“人的脸孔就是艺术品”：镜头下的人类的情感 | Emotional Photographer

Starting as a commercial photographer, Wang Rong, the "emotion photographer," has been in the business for eight years.

 “情绪摄影师”王嵘（别名：大王）已经入行八年了。刚开始，她主要从事商业写真。

"Not until recent years, did the concept of portrait photography become popular in China. People thought that it was no more than taking photos, as they couldn't tell the difference between portrait and commercial studio photography."

“其实在中国，肖像摄影的概念也就出现了一两年时间。以前大家觉得拍照就是拍照，也分不清所谓的肖像摄影和影楼写真之间的区别。”

Wang Rong didn't get much happiness from her commercial photos. "I was just a technician who had to fulfill the customers' demands. There wasn't much of my own except that I was to present them," she said. "I tried to do it like those portrait photographers that I admire. Their works are so lively that they prompt you to imagine the past experience of the subject and their life at present."

但是在拍摄商业摄影的过程中，大王觉得不快乐。“根据客户的要求去拍他们想要的东西，我就是一个技术工人，只是把它呈现出来，没有我自己的东西。”她说，“我想像我喜欢的肖像摄影师那样，让我们可以很鲜活地从照片中看到那个人，甚至去想象他所经历的和他现在的人生。”

She used to observe the portraits of the deceased in graveyards. If a person's life is to be eventually condensed into just one photo, it has to faithfully and genuinely reflect their whole life experience. Bearing that in mind, she began to focus on emotion portraits.

她还曾看过墓地上的照片。如果每个人最终只会变成一张照片，那一定要拍一张真正像他们自己、真正反映他们一生的照片。抱着这样的想法，大王踏入了情绪肖像的领域。

The minute the customers step into Wang Rong's studio, they have to be prepared to fully expose themselves. During the process, Wang Rong listens to her customers and captures their emotion. "I make conversations to get to know about them. Not really on what they do for a living. I care more about the way they say things rather than what they say," she explained. "I'm there as an observer, a companion."

当她的客户走进摄影棚的时候，需要做好完全释放的心理预期。拍摄的时候，大王会聆听客人的故事，捕捉他们的情绪。 “我会跟他们讲话，了解一下大概的情况，但是这个沟通的目的并不是我真的要去了解他们的职业。我会听他们怎么说，而不是他们在说什么。”她说，“在拍摄现场，我就是一个观察者，陪伴者。”

Many people who came with a smile end up crying before the camera. Yet Wang doesn't do it on purpose: "I think it's because they feel safe here. They trusted you at the time. I don't judge, even if it was something they felt ashamed of. It's not for me to criticize or to pick a side."

结果，许多笑盈盈地来到这间工作室的人，都留下了自己流泪的影像。这并非是大王刻意引导的结果：“我觉得这源自一种安全感吧。至少在那一段时间里头，他对你是信任的。因为我不太会去评价别人，哪怕他今天跟我说了很不堪的事情，我不觉得这个事是有多少需要指责的，或者我需要去站边的。”

Though none of the faces are the same, Wang Rong sees something in common in the customers' emotions. "Sadness is universal. No matter what great success they've achieved, they may still care about small things." Sitting in front of her was the manager of a start-up company who was facing the dilemma in a relationship or the head of a financial enterprise, who was overwhelmed by the death of a pet dog. These seemingly trivial stories in Wang Rong's career make her own understanding of people.

尽管镜头下的人像千姿百态，但在大王眼中，这些人的情感多少都是共通的。 “悲伤是很大众的，哪怕来找我的是个很厉害的人，他在意的点，其实也很小。”她说。创业公司的经理人，困扰于不顺利的恋爱。庞大金融企业的老板，因为自己的狗死了而悲伤。这样细碎的故事，构成了她职业生涯中对人的理解。

In Wang Rong's eyes, reality and sincerity are what make the portrait beautiful, whether they are revealed from their happiness or sadness. People tend to avoid their negative emotions, only to keep the happy moments. "Although sadness is not to be neglected," she said.

在大王眼中，无论是快乐还是悲伤，真实即美，真诚即美。而很多时候，人们都刻意回避了自己的负面情绪，只想留下快乐的瞬间。“但其实悲伤也是需要被看到的。”她说。

As bearing other people's emotions is very consuming,  Wang only works for 10 customers per month. Most of the stress she could digest in time, but she couldn't detach from the encounter with one of the special customers.

不断感受他人的悲欢离合，是一项令人疲惫的工作。所以她每个月只为十位客人拍情绪肖像。大部分压力都能自己放松化解，但她曾为一位客人深深悲伤过。

"I saw that she wasn't in a bad mood when she came in. Only I did feel she had something hidden behind her liveliness." Then the customer took off the wig and told Wang Rong that she had breast cancer. "She might saw the look on my face and began to comfort me instead, saying that she would get well and come back again," said Wang Rong. "She showed me the scar, saying that I may take photos of it if I want to, even put them in my exhibitions." 

“她来的时候，我觉得她的情绪还不是那么糟糕。只是觉得她在现场的那种活泼有一点掩饰的感觉。”当客人摘下假发，大王才知道她是一位乳腺癌患者。“她可能察觉到我的眼神，反过来安慰我，说她会好起来的，等她好了再来找我拍照。”大王说，“她还要给我看一下她的疤，说如果我需要的话也可以拍，做个展的时候想要展出她也不介意。”

Although Wang Rong felt the kindness too heavy to bear: "Because there was nothing I could do for her."

这份沉重的善意让大王觉得无法承受：“因为我无能为力，我不能为她做什么。”

In some cases, Wang Rong's photos did bring changes to the customers' life. A woman in her fifties hadn't taken any photo or looked into the mirror for decades, because of facial paralysis in a car accident. She came to Wang Rong before settling down in the United States, looking for a portrait to memorize the moment. 

有时候，大王的照片可以为客人的生活带来些许的改变。有一位客人年届五十，因为车祸造成的面瘫，她数十年没有拍过照片，也从来不看镜子。因为即将去美国定居，她找到大王，想拍照留念。

"We took a long time that day. I wasn't capable of working miracles on her face, but we did talk a lot, and her facial expression was totally relaxed." After receiving the photo, the customer told Wang Rong that it was the most natural one she'd ever had, and that she's happy now looking at herself in the mirror.

“那一天我们拍了很久，我也没有办法妙手回春，让她的脸忽然就变化了，但是我花了很长时间跟她聊，至少她的表情是舒展的。”大王说。客人收到照片之后告诉她，这是几十年来她觉得最自然的一张照片，因为它，她现在都爱照镜子了。

"Taking photos is a mutual interference between two individuals, while pressing the shutter is just an inevitable part of the process." Perhaps, the essence of Wang Rong's job lies in the title of her exhibition in 2017: "Unveiling". Everybody has another side. Unveiling humanity, as well as feeling the inner power of the subject, might be Big Wang's most precious abilities as a portrait photographer.

“拍照是一个个体和另外一个个体的相互影响，按下快门只是最后必然的结果。”大王工作的本质，也许正如她2017年个展的名字——《透露》。每个人都有自己的B面，发现人性，感知人物内在的力量，就是她作为肖像摄影师最珍贵的能力。

Director：Chen Xiao

Editor：Zheng Zhihua, Gao Xingzi

Filmed by: Wang Hengle

Designer：Qu Bo

Article Written by: Zhu Siqi

Copy Editor: Melissa Chua, Charlotte Bates

Producer：Wen Yaru

Chief Editor: Zhou Zongxin, Zhao Jianfu

Supervisor：Pang Xinhua

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