中国老师自制28台针孔相机，拍摄太阳轨迹6年 | Capturing Sun Paths

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=p0645bfcbyt&width=500&height=375&auto=0

In an ancient Chinese myth, Kuafu the giant decided to chase and catch the sun. Although he died of thirst on the way, he is seen as symbolizing the ancestral pursuit of light and eternity.

中国古代神话中有一个故事，讲“夸父与日逐走”。有人说，它象征先民对光明和永恒生命的追求。

Thousands of years later, Chen Xiaofeng, a secondary vocational school fine art teacher, also tried to capture the sun. He has been taking photos of the sun's trajectory for many years with his hand-made pinhole cameras.

几千年之后，一名普通的中专美术教授陈晓峰，依然在做同样的事情。多年来，他热衷于拍摄太阳东升西落的轨迹，使用的工具是自制的针孔摄影机。

Pinhole cameras bring the art of photography back to basics. Without sophisticated optical lenses or high-resolution imagery, photos are cast on the negative using the pinhole-imaging principle. A longer exposure time is needed, so the images tend to be hazier, as if time had left its mark on them.

针孔摄影机是对摄影技术的返璞归真。摄影师舍弃了复杂的光学镜头，告别高精度的图像，用自制的针孔镜头，通过最原始的“小孔成像”原理，将影像直接投射在感光底片上。这种拍摄方式需要较长的曝光时间，得到的影像朦胧、隽永，时间的流逝在它们身上留下了光影的印记。

Chen's pursuit of the sun began in 2009. But he only started to make pinhole cameras after being inspired by a magazine article in 2013. He believes that the long exposure time of these cameras perfectly meets his solargraphy needs.

陈晓峰的逐日之旅始于2009年。他从一本摄影杂志得到灵感，于2013年开始自制针孔摄影机。他觉得，针孔摄影机长时间曝光的特点，刚好和拍摄太阳轨迹的目的不谋而合。

His cameras are made with a sealed case and a pinholed aluminum foil or copper sheet, with slots for opaque filters. Every camera is named after a scholar that had major contributions to the field of optics.

他的针孔摄影机，由密封的外壳和钻有小孔的铝箔或薄铜片组成，可以装载阻光镜。每台摄影机都以历史上在光学领域有贡献的人物名字命名。

"Frenchman Louis Daguerre invented photography. The pinhole-imaging principle, however, was first documented by Chinese scholar Mozi more than 2,000 years ago. That's why I named my first camera 'Mozi'," Chen said. He also made cameras named "Zhao Youqin", "Aristotle" and "Da Vinci" in his studio later.

“摄影术是1839年由法国人达盖尔发明的，但摄影术的基本原理小孔成像，却是两千多年前由墨子用文字记载的。所以我做的第一台相机就命名为墨子号。” 赵友钦号、亚里士多德号、达芬奇号也相继在他的工作室里诞生。

Chen writes detailed specifications on every camera, which get customized respectively for special purposes. They are usually placed in an open field or on a rooftop with rainproof sheds and blunted bird spikes for protection. Chen regularly clears the dust and adjusts the cameras. Patience is the most important technique for this work.

每一个相机的机身上，都有详细的规格参数，便于他在不同场合使用。它们往往被放在野外或天台上，带着防雨棚和磨平了尖端的防鸟针。陈晓峰定期去清理尘土，调整相机的状态。这项工作最大的技术含量，在于耐心。

When the sunlight goes through the pinhole, it leaves marks on the negative. A tiny light-spot can be seen when the filter is removed. These shining spots and lines then add up to make a sun path.

拍摄时，阳光通过小孔照射在底片上。每移开一次阻光镜，就会在画面中留下一个爆炸性的光点。这便组成了太阳轨迹中的点和线。

"The sun's path is the motif of all my works," said Chen. "It's one of my ways of observing and feeling the world."

