給你家寵物一臺相機(jī),你猜它能拍出什么?
It was in 2007 that Juergen Perthold, an engineer living in Anderson, S.C., strapped a tiny camera of his own design to the collar of his cat, Mr. Lee. When the images Mr. Lee captured while roaming around their neighborhood were posted online, they went, predictably, viral. Mr. Lee received a flurry of attention from the international media and became the star of a documentary, “CatCam: The Movie,” which made the film festival rounds in 2012 and even won a few awards.
那是在2007年,南卡羅來納州安德森市(Anderson)的一位工程師于爾根·佩爾托德(Juergen Perthold)把自己設(shè)計的一臺微型相機(jī)綁到了他的貓“李先生”(Mr. Lee)的項圈上。李先生在社區(qū)里游蕩時拍下的照片被放到網(wǎng)上后,毫不意外地一炮而紅。它不僅成為了國際媒體的焦點(diǎn),還在紀(jì)錄片《貓用相機(jī):一部電影》 (CatCam: The Movie)中閃亮登場。這部電影進(jìn)入2012年的電影節(jié),甚至還摘得了幾個獎項。
Mr. Perthold has since refined his tiny camera, which was designed to record video or still photographs at programmable intervals, and has sold nearly 5,000 to pet owners in 35 countries, many of whom send their images back to Mr. Perthold, who displays them on his website. For Mr. Lee is not the only pet photographer, and his CatCam is not the only pet-oriented photographic device.
此后,佩爾托德改良了他的微型相機(jī),這款相機(jī)可以用來拍攝視頻,也可設(shè)定為每隔一段時間拍攝靜態(tài)照片。佩爾托德向35個國家的寵物主人銷售了近 5000臺相機(jī),其中許多人將照片反饋給他,他則將這些照片發(fā)布在了自己的網(wǎng)站上。“李先生”并不是唯一一名寵物攝影師,它的貓用相機(jī)也不是唯一一款面向?qū)櫸锏臄z影設(shè)備。
Last week, GoPro, a camera company made famous by surfers and other athletes who clip on its waterproof miniature Heros to record their adventures, introduced its own version: Fetch, a harness and camera mount designed for dogs. For years, pet owners had been rigging Heros to attach to their pets; perhaps you’ve seen the YouTube video of that surfing pig? (GoPro, a 10-year-old company that enjoyed a stunning I.P.O. in June, couldn’t say how many Heros have been used “off-label” in this way, but it did share its 2013 revenue: $985 million, up from $150,000 a decade ago. And GoPro’s spokesman was quick to remind this reporter that last year Americans spent nearly $60 billion on their pets.)
GoPro是一家由沖浪愛好者等運(yùn)動員追捧起來的相機(jī)公司。運(yùn)動員們喜歡使用該公司的微型防水相機(jī)Hero,記錄他們的探險歷程。上周(8月最后一周——譯注),GoPro推出了自己的寵物攝影裝備:Fetch,一款專為寵物狗設(shè)計的胸背帶及相機(jī)托架。多年來,寵物主人們一直在給自家寵物佩戴 Hero相機(jī);說不定你們已經(jīng)在YouTube上看過那只沖浪豬的視頻?(創(chuàng)立已有十年的GoPro公司,今年6月的IPO表現(xiàn)不俗。公司方面也說不清究竟有多少臺Hero相機(jī)被客戶以這種方式“誤用”了,不過它還是給出了2013年的收入數(shù)據(jù):9.85億美元[約合人民幣60.5億元]。而在十年前,其年收入還僅有15萬美元[約合人民幣92萬元]。此外,GoPro的發(fā)言人還不失時機(jī)地提醒筆者,去年美國人在他們的寵物身上花費(fèi)了600億美元[約合人民幣3688億元]。)
As programmable digital cameras get smaller and cheaper, the universe of pet, uh, journalism — or is it fine art? — has exploded. Scientists on both sides of the Atlantic have been using these technologies to learn more about the habits of all manner of animals, including house cats. The work of Leo, a cat from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, has been made into a poster. Cooper, from Seattle, has had a gallery show of his work, which has also been collected into a book. A collaborative (what else to call them?) of Swiss cows posts their oeuvre at cowcam.ch.
