apophoto煙斗客的重機日記

＜躍入一池惡水＞往往，一張照片給我的感觸，是隨著時空的消逝、移轉，而產生完全不同的解釋。圖中只見背影的這個孩子熱愛山林，親近自然，就像其他山裡的孩子一樣...

我曾經跟著他們一同跋山涉水、愉悅地徜徉在川流間。當時，看著他們以這麼赤裸而親暱的方式擁抱這片土地，令人感動不已。

然而，多年後，他們長大了，開始逃學、打架、偷竊，甚至嫌惡這片陪他們成長的土地，終日消磨於電玩、聲色場所中，屢屢因觸法而受到警方管束……

隔了多年，當我再看這個畫面，不免驚覺，其實他們當初就是以那麼容易受傷害的姿勢，赤裸躍入一池惡水之中。

【Belly Flop】Innocent, pure, simple, gentle and honest, he was once a nature-loving kid, just like hundreds of kids in the mountains. Then, he and the others grew up, entered school, made friends, learned to be mature. And then, some, overwhelmed by the temptation of the outside world, drowned themselves in crime.　Years later, I finally realized how easily he could get hurt as he belly flopped into the water. He was too naive to see it, though, and so was I.




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＜紅海與暮靄＞

「潮音」宛如潮水的聲音，這是我看著地圖吸引我來到這兒的唯一原因。

初次來到潮音感覺是寂寥而蕭瑟，甚至冷清到有些許的詭譎。海灘上刮著瑟瑟的冷風，幾扇殘破的籬笆錯落地插在灰色的沙上，最令人感到詫異的是「海」，它居然是紅色的……。幾度想拿起相機拍下此景，但總是提不起手，感覺它太美，美得令人迷戀，令人沉淪，而不忍將此景截肢地顯影於現實中，它應該是長存在內心的。

約半年後我入伍服役，彷彿是命中注定似地，正巧分發到潮音的海邊戍守，終日不分晝夜地看海，當時我才知道紅色的海原來是工業排放的廢水，心中珍藏的那幅美景也就日漸地模糊而消失，但夕陽下的暮靄與笑聲，卻更加真實地坐落在我心中。

【Red Sea and Evening Haze】Chao-yin is a place in Northern Taiwan, meaning "Sound of the Tide." Fascinated by the romantic name on the map, I headed out to see it for myself. Several hours later, I found myself standing in front of a widespread red sea. Wind blew through my ears, sand lay under my shoes, only children's naive laughter echoed in the air. Years later, when I learned that the red sea was, in fact, the waste water emitted from the nearby factories, I suddenly recalled the children's innocent faces that afternoon.




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＜命運的骰子＞

時常，我會在鏡頭後的一些小人物身上發現某種精神，這樣的發現正是支持我繼續拍照的力量來源。

這次在我鏡頭下的是大龍峒的一個香腸攤老伯，透過烤架上冒起的炊煙，我見到他聚精會神地搖動手中的骰子，準備和對面的年輕人一決勝負。那刻，對他們兩人而言，或許只是一條香腸的輸贏，然而，從老伯臉上專注的線條中，我卻看到老伯似乎是用手中的骰子，擲下自己的命運……

【The Dice of Fate】

Through the smoke curling upwards from the sausage-roasting stand, I saw his face. Head lowered, lips tightened, expression solemn and respectful, he threw the dice into a bowl. Clink clunk. Rolling the dice for a sausage, and for his fate as well.




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＜煙霧人生＞

裊裊的炊煙在小鎮的天空盤旋，總令我感到親切，就像童年時，迷漫在鄉間黃昏的薄霧炊煙，令人迷戀不已。

嘉義縣的糖廠，專門提煉蔗糖，在甘蔗收成季前後，總有一火車、一火車甘蔗被運入燃燒、煉製，煙囪不斷飄洩出甜膩的糖味芬芳。那一天，守火車的老人如昔坐在一旁愜意地吐煙。鐵軌邊的柴火漫不經心的燒著，老人背後兩根大煙囪，像極了時代巨輪般吞吐著歷史的雲煙。

眼前一片靜止的寧靜和悠揚飄浮的煙霧，如畫般地協調、祥和，讓手持相機的我竟出神了半晌。等我回過神來，有股強烈的感覺向我襲來──甘蔗在赤煉的火堆中化為灰燼，而老人也在煙霧中逐漸地衰弱老去...

【Smoke Never Lasts For Long】

As a kid, I could sit still for hours, gazing at the smoke emitted from the chimney, waiting for it to disappear in the sky, and wondering where it went. Smoke seems to me a mystery; it exists, but dies away in seconds just in front of my eyes.

The doorkeeper, seen here, must feel that I'm too sentimental. He sits there guarding the sugar refinery. As the cargo train transports countless sugar canes into the factory for the production of sugar, the smoke--with its natural scent of sweetness--from the factory never stops. The old man sits there day after day, indifferently smoking one cigarette after another.

Looking at the smoke from the chimney behind him floating around and fading away day and night, I was astonished to find that his life was also fading away bit by bit, just like the smoke from the factory, just like the smoke from the cigarette in his hand.




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＜失蹤的八秒鐘＞

西元一九九九年年底，感覺自己人生特別混亂，彷彿失去了好多，對未來也特別惶恐。時時刻刻，我都在想，或許二○○○年的來到會是個全新的開始，目前的一切失序只為重整自己，然後靜候著新生的開始……

一九九九年最後的一分鐘，我站在新店一個小山坡上，架起相機，透過觀景窗，努力地在繁華夜景中尋覓千禧年對自己有意義的第一個影像。時間一分一秒流過，我卻還在慌亂中搜尋。

隨著倒數的時間從十位數到個位數，7．6．5．4．啪！啪！啪……，在距離二○○○年到來的最後三秒前，我按下了快門，觀景窗被彈起的反光鏡遮住，我的眼前頓時陷入一片黑暗，腦中也是……。啪！！！當反光鏡回復時，我看了一下手錶，顯示器上的時間是二○○○年過五秒，橫跨千禧年的八秒間，外面發生什麼事，我竟一無所知。

透過照片，我發現，人生失蹤的那8秒鐘，原來現實一切都沒有改變，一樣輝煌的夜景，一樣川流的車潮，一樣高低的建築……；然而，珍貴的是，透過照片，我看見自己在那樣孤寒的夜裡，尋找重生的期待。

【The Missing Eight Seconds】One minute before the year 2000, with a Rollei and tripod on my shoulder, I stopped high on a hill, trying to free myself from a chaotic life. Three seconds to count down, I pressed the shutter, only to find myself in complete darkness. The viewfinder, covered by the reflector, kept me apart from the world until five seconds after the year 2000. The missing eight seconds was preserved in the photo, as well as in my later feeling of rebirth.




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《角落映像》全書未完待續，下次更新時間為下週一（03/17），敬請期待。

（攝影‧文字/陳建仲）