needs are just the same, aren't they?"
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sú naše základné potreby rovnaké, nie je tak?“
09:37
Thank you. (Applause)
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Ďakujem. (Potlesk)
09:40
(Applause)
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(Potlesk)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Becci Manson - Photo RetoucherAfter the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Becci Manson and her volunteer colleagues cleaned and restored hundreds of damaged photos.
Why you should listen
Becci Manson flew to Tōhoku, Japan after the 2011 disaster, determined to help with cleanup and rebuilding.
As she writes: "During those 3 weeks of digging ditches and gutting homes I discovered vast amounts of photos that had been found and handed into evacuation centers. The photos were dirty, wet and homeless. As I spent my first day hand-cleaning them, I couldnt help but think how easy it would be for me, my colleagues and my friends to fix some of them. So we did."
She spent the next 6 months organizing a worldwide network of volunteer retouchers, restoring these photos and training local All Hands volunteer teams to hand-clean the photos handed in to local authorities. These teams have restored hundreds and hand-cleaned well over 100,000 photos.
Since the project in Tōhoku, Manson and her team has begun similar cleaning and retouching projects in Prattsville, NY after Hurricane Irene, and in Binghamton, NY after Tropical Storm Lee.
Becci Manson | Speaker | TED.com