隨著可編程數(shù)碼相機(jī)變得越來越小、越來越便宜,寵物的,呃,還有新聞(或說美術(shù)?)的宇宙發(fā)生了大爆炸。大西洋兩岸的科學(xué)家們,一直在運(yùn)用這些技術(shù)來了解各種動物的習(xí)性,包括家貓的習(xí)性。一只來自加拿大西北地區(qū)(Northwest Territories)首府耶羅納夫(Yellowknife)的貓里奧(Leo),它的作品已經(jīng)被做成了海報。而西雅圖的庫珀(Cooper)曾經(jīng)舉辦過一屆畫廊展,來展示它的作品,那些作品還被收錄到了一本書中。還有一個瑞士奶牛協(xié)作社(不然還能稱之為什么呢?),將它們的畢生之作發(fā)布到了 cowcam.ch網(wǎng)站上。
Inevitably, copyright disputes have arisen over who exactly owns the images taken by nonhumans. As The Washington Post and others reported last month, David Slater, a British photographer whose camera was snatched up and passed around by macaque monkeys while he was in Indonesia in 2011, has been sparring with various media outlets, including Wikimedia, over their use of the winsome “selfie” one monkey shot with Mr. Slater’s camera.
這些人類之外的攝影師所拍攝的照片,不可避免地引起了版權(quán)糾紛。2011年,英國攝影師戴維·斯萊特(David Slater)在印度尼西亞期間,被幾只獼猴搶走了相機(jī),還將它傳來傳去,其中一只猴子拍了張迷人的“自拍”。這張照片被Wikimedia等各類媒體登載出來。據(jù)《華盛頓郵報》等媒體上個月報道,斯萊特和上述媒體針對那張自拍照片的使用問題發(fā)生了爭議。
Boing Boing, the technology and culture webzine, helpfully weighed in last week by reminding readers that United States copyright law avers that works by “nature, animals or plants,” along with those produced by “divine or supernatural beings,” cannot be registered.
上周,科技與文化網(wǎng)站“波音波音”(Boing Boing)提供了一個有價值的線索,它提醒讀者,美國版權(quán)法規(guī)定,“自然、動物或植物”以及“神或超自然生靈”的作品不可登記版權(quán)。
In any case, this month, “PetCam: The World Through the Lens of Our Four-Legged Friends,” by Chris Keeney, a human photographer, will be published by Princeton Architectural Press, perhaps the first-ever book of pet photographs from an established publishing company. (In other pet book news, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the home of the wildly popular Internet Cat Video Festival, is collaborating on a coffee-table book that will explore “the impact of cat videos on art and culture,” according to a news release, and will be financed with a so-called “Catstarter” campaign, but we are getting a bit off topic.)
無論如何,這個月,人類攝影師克里斯·基尼(Chris Keeney)的新書《寵物用相機(jī):我們的四腿朋友鏡頭下的世界》(PetCam: The World Through the Lens of Our Four-Legged Friends)將由普林斯頓建筑出版社(Princeton Architectural Press)出版,這或許是老牌出版公司推出的第一部寵物攝影集(寵物圖書領(lǐng)域的其它新聞包括:人氣火爆的“網(wǎng)絡(luò)貓咪視頻節(jié)”[Internet Cat Video Festival]的主辦方——明尼阿波利斯市的沃克藝術(shù)中心[Walker Art Center]正在合作出版一部“咖啡桌讀本”。根據(jù)新聞發(fā)布會上的消息,這本書將探索“貓咪視頻對藝術(shù)和文化的影響”,所需資金將通過一個所謂的 “Catstarter”活動籌集。不過,我們有點(diǎn)跑題了)。
Featuring the work of 20 critters, including a cow and a chicken, “PetCam,” the book, was inspiration enough for this reporter to investigate the artistic practice of her own cat, Tiger, while on vacation in Rhode Island. Because he is an adventurous guy with fine tree-climbing skills, admirable speed and a hunter’s precision (requiescat in pace, rodentia), I had high hopes for our project, though I did also anticipate a high gore factor, like Peter Beard’s work in Africa. But Tiger vanished the week of the experiment.