“我作品的母题就是太阳的轨迹，”陈晓峰说，“它是我观察世界、感受世界的一个子集。”

He often uses enormous and upright buildings as the subject, with the fascinating sun paths as the backdrop. "The giant chimneys are symbols of an industrialized civilization, and of people's ability to change the natural world. They are like totems of modern society. The sun casts their slim shadows on the ground, as if the chimneys were huge sundials."

他搜寻巨大、笔直的建筑物来做照片的主体，迷恋它们与太阳相映成辉的场景：“大烟囱是工业文明及人类改造自然能力的体现，是现代社会的图腾。高悬的太阳将烟囱硕长的影子投在地上，像一个巨大的日晷。”

The shining paths of the sun reveal the movement of the stars across days and in months. "People say that photography is art made in a flash. But it can also be the art of eternity." Pointing at a photo that took 6 months to take, Chen explained, "the image is the code of the sun, and a letter from above."

闪亮的太阳轨迹呈弧线掠过，记录着短则一天、长则数月的日换星移。“一般来说摄影是瞬间的艺术。但也完全可以说它是长时间的艺术，”陈晓峰指着自己花费六个月得到的作品说，“这种图像是太阳的密码，是写给我们的一封天书。”

Other than the buildings and the sun's path, everything is blurred – as are the swaying trees, pedestrians and moving vehicles: "Things will perish eventually, except the ever-burning sun."

画面中，除了矗立的建筑物和太阳轨迹，树影、行人、车流都隐而不见 “一切都会消逝，惟有太阳是永恒的。”

Chen's persistence in finding a way to fight against time is also shown in his other works, like the annual portraits of his daughter, or his long-term documenting of Zhejiang Province's vanishing old town of Quzhou.

除了太阳，在陈晓峰的其他创作中，他依旧坚持寻找着应对时间流逝的方法。无论是每年为女儿拍摄的肖像照，还是拍摄逐渐消失的衢州老城，都是长期的纪录性创作。

Chen entitled one of his photos "A Tribute to Hiroshi Sugimoto," who's a famous Japanese photographer. It took Chen 7 hours to shoot the trajectory of the moon behind the flame of a candle. He was inspired by Sugimoto's work "In Praise of Shadow": "I was deeply moved at the first sight, and I felt the urge to shoot a burning candle in front of the moon's or sun's path.” Chen's next plan is to take 6 months to shoot a photo of a burning candle and the sun path, merging the ephemeral flame with that of eternity.

陈晓峰还创作过一张照片《向杉本博司致敬》，花费7小时拍摄月亮从点燃的蜡烛背后穿过。这张作品的灵感来自杉本博司的《阴霾礼赞》：“第一次看到这张作品我就被深深打动，并立刻就有把蜡烛在月光前和日光前燃烧的冲动。”下一步，陈晓峰打算让燃尽的蜡烛对着太阳轨迹曝光六个月，最终将短暂的燃烧和近乎永恒的燃烧固定在一张照片中。

"In Praise of Shadow", Hiroshi Sugimoto

《阴霾礼赞》，杉本博司

"A Tribute to Hiroshi Sugimoto", Chen Xiaofeng

《向杉本博司致敬》，陈晓峰

Chen believes that his life is as short and ordinary as a burning candle, but it doesn't bother him at all. He has learned from the principles of light and shadow. He feels settled as long as the sun leaves its trace on the negative: "As if a humble life has established an unbreakable connection with the mighty sun."

陈晓峰觉得，自己的人生就和蜡烛一样，短暂而寻常。但他并不觉得这有什么不妥，像接受光影的规则一样接受了这个事实。只要阳光穿过针孔照在底片上，他就会在心中感到加倍踏实：“就像一个卑微的生命和伟大的太阳，建立起了一种牢不可破的联系。”

Cameraman: Tan Di

Film editor: Tan Di, Lu Gengrui

Story written by: Zhu Siqi

English editor: Josh McNally

往期链接：

Suggestions and Cooperation

请读者广提建议，您的建议很重要

投稿与合作：[e-mail]