Stephen Wilkes: The passing of time, caught in a single photo
斯蒂芬·威尔克斯: 在一张照片中感受时间的流逝
By blending up to 100 still photographs into a seamless composite that captures the transition from day to night, Stephen Wilkes reveals the stories hidden in familiar locations. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
as the recording of a single moment
represents a tangible piece
than one moment in a photograph?
捕捉不止一个瞬间呢?
could actually collapse time,
of the day and the night
called "Day to Night"
iconic locations,
our collective memory.
and I never move.
而且从不移动。
of humanity and light as time passes.
人类活动与光影变幻。
from 15 to 30 hours
of the day and night.
从白昼到黑夜。
into one single photograph,
融合到一张照片中,
journey with time.
early morning rowers
the romance of the City of Light.
from 50 feet in the air,
in this photograph
of going to a place like Venice
a specific event.
the historical Regata,
taking place since 1498.
look exactly as they did then.
与旧时一模一样。
want you guys to understand is:
throughout the day and the night.
of magical moments.
is the fear of just missing one of them.
这是我最大的动力。
to create a panoramic photograph
为巴兹·鲁曼导演的电影
film Romeo + Juliet.
演职人员拍摄一张全景照。
it's a square.
a panoramic was to shoot a collage
就是拍摄250张照片,
embracing.
actually reflecting in it.
to my studio in New York,
"Wow, this is so cool!
“哇,这太酷了!
stayed with me for 13 years
一直贯穿于我的作品之中,
has caught up to my dreams.
of the Santa Monica Pier, Day to Night.
it's like being with me
that to get views like this,
and I'm usually in a cherry picker
通常是在升降台
12-18 hours, non-stop
连续拍摄12-18个小时,
is I love to people-watch.
in the house to have.
creating these photographs.
and the location,
and night ends.
何时开始,何时结束。
compress it into single plane.
of this work is also,
up or down, even diagonally.
有时甚至沿对角线。
going on in my mind.
months to complete.
when I get up there
going to be in the picture,
sunrise or sunset -- no control.
是否迷人——完全控制不了。
and everything remained the same,
有没有好的素材,
over a month of editing
我选出最棒的瞬间,
into the master plate.
these two very discordant worlds.
important influence in all my work
of Albert Bierstadt,
that I did on the National Parks.
国家公园系列作品。
I created of Yosemite.
of the 2016 January issue
30 hours in this picture.
超过30个小时。
and the moonlight as it transitions,
of time throughout the landscape.
捕捉时间的流动。
the magical moments of humanity
时光的流转中见证人类活动的
of Bierstadt's painting in my pocket.
to rise in the valley,
with excitement
exact same lighting
跟一百年前比兹塔特看到的,
the things I love
and, especially, history.
of Barack Obama.
waiting with the children,
when I create photographs like this.
遇到的挑战不计其数。
up in the air
一台剪叉式升降机里,
shifted our weight,
1,800 in this picture,
things doing this work.
are patience
like New York from above,
in cars anymore.
the energy of New York,
to really capture that.
I would checkerboard time.
把时间排成棋盘状。
it's actually day.
wrap our heads around.
begin to put a face on time.
metaphysical visual reality.
looking at a place,
a little differently
with our camera,
not even look at Sacré-Coeur.
in using it as a backdrop.
extraordinary example,
what we think the human experience is
is evolving into.
之间的巨大差异。
become more important
for me personally:
Park in Tanzania.
in the middle of the Seronera,
the peak migration
the most diverse range of animals.
during the peak migration,
were drawn to the water.
the same way it was behaving,
to capture something unique.
18 feet in the air.
相互竞争的动物,分享了唯一的水源。
share a single resource called water.
is supposed to have wars over
grunted at each other.
吼叫以驱赶对方。
that we humans don't.
我们还不懂的道理。
is really a new way of seeing,
是一种认识世界的新方法,
within a photograph.
along with photography,
时间和回忆中更深层的意义,
a deeper meaning of time and memory,
of untold stories,
非常感谢!
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Stephen Wilkes - Narrative photographerBy blending up to 100 still photographs into a seamless composite that captures the transition from day to night, Stephen Wilkes reveals the stories hidden in familiar locations.
Why you should listen
Since opening his studio in New York City in 1983, photographer Stephen Wilkes has built an unprecedented body of work and a reputation as one of America's most iconic photographers, widely recognized for his fine art, editorial and commercial work.
His photographs are included in the collections of the George Eastman Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collection, Griffin Museum of Photography, Jewish Museum of NY, Library of Congress, Snite Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Museum of the City of New York, 9/11 Memorial Museum and numerous private collections. His editorial work has appeared in, and on the covers of, leading publications such as the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, TIME, Fortune, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and many others.
In 1998, a one-day assignment to the south side of Ellis Island led to a 5-year photographic study of the island's long abandoned medical wards where immigrants were detained before they could enter America. Through his photographs and video, Wilkes helped secure $6 million toward the restoration of the south side of the island.
Day to Night, Wilkes' most defining project, began in 2009. These epic cityscapes and landscapes, portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours capture fleeting moments of humanity as light passes in front of his lens over the course of full day. Blending these images into a single photograph takes months to complete. Day to Night has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning as well as dozens of other prominent media outlets and, with a grant from the National Geographic Society, was recently extended to include America's National Parks in celebration of their centennial anniversary. The series will be published by TASCHEN as a monograph in 2017.
Wilkes, who lives and maintains his studio in Westport, CT, is represented by Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York; Peter Fetterman Gallery, Los Angeles; Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe; and ARTITLEDContemporary, The Netherlands.
Stephen Wilkes | Speaker | TED.com