《寵物用相機(jī)》的“供稿攝影師”有20名,包括一頭奶牛和一只雞。受到這本書啟發(fā),筆者在羅德島度假期間,也試圖探索一下自家貓咪小虎 (Tiger)的藝術(shù)實(shí)踐。因為它是一個富有冒險精神的小伙子,爬樹技巧高超、行動速度一流,有著獵人般的敏銳(安息吧,嚙齒動物們),我對這次的項目抱有很大希望,只不過我也做好了上刀山下火海的準(zhǔn)備,就像彼得·比爾德(Peter Beard)在非洲拍攝照片時所做的那樣。但是,小虎在試驗開始的當(dāng)周就消失不見了。
Cause and effect? Mr. Keeney, the “PetCam” author, wondered. He said his own cat, Alice, had disappeared soon after he clipped a camera on her collar, returning triumphantly a few hours later without it. He eventually recovered the camera under his deck, and “the battery was dead, because Alice had taken 2,000 pictures of the underside of the deck before she scratched it off her head,” he said. “I would not put a camera on an animal that’s not used to having something around their neck.”
這其中的因果關(guān)系是什么?《貓用相機(jī)》的作者基尼思考著這個問題。他說,他給自家貓咪愛麗絲(Alice)在項圈上拴了相機(jī)之后,愛麗絲很快就消失不見了。過了幾小時,它得意洋洋地跑回來,項圈上的相機(jī)沒了。最終,他在自家露臺底下找到了相機(jī),“電池沒電了,因為愛麗絲拍了2000張露臺底部的照片,最后把相機(jī)從腦袋上抓了下來,”他說,“要是小動物不習(xí)慣脖子上有東西,我就不會在它身上安相機(jī)了。”
Yet Tiger had worn Mr. Lee’s CatCam a few weeks earlier without incident, clipped to a harness I had bought years ago, when briefly (foolishly) entertaining the idea that we might be able to walk Tiger, never the happiest of indoor cats, like a dog when we were in New York City. The harness he tolerated; the leash, and the scrum of Second Avenue, not so much.
但是,小虎在失蹤前已經(jīng)戴了好幾個星期的貓用相機(jī),一直安然無事。相機(jī)就夾在我多年前給它買的背帶上,那陣子我們還住在紐約,當(dāng)時我覺得小虎悶在家里并不開心,或許可以把它帶出去遛一遛,就像遛狗一樣。于是我短暫(而又愚蠢)地把它帶了出去。背帶它忍了,但是錨鏈和第二大道上的人流,它就不怎么能忍了。
With Tiger missing, I scrambled to find other artists in the neighborhood. After all, I had the gear, a GoPro Hero and Mr. Lee’s CatCam, and Tony Cenicola, a New York Times photographer, had driven up for the project. In an effort to capture more than one point of view, the sort of range Mr. Keeney has in his book, I called upon a tortoise, a pig and a miniature schnauzer. How might their personalities and appetites affect their photographs? Would they even tolerate such shenanigans?
小虎失蹤后,我在社區(qū)里迫不及待地尋找著其它藝術(shù)家。畢竟,我已經(jīng)有了設(shè)備——一臺GoPro的Hero和“李先生”那款貓用相機(jī);而且,《紐約時報》的攝影師托尼·塞尼克拉(Tony Cenicola)也跑過來跟拍項目進(jìn)展了。為了捕捉多個拍攝視角,就像基尼在他的新書中所做的那樣,我找到一只烏龜、一頭豬和一只迷你雪納瑞。它們的個性和胃口將給照片帶來怎樣的影響?它們會不會連這種惡作劇也忍受不了呢?
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Milton is a female gopher tortoise, probably in her mid-50s. George Jacobs, 52, a curator and dealer of outsider and self-taught art, bought her at a pet store when they were both about 10. She is a threatened species; during the Depression, gophers were known as Hoover Chickens, because people would roast and eat them. Watching Milton’s lovely, ancient face and her strangely graceful, ratcheting gait, you wince at the thought. Tony used wall putty to anchor our GoPro Hero to her back, after removing it from its waterproof case. We had tried and failed to program the CatCam, which is slightly smaller and less expensive ($49 as opposed to $200), but whose functions are less than intuitive. Even Tony was stymied. Mr. Keeney reported similar difficulties, though he was able, in the end, to make his work. (He used both the GoPro Hero and the CatCam, but there are myriad other options: If you Google “petcam,” you’ll see a range of devices at various price points.)
