编辑 Robert Capa, Spain,1936
回顾摄影历史，大量令人难以忘记重要的作品都美吗？例如，Robert Capa 的Spanish loyalist(倒下的士兵),刚刚受了致命伤，倒在了旁边。它是本世纪最生动的暴力死亡记录。
To return to the history of photography, are most of the memorable and important works beautiful? For example, Robert Capa's Spanish Loyalist, a fatally injured soldier falling to the ground. This is the most vivid recording of violent death in the century.
若单从感性方面，仅仅作为一个作品来判断，这是一个令人愉悦的形状组合。但，仅凭这些理由来看待这张照片，是一种扭曲。因为否认了压倒一切的，最重要的主题，倒下的对象是一个人。
Purely view from the perceptual aspect, this is a pleasing composition of shapes. However, solely evaluating this photo, for this reason, is a kind of distortion. It denies the most important of the subject, the falling object is a man.
Capa 的照片展示的是一个真相，一个普通、恐怖，而又重要的真相。这意味着这张照片很美吗？真实美，还是丑？答案取决于我们谈论的事实。一个真相是美的，它必须是完整的和最终的真相。Robert Adams认为定义美不可避免与信仰相连。Capa 这张照片的真相是有限的。谈不上是美的。一些评论表示这只是英雄的记者偶然记录的一部分真相。
Capa's photo demonstrates a truth, a common, terrible, and important truth. But does this mean that this photo is beautiful? Is Truth Beauty or ugly? The answer depends on the truths that we are talking. For a truth to be beautiful, it must be complete and the final truth. Robert Adams thinks that it is unavoidable to define beauty while connecting it to belief. This photo by Capa is limited in terms of truth. It is not to the point of being described as beautiful. Some words suggest that this is just an occasionally recorded partial truth by a heroic journalist.
经典的照片不一定美。有些经典的照片没有包含全部真相，没有揭示形式，没有向我们展示最深层次的连贯性，但它们仍然是最有力的图片，比如Daido Moriyama的Stray Dog， Diane Arbus 的Sword Swallower，Jacob Riis的Blinder Beggar.
Significant photos are not necessarily beautiful. Some did not include the full truth, which does not reveal Form, and does not show the deep coherence. But they are still one of the most powerful pictures, for example, Daido Moriyama's Stray Dog, Diane Arbus's Sword Swallower, Jacob Riis' Blinder Beggar.
编辑 Daido Moriyama, Stray Dog, 1971
编辑 Jacob Riis, Blind Beggar, 1888
编辑 Diane Arbus, Albino Sword Swallower at a Carnival, Maryland, 1970
有些照片就算构图经典，也没能传递对形式、对美至关重要的最终真相。构图经常是摄影师展示生活完整性的主要方式；整个画面的结构可以体现出形式之美。这样的照片让人想起Matisse关于“表达”的表述：表达，对于我来说，不存在于人脸上发光的激情中，也不存在于暴力运动中。我的照片的整个安排是富有表现力的：人物占据的地方，他们周围的空白空间与比例，每个元素都有它自己的份额。
Some photos are classically composed and still cannot convey the final Truth that is crucial to Form and thus to Beauty. Composition is the major way for a photographer to show the wholeness of life; the structure of the image shows the Form that is Beauty. This kind of photo brings to mind Matisse's description of "expression": Expression, for me, does not exist in the passions glowing on human faces or in violent movements. The entire arrangement of my photo is expressive: the place occupied by the figures, the empty spaces around them, and the proportions. Every element has its share.
尽管Robert Adams强调照片的形式，但是，他认为美不是单纯与形状相关的事情。美，至少部分与主题相关。一个摄影师可以在反映形式的同时，对构图的关注度少于以上提到的优秀摄影师。他们可以依靠聚集观众的视线到人脸（Edward S. Curtis, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce），展示人群的关系，甚至用生活中的物体来表达我们自己，以这种简单方式揭示美也是可能的。在这些主题中，毋庸置疑存在着形式的证据，尽管构图是必须的，但其所起的作用是从属的，这是要把观众的注意力集中在主题上。
Although Robert Adams emphasizes the formal qualities of pictures, beauty is not purely a matter of related shapes. Beauty, at least in part, is related to the subject. A photographer can reflect Form while not paying as much attention to composition as the photographers mentioned in the examples. They can simply reveal Beauty by calling the attention of the views to a human face ( Edward S. Curtis, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce ), or by showing relationships among people, or even just by using daily objects to express themselves. In these subjects, there is evidence of Form, although the composition is essential, the function is subordinate. This is to have the audience focus on the subject.
