2018罗伯特.普内基先生访谈录

Robert Pledge, President of the United States Contact Press, is a world-famous photographer and curator. He has served as the chairman of the jury of The World Press Photography Contest in 2001(WPP) and the judge of Pingyao International Photography Festival for 15 times, twice as judge of Photo China Original Photography Festival in Guizhou, and many Chinese photography contests  judges. He has been concern the development of American International Photographer Union(AIPU) all the time. Recently Mr Pledge met with the staff of the Union in his new office, and checked carefully some works of the just-concluded 2018 New York International Photography Art Show and then has carried on the extensive discussion about photography business.

美国联系图片社总裁罗伯特.普雷基先生是世界著名的摄影家和策展人,2001年曾任世界新闻摄影大赛(荷赛)评委会主席,曾15次担任过平遥国际摄影大展的评委,两次担任多彩贵州中国原生态摄影大展评委,以及中国很多摄影赛事的评委,一直关怀美国国际摄影师联盟的发展,近日普雷基先生在其新的办公场所会见了联盟的工作人员,并对刚刚结束的2018纽约国际摄影艺术展的作品进行了认真查看,就摄影方面的问题进行了广泛的探讨。

Mr. Pledge looked at some of the works in the exhibition and published some views on photography.

In his opinion, there is an obvious difference between Chinese and western artists, including photographers, in that westerners pay more attention to the differences between works and before, and focus on innovation. The Chinese, on the other hand, pay more attention to copy and see how the works look like master pieces. He went to China to take part in many photographic exhibitions, and found that once a work won the prize, hundreds of similar works would be sent in the second year. He feel that a lot of Chinese works are copy, copy some famous works of other countries, copy the material selection, conception and even techniques. Not only as a judge and photographer, but also as a general audience in the United States would like to see works that they have not seen before. So creativity is important, and audiences need to see new story or at least at new angle.

普雷基先生认真查看了本次展览的部分作品, 并发表了对摄影的一些看法:

他认为,中国和西方国家的艺术家包括摄影师之间有个明显的不同之处在于,西方人更多注重于作品和以前的有什么不同,重在创新;而中国人则更多注重于模仿,是看作品有多像经典作品。他到中国参加了很多摄影展,发现的问题就是,一旦某个作品获大奖了,第2年就会有几百个类似的作品发来。感到很多中国的作品都是在模仿,模仿一些其他国家著名的作品,在选材或立意上,甚至技法上都有模仿的痕迹。不光是作为评委和摄影家,包括美国的普通观众也希望能看到其以前没有看到过的作品。所以创意很重要,观众需要看到新的故事或新的角度。

or the current popular Photoshop works, he thinks Photoshop is a powerful tool that can do a lot of work now. However, its use does not determine the quality of the photographs, but still shows the photographer thinking and artistic level. And some new method of photography eventually exist in the past, the key still sees its content. At the same time, he also put great emphasis on the printing of photos. He believed that the printing valued 50% of a photo. Only a good printing can clearly express the author's thinking. Chinese photographers tend to try to show the best, try to take the photos perfectly, and give him the feeling that many photos look too clean! It's not about the details, it's about the fact that reality is not as perfect as a photograph, and if a photograph technology is perfect, surely it's not a good picture.

对现在流行的PS作品,他认为Photoshop是个很强大的工具,现在可以做很多工作。但其本身的使用决定不了照片的好坏,仍然是看其表现出作者的思想和艺术水平。而有不少新技法的作品其实过去就有过,关键还是看其内容。同时他也非常强调照片的制作,认为一张照片的成败,打印占了50%的份额,只有好的印制才能把作者的意图表达清楚,一张作品的价值很大程度上取决于制作的质量。中国的摄影师倾向于尽量展示好的,力图把照片拍的很完美,给他的感觉很多照片显得太干净了!不是细节表现的问题,而是现实其实并非如照片那样完美的,若一个照片在各个方面都看起来很完美,那这个作品肯定不是个好作品。

How to judge whether a work is good or bad? He thinks that the work itself can speak, just like listening to music. He listens to what the work tells him. Of course, it is related to the experience of the viewer. He once attended a photography exhibition in China, where he was presented with the proposed winning work. But he said he want to see the abandoned works, from them, he found a good piece and finally it win the grand prize.

如何判断一个作品的好坏呢? 他认为作品本身会说话的,如同听音乐一样,他更多的是倾听作品告诉了他什么,当然这和观赏者的经历有关,不同经历的人也许有不同的理解,但一些共同的东西仍然存在的,讲出了也是能得到大家认可的。他曾经在中国参加一个摄影展,主办方把草议的获奖作品交给他审阅,他表示要看看放弃的作品,结果从放弃的作品中选出了后来获得大奖的作品。

When it comes to Magnum's style of pictures, Mr. Pledge thinks that Magnum's pictures were very popular in the 1960s and 1970s, and the works are great. But now many of the works are just like Magnum's, not real. Its works are not only in black and white, but also in color.

在提到马格南风格的图片时,普内基先生认为马格南的图片在60,70年代是非常流行的,其作品是很棒的,但现在很多马格南风格的作品仅仅是像马格南而已,并没有真正得其精髓,其作品也不仅是黑白的,也有很多彩色的。

When we asked him about the trend of photography, he said that his current position is more to look back and review, hard to tell future, as far as exhibition categories in the United States, Landscape could be more popular. We have benefited greatly from his comments and suggestions for our future exhibitions in the United States.

当我们问到对当代摄影发展的趋势时,他说他现在站的位置更多的是在回顾和总结,就在美国的展览而言,风景类别将更受欢迎一些。对我们今后在美国组织展览提供了很多宝贵意见和建议,让我们受益匪浅。

The Union congratulated Mr. Pledge on their move to new house and presented him with a calligraphy work by Wu Changjiang , a famous painter and calligrapher ,be called "national treasure craftsman". Mr Wu learned at an early age from famous calligrapher Qi Gong,  then learn calligraphy from Chairman of Chinese Calligrapher's Association Su Shishu as the teacher to now, his works  presented as a national gift  to US President Obama, Russian President Putin, Korean President Moon Jae-yin, and Tung Chee-hwa, Edmund Ho, etc other international friends and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots. Wu Changjiang's works have been exhibited multiple times at the United Nations headquarters, the Louvre museum in Paris, the Tokyo museum and the London art museum.

联盟对普内基先生乔迁新居表示了祝贺并赠送了著名书画家“国宝工匠”吴长江先生的书法作品。吴长江先生早年师从著名书法家启功学习,后拜现在中国书法家协会主席苏士澍为师至今,其作品曾作为国礼赠送给奥巴马,普京,文在寅、董建华、何厚铧、梁振英、马英九、连战、吴伯雄、江丙坤、宋楚瑜等国际友人和港澳台同胞收藏。吴长江先生的作品多次被送到联合国总部、巴黎卢浮宫、东京博物馆、伦敦美术馆等地展出。

After the meeting, he had lunch together with our union staffs and enjoy the cooking of the restaurant.

会见完毕后普内基先生和我们联盟工作人员一起共进了午餐,对餐馆的厨艺大为赞赏。

 

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