彌爾頓(Milton)是一只雌性沙龜,可能已經(jīng)50多歲了。它的主人喬治·雅各布斯(George Jacobs)現(xiàn)年52歲,是一名域外藝術(shù)策展人和交易商。他從寵物店買下這只沙龜?shù)臅r候,他們的年齡都在十歲左右。這只沙龜是個瀕危物種;在大蕭條期間,沙龜被稱為“胡佛雞”(Hoover Chicken),因為人們會烤食它們??粗鴱洜栴D可愛、古樸的臉蛋和慢吞吞的優(yōu)雅步態(tài),你就會覺得,烤食這種動物是一件可怕的事情。托尼將我們的 GoPro Hero相機(jī)從防水外殼里取出后,用墻膩?zhàn)影阉潭ㄔ趶洜栴D的背部。我們試過為貓用相機(jī)編程,但失敗了。它雖然比Hero的體積稍小、價格也更低(一個是 49美元[約合人民幣301元],另一個則要200美元[約合人民幣1228元]),但是功能并不直觀,就連托尼也感到棘手?;嵴f他遇到了類似的難題,只不過他最終還是完成了作品(GoPro Hero和貓用相機(jī)他都采用了,不過還有無數(shù)其它選擇:如果你在谷歌上搜索“petcam”[寵物相機(jī)],就可以找到價位各異的各種設(shè)備)。
Milton posed, as regal as an elephant, amid Mr. Jacobs’s children’s blocks, which were strewn on the floor of his bright, sparsely decorated house. We all watched, mesmerized, as she pivoted, yawned and stalked across the carpet to her box and a pile of lettuce, which she scarfed down in great gulps. The GoPro never wavered.
彌爾頓的儀態(tài)就像大象一樣,頗具王者風(fēng)范。它游走在雅各布斯家里散布在地板上的兒童積木間。屋子里光線充足,裝修風(fēng)格簡約。我們都癡迷地看著它轉(zhuǎn)身、打哈欠,昂首闊步地走過地毯,走到它的飼養(yǎng)盒和一堆萵苣邊,大口大口地吃萵苣。而GoPro從來沒有晃動過。
“The thing that attracted me to tortoises when I was a kid was that they were so peaceful,” Mr. Jacobs said finally. “She has been a great companion.”
“我小時候之所以迷上了烏龜,是因為它們很安靜,”雅各布斯最后說,“彌爾頓一直是個很好的玩伴。”
Are there outsider, or self-taught, photographers? Certainly, Mr. Jacobs said, mentioning Vivian Maier, the French-born Chicago nanny and street photographer who died in 2009, leaving behind thousands of negatives. Milton’s photographs, not surprisingly, were rather solemn: many iterations of plastic blocks, oak flooring and lettuce, her stately head at midframe.
有沒有外行的、或者自學(xué)成才的攝影師呢?雅各布斯表示,當(dāng)然有。她提到了薇薇安·梅爾(Vivian Maier)。梅爾出生于法國,在芝加哥做保姆和街頭攝影師,在2009年去世后,留下了成千上萬張底片。毫無懸念的是,彌爾頓拍攝的照片都很嚴(yán)肅:大多數(shù)照片的內(nèi)容是塑料積木、橡木地板和萵苣,鏡頭中間則是彌爾頓高貴的頭顱。
Earlier, we had met Mrs. Grima, a 4-year-old potbellied pig who belongs to James O. Coleman, a New Orleans native in town for a few weeks. The pig was named after a historic property in Mr. Coleman’s hometown, the Hermann-Grima House, and she is definitely a creature of some gravitas, if lacking in obvious charm.
在此之前,我們還見到了格里瑪(Grima),一頭肚皮圓滾滾的四歲豬。它的主人詹姆斯·O·柯樂曼(James O. Coleman)是新奧爾良本地人,來城里待了幾個星期??聵仿呢i得名于他老家的一座歷史建筑——赫爾曼-格里瑪公館(Hermann-Grima House)。她肯定是個有分量的角色,只不過缺少一點(diǎn)外在美。
“She’s a terrible pet,” Mr. Coleman said, “food-driven and self-centered.” He nonetheless proudly walks her with his dogs most afternoons, drawing crowds along Bellevue Avenue near his apartment. Since pigs have no neck, she wore a kind of harness around her shoulders, and it was tricky to keep the GoPro aloft. (Tony used rubber bands and twist-ties, and his constant ministrations irritated Mrs. Grima, who head-butted him at regular intervals.) When we took her for a spin in front of the Marble House, Alva Vanderbilt’s 19th-century McMansion here, one gobsmacked tourist asked, “Is that a pig?”