Robert Adams虽然对美下了一些定义，但是，他认为有些照片太好，太伟大以至于不能以美或不美归类。Lange的移民母亲是代表一种失败还是决心的例子？Shahn’s Strawberry Picker’s Child是一个毫无意义的社会浪费案例，还是她是圣洁的？在这些照片中，有一种岌岌可危但又坚定存在的可能性，这就是它们的美，且是最美的。
Although Robert Adams tries to define Beauty, he also believes that some photos are too excellent and great that it cannot be categorized. Lange's Migrant Mother is a defeat or determination? Shahn's Strawberry Picker's Child is a meaningless social waste or is she holy? Maybe in these photos, a sense of possibility is so precariously but firmly held, Robert Adams finds them beautiful, and he finds them to be the most beautiful of all.
Dorothea Lange， Migrant Mother， 1936
Ben Shahn, Strawberry Pickers' Child , 1935
艺术足够作为生活的慰藉吗？美可以让人忍受痛苦吗？当我们没有负担的太重，太失望，太孤独，或太痛苦时，伟大的照片可以起到治愈作用，艺术是有所帮助的。然而，有些时候，美，无论是在自然中还艺术中，本身就是痛苦的。从相机取景框里看到大山里与世隔绝的风景的壮观，城市里极美却空旷的房子，会让人感到恐惧或寒意。有时能找到一家咖啡馆，有食物，有人的声音，或有一条狗，有家人朋友，会是更令人欣慰的事。然而，所有这些事情都是无序的，但是若没有它们，为了生存做出的有序计划是没有希望实现的。
Is art enough to be a consolation for life? Can Beauty make suffering more tolerable? The fact is: when we are not too burdened, too disappointed, too lonely, or too in pain, great photos can heal and art can help. However, Beauty itself can sometimes be painful either found in nature or in art. The mountain view that is independent of humans and the inhumanly beautiful empty house in the city are frightening and chilly. Sometimes it is more a blessing to find a cafe with food, people, or dog. Families and friends will be better though. However, all of these things are disorderly, but plans for survival cannot stand without them.
如果摄影不仅能揭示真相，还有美，被人们喜爱是情理之中的事情，然而这时，人们就有可能会对它突然引起的广泛兴趣进行推测。摄影出现的时间很长了，把它是一门艺术的人还是少数。时尚和商业肯定带来了一些突然的变化。买这个或那个相机，投资这个或那个印刷对促进摄影发展起到了一定的作用，而摄影的突然兴起也与我们对语言的不信任有一定关系。战争和其他野蛮行为的真实已经无法用言语表达，人们希望只通过看就能找到其中的真相。
If photography reveals not only Truth but Beauty, the affection for it is necessary to be explained, though people might speculate about the sudden widespread interest in it. Photography has been with us for a long time now, but those who think of it as art are still the minority. Fashion and commerce surely brought some sudden changes; buy this or that camera, invest in this or that print. These have promoted the growth of photography, yet the distrust of us of language also has to do with the abrupt rise of photography. The truth of war and other barbarities can no longer be expressed through words, people only hope to find the Truth just by looking.
美是普遍可见的。
"Beauty is the universal seen."
David Smith, Cubi XVII, 1963(Stainless Steel)
Nicholas Nixon, Heather Brown McCann, Mimi Brown, Bebe Brown Nixon and Laurie Brown, New Canaan, 1975
Edward S.Curtis, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce,1930
Ben Shahn, Talking Politics before Dinner at Wheat-harvest Time ,1938
Dorothea Lange, kern County,1938
本贴仅代表作者观点，与麻辣社区立场无关。
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