“它是個可怕的寵物,”柯樂曼說,“只知道吃,而且以自我為中心。”但是在大多數(shù)下午時間,他依然會自豪地把它和家里的狗狗們一起帶出去,沿著公寓附近的百樂威大道(Bellevue Avenue) 遛一遛,吸引一大群人來圍觀。由于豬沒有脖子,它就在肩膀部位圍上一種背帶,而GoPro在上面很難支撐起來。(托尼用上了橡皮筋和扎口帶,他總是調(diào)整相機(jī),把格里瑪激怒了,于是格里瑪每隔一段時間就會去用頭拱他)。有一次,我們把它帶到了阿爾瓦·范德堡(Alva Vanderbilt)在19世紀(jì)的麥克豪宅前(McMansion,形容一些龐大而突兀的住宅,一味求大卻沒有特色,還被不斷大量復(fù)制,就像快餐漢堡一樣——譯注)兜風(fēng)。這座豪宅名為Marble House(美國鍍金時代眾多富豪莊園之一,由著名建筑師設(shè)計師莫里斯·理查德·亨特[Richard Morris Hunt]設(shè)計,據(jù)說靈感來自凡爾賽宮的小特里阿儂[Petit Trianon]——譯注)。當(dāng)時,一名目瞪口呆的游客問:“那是一頭豬嗎?”
Monique Coleman, Mr. Coleman’s wife, was intrigued by Mrs. Grima’s “hoggy brain” framing the Marble House. “She is capturing a symbol of Gilded Age excess and consumption, the very thing that makes Newport worth visiting.” Social commentary, indeed.
柯樂曼的妻子莫尼克·柯樂曼(Monique Coleman)被格里瑪小姐那“渾圓的大腦袋”與Marble House的合影吸引住了。“它捕捉到了鍍金時代物質(zhì)過剩和消費(fèi)過度的象征,這是紐波特(Newport)值得一游的亮點(diǎn)所在。”無疑,她這番話屬于社會評論的范疇。
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Later that evening, we visited Harvey, 9, a miniature schnauzer with a winning, eager personality, who lives with Rufus, a 13-year-old cairn terrier, and Diana Oswald, a book agent and the author of “Debutantes: When Glamour Was Born,” a photography book published last year by Rizzoli. With the GoPro dangling from his collar, Harvey took a burn around his front yard, and then we brought him to the beach and let him rip on his extendable leash.
當(dāng)天晚些時候,我們拜訪了一只九歲的迷你雪納瑞哈維(Harvey)。它很討人喜歡,對人很殷勤。和它生活在一起的,是一條13歲的凱恩犬魯弗斯 (Rufus),還有戴安娜·奧斯瓦爾德(Diana Oswald)。奧斯瓦爾德是一名圖書經(jīng)紀(jì)人,曾出版《名媛成人禮:魅力誕生之時》(Debutantes: When Glamour Was Born)。這是一本攝影集,去年由里佐利出版社(Rizzoli)推出。由于GoPro搖搖晃晃地懸掛在項圈上,哈維在前院附近拍攝的照片效果并不好;后來,我們把它帶到海灘上,讓它脫離了伸縮牽引繩。
What sort of work did Ms. Oswald think he’d produce? Photojournalism, definitely, she said, like a National Geographic contributor, “all his travels and where he explores.”
奧斯瓦爾德認(rèn)為哈維會拍出什么樣的照片呢?她說,當(dāng)然是攝影新聞,就像《國家地理》的供稿人那樣,拍下“它所有的旅程和冒險地。”
One thing you need to know about animal photography is that editing is a significant part of the endeavor. We programmed our cameras at 10-second intervals for Mrs. Grima and Harvey, and 30 seconds for Milton; our animals shot, on average, for about an hour. That means we had thousands of images to comb through. I say we, but it was Tony who put in the time, harvesting about 30 usable photos from each session. Mr. Keeney, for his part, said he spent weeks editing for his own book. “After a while, I became kind of jaded and burned out,” he admitted.
關(guān)于動物攝影,有件事你需要知道,那就是后期編輯占據(jù)了攝影工作的很大一部分。我們給格里瑪和哈維設(shè)定的拍照時間間隔都是10秒,給彌爾頓設(shè)的是 30秒;幾只動物的平均拍照時間大約是一小時。這就意味著,我們有成千上萬張照片需要梳理。雖然我說的是“我們”,但真正花費(fèi)時間的人是托尼,每輪拍攝下來,大約可以收獲30張可用的照片。至于基尼,他表示自己花費(fèi)了數(shù)周時間,編輯自己的攝影書。“弄了一會兒,我就覺得有些筋疲力竭了。”他坦言道。
But art, of course, may be more process than product. I asked James Danziger, a photography gallerist, to critique our project. As he pointed out, the animals didn’t choose what images were taken; the cameras merely captured what they were focused on. “To be clear, we’re not criticizing the animals’ artistry so much as critiquing their eye,” he said. “Anyway, there’s not a lot we can say about the first two, the tortoise and the pig.”
不過,在藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域,過程或許比產(chǎn)品更重要,這是理所當(dāng)然的。詹姆斯·丹齊格(James Danziger)是一家攝影畫廊的經(jīng)營者,我邀請他對我們的項目發(fā)表評論。正如他所指出的那樣,動物不會選擇拍攝什么畫面;相機(jī)捕捉到的只是它們聚焦的東西。“事先說明,我們在評論動物的藝術(shù)才能時,也無異于是在評論它們的眼光,”他說,“總之,關(guān)于前兩種動物——烏龜和豬,我們沒有太多可說的。”
Mr. Danziger noted that Milton’s interests seemed to be in interiors and food. He thought she might have a career shooting for shelter magazines. As for Mrs. Grima, Mr. Danziger thought he detected the influence of Lee Friedlander’s shadow self-portraits. “I also think her use of the top of her head against the various scenes shows a more sophisticated understanding of the history of photography,” he said. “I think she would benefit from going to art school to continue her interests.”
丹齊格注意到,彌爾頓的興趣似乎集中在室內(nèi)裝潢和食物上。他認(rèn)為,它或許可以為家居雜志攝影,進(jìn)而開創(chuàng)一番事業(yè)。至于格里瑪,丹齊格認(rèn)為,他在它的作品中看到了李·弗瑞蘭德(Lee Friedlander)的陰暗自拍照的影響。“我還覺得,它在各種景觀照中露出自己的頭頂,說明它對攝影的歷史有著更復(fù)雜的理解,”他說,“我覺得它上藝術(shù)學(xué)校深造一番,會很有好處。”
Harvey’s work was in a class by itself. Marveling at his abstract and representational photos — the mesmerizing swoops of color; the archly composed images of his roommate, Rufus, or a yellow fire hydrant, with his own tongue and beard at the top of the frame — Tony wondered how he might use a GoPro to similar effect in his own practice.
哈維的作品則是自成一派。托尼驚嘆于它那些抽象和具象的照片——畫面中有著迷人的顏色碰撞;“室友”魯弗斯亦莊亦諧的形象,或者一個黃色的消防栓,哈維在照片上方露出自己的舌頭和胡子——托尼琢磨著怎樣才能通過一臺GoPro,在自己的攝影過程中制造出類似的效果。
Mr. Danziger noted influences like Mark Cohen, a street photographer known for his truncated view of human bodies who came to prominence in the early 1970s and whose work Mr. Danziger showed recently. Furthermore, he said, “Harvey’s interest in blurry motion seems to refer to a number of photographs taken by Paul Fusco in his famous RFK funeral train series. Using motion to give a sense of the speed of the journey is something Harvey is definitely employing. He also has a sense of humor. I believe he’s referring to Duchamp’s urinal with his fire hydrant images. Harvey is gallery-ready. All he has to do is find the right one.”
丹齊格注意到,哈維的作品受到了馬克·柯恩(Mark Cohen)的影響??露魇且幻?0世紀(jì)70年代初聲名鵲起的街頭攝影師。他拍人物照時,不喜歡把人的頭部拍進(jìn)去。丹齊格最近開始在畫廊里展出他的作品。此外,丹齊格表示:“哈維對動態(tài)模糊的場景很感興趣,這似乎是在影射保羅·弗斯科(Pau Fusco)在R·F·肯尼迪的靈車上拍攝的一系列名作。哈維肯定采用了通過動態(tài)場景來制造速度感的技巧。此外,哈維還挺有幽默感。我相信,它那幾張消防栓的照片是在影射杜尚(Duchamp)的馬桶。哈維的作品已經(jīng)達(dá)到了畫廊水準(zhǔn),它只需找到一家適合的畫廊就行了。”
It’s definitely an emerging genre, Mr. Keeney said. Fred, his Chihuahua-terrier mix, now has his own Instagram account, thanks to Mr. Keeney’s daughter. “PetCam is going to be the phrase that describes it,” he continued. “People are gaga about their pets. This activity will ultimately strengthen that bond, because ultimately it’s a collaboration.”
基尼表示,這絕對是一種新興的門類。他的寵物弗雷德(Fred)是吉娃娃和梗犬的混血品種,現(xiàn)在,這只狗狗也有了自己的Instagram賬號,這還得拜基尼的女兒所賜。“這種門類可以用‘寵物相機(jī)’(PetCam)這個短語來形容,”他接著說,“人們對自己的寵物很著迷。這種活動最終能夠增強(qiáng)主人與寵物之間的紐帶,因為它最終還需要二者間的配合。”
•
And what of Tiger, my absent would-be collaborator? I asked Alan Wilson, a scientist in the Structure & Motion laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College in London, why he might have left home. In a recent study, aired last summer on the BBC Two Horizon show “The Secret Life of Cats,” Dr. Wilson and his colleagues tracked 50 house cats in an English village by placing GPS tags and, in some cases, tiny cameras on their collars, to see where they went. The maps of the cats’ activity were fascinating, with most cats ranging just over 100 yards from their homes, deftly skirting one another’s rambles, though one cat had a range of two miles. In many cases, it turned out that cats were making a beeline for other cats’ houses in the post-midnight hours, sneaking into their kitchens and eating their food.
我那位失蹤的潛在搭檔小虎到底怎么了呢?我找到倫敦皇家獸醫(yī)學(xué)院(Royal Veterinary College)結(jié)構(gòu)與動作實(shí)驗室(Structure & Motion laboratory)的科學(xué)家阿蘭·威爾森(Alan Wilson),請教他小虎離家出走可能的原因。最近BBC二臺的《地平線》(Horizon)節(jié)目推出了《貓咪的秘密生活》(The Secret Life of Cats),這期節(jié)目報道了一項最新研究。在這項研究中,威爾森及其同事在英格蘭一座村莊追蹤了50只家貓,他們在貓咪的項圈上安裝了GPS追蹤器——還給有些貓咪安裝了迷你相機(jī),以掌握它們的去向。貓的活動地圖非常有趣,大多數(shù)貓咪的離家范圍只有100多碼(約合91米),它們會巧妙地避開各自的漫步路線,只有一只貓的漫步距離達(dá)到了兩英里(約合3公里)。事實(shí)表明,在許多情況下,午夜過后的幾個小時內(nèi),貓咪會直接潛入其它貓的房間里,溜進(jìn)廚房偷吃食物。
“Tiger might have found somewhere nicer to live,” Dr. Wilson said. “Someplace with better cat food, nicer windowsills. There’s an old saying, ‘Cats own people, not the other way around.’ As we saw in our studies, some cats have several owners. Cats return because the other situation has become less advantageous. Maybe the other household gets a dog, for example. Then they’d come back to exploit you again. Don’t give up hope. He’s probably living somewhere else. I don’t know if that’s better or worse, really, for you to hear.”
“小虎說不定找到了一個更舒服的家,”威爾森說,“那里有更優(yōu)質(zhì)的貓糧和更好玩的窗臺。有句老話說,‘是貓主宰人,而不是反過來。’我們在研究中也發(fā)現(xiàn),有些貓有好幾個主人。當(dāng)其他主人家里的條件變得沒有那么好時,它們就會回來。比方說,要是其他主人家里養(yǎng)了一條狗,它們就會回來,再次奴役你。不要放棄希望。它可能現(xiàn)在正住在別人家里呢。我不知道你聽到這個消息后,心情會好一些,還是更糟。”
Tiger, however, is less opportunistic than the average feline, more dog than cat. He is not mysterious or inscrutable. He comes when you call him. He is extravagantly affectionate. A pleasure-seeker, to be sure, but his pleasures derive mostly from human contact. He purred so loudly during his first checkup, the vet couldn’t hear his heartbeat.
但是小虎沒有一般的貓咪那么喜歡投機(jī)取巧,它更像狗。它并不神秘,也沒什么心機(jī)。你一叫它,它就會來,非常親昵。當(dāng)然,它是一只追求享樂的貓,但是它的樂趣大多源于和人類的接觸。第一次檢查身體的時候,它叫得太歡實(shí)了,以至于獸醫(yī)都聽不清它的心跳。