Jia Zazhia blogzine on PHOTOGRAPHY in & near China, plus other Beauties

很多人问，假杂志选择摄影师的标准是什么，今天借纽约摄影师 Mae Ryan 的访谈正好做个解答。在我看来，好的摄影始终是一种叙述，它和文字一样是人的情感的载体，可能有些偏诗性，有些则偏故事性。Mae的作品属于后者，她的作品基于情感，连起来，它们有些甚至可以是一个动人的故事。Mae Ryan最初学的不是摄影而是建筑，最近才刚刚从纽约国际摄影中心的“新闻摄影”课程毕业。虽然专攻新闻摄影，但是她的个人作品中的感情却压倒了理性。她的“玛丽女王”系列拍摄的是纽约扬科斯的玛丽女王修道院里的吉光片羽。Mae镜头里老人们的那些细节和动作，让人不由的赞叹起生命和信仰来。

Many people asked me, what is the standard for Jia Za Zhi? I think it’s opportunity to answer the question with the interview with New York photographer Mae Ryan. In my opinion, good photography is a kind of narrative, a carrier of emotion, just like words. The images could tell a story if your connect them in series. Mae Ryan received a B.S. from Stanford in Architectural Design and recently graduated from the photojournalism program at The International Center of Photography in New York, NY. Though majoring in photojournalism, she brings her works more emotion than reason. Her Mary the Queen series shot the moments in Mary the Queen Convent in Yonkers, NY. Mae captured the old people’s details and gestures, making viewers admire life and faith spontaneously.

Could you introduce yourself first?
Mae Ryan is a documentary photographer currently based in Brooklyn, NY.  She received a B.S. from Stanford in Architectural Design and recently graduated from the photojournalism program at The International Center of Photography in New York, NY.

When did you first get interested in photography? Do you still remember how you started?
My father was my first inspiration in photography.  In the 1970s he roamed Chicago, IL and made photos of the many characters he met there.  While I was taking an introduction to photography class in high school he gave me a retrospective of Henri Cartier Bresson’s work and I fell in love with the decisive moment.

What does PHOTOGRAPHY means to you?
I’m attracted to the bizarre, the banal and the beautiful hiding in the world around us.  Documentary photography allows me to catch glimpses into the intimate details and idiosyncrasies of other people’s lives.  It is these unseen inner worlds that simultaneously haunt me and push me to keep exploring the lives of others.

Speaking of “master”, who will you instantly think of? Please talk about him / her in your own words.
Last year I had the opportunity to intern with Susan Meiselas and she is truly an amazing documentarian.   I appreciate how her work takes on its historical context through the marriage of photos with words, interviews and found documents.  I first came across her book Carnival Strippers and loved the intimacy of both the images and the interviews transcribed in the book.  Her work from Nicaragua brings the viewer through the early stages of the insurrection, into the gore of the fighting and out to the other side of life after the insurrection in such stunning detail.  I hope that as I continue to evolve as a photographer I can push my work into that level of intellectual and concerned photography.

Your works are full of emotion, do you think emotion is important in photography?
Yes, I think that being able to connect with photography on an emotional level makes for stronger images.  I’m consistently drawn to images that push me into a different emotional state, whether it is beautiful, disturbing, uplifting or depressing.

Could you talk about the Mary the Queen series in details?
Mary the Queen Convent is a nursing home for nuns from the Sisters of Charity order in Yonkers, NY.  This particular order has historically been one of the largest in New York. In 1960 there were over 3,000 sisters, however today there are only about 300 and 80 of them live in Mary the Queen. The building is divided into individual rooms each equipped with a twin size bed, TV set, la-Z-boy chair, shared bathroom and closet for all of their possessions.  Many of the women can no longer take care of themselves and must rely on the full time staff for their daily needs. The sisters fill their days with group exercise, bingo, crafts and prayer as they linger in life before death.

Throughout my life I’ve been surrounded by a diversity of religions.  I was raised Buddhist, my mother’s side of the family is Jewish, my father’s side is Catholic and my uncle is Hindu.  I’ve always been fascinated by what people choose to believe and how that dictates the course of their lives.  I initially got interested in Mary the Queen Convent because my aunt is a Catholic nun and I wanted to pursue a project that focused on the intersection of religion and death.

Could you recommend a book you read or a movie you watch recently? and talk about your feelings.
I recently saw Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives by Apichatpong Weerasethakul at The New York Film Festival.  The movie had a beautiful soundscape that made the jungle truly deafening and quiet all at once.  I was also struck by how many different cinematographic styles he invoked; over the course of the movie I was immersed in the world of a simple farmer, laser eyed monkeys, Thai princesses and Buddhist monks.  The movie moves between all of these Thai cinema genres that I didn’t even know existed.

What’s your nearest plan?
In January I will be interning at Magnum in Motion in New York for three months.  I’m excited to work on multimedia projects that push the medium beyond simple audio and photo slideshows.

做个自我介绍吧？
Mae Ryan是一个纪实摄影师，现居纽约布鲁克林。她在斯坦福大学建筑设计专业获得理学学士；最近刚从纽约国际摄影中心的“新闻摄影”课程毕业。

你第一次对摄影感兴趣是什么时候？还记得是怎么开始的吗？
我父亲是我在摄影上的启蒙老师。上世纪七十年代那会儿他游走于芝加哥的街头，为路上遇见的人拍照。我上高中时需要在一堂摄影课做介绍，于是他带我一起欣赏了Henri Cartier Bresson的作品，从此以后我就爱上了这些被定下来的时刻。

对你而言，摄影意味着什么？
我被隐藏于普通世界背后那些或怪异、或腐朽、或美丽的东西所吸引。
纪实摄影使我得以窥见他人生活里那些亲密私有的细节和特质。就是这些看不见的小世界在让我着迷的同时，推动着我不断地探索着他人的生活。

说到“大师”，你会马上想到谁？请谈谈你对他/她的看法。
去年我曾有机会作为实习生与 Susan Meiselas 一起工作。她真的是个很棒的纪实摄影师。我很欣赏她将文字、访谈以及现存资料和图片结合在一起时，她的作品呈现出来的历史性。我第一次看到她的书《Carnival Strippers》时，就喜欢上了图片和访谈所带给人的亲昵感。她摄于尼加拉瓜的作品以无比震撼的细节带领观众经历了那个国家最初的叛乱和中间的流血斗争，最后再呈现出叛乱后的另一种生活来。若我继续以摄影师的身份走下去，我希望自己也能拍出那样既自制又投入的作品来。

你的作品充满感情，你是否觉得感情在摄影中很重要？
确实如此。我认为具备充沛情感的摄影会更有力量，而那些能带给我不同的情感体验的作品总能吸引我，无论那图片是美丽的、令人不安的、让人振奋的、还是使人沮丧的。

能详细谈谈“玛丽女王”这个系列吗？
玛丽女王修道院是为纽约州扬科斯的慈善姐妹会的修女们准备的疗养院。这个姐妹会是纽约历史上最大的团体。1960年有逾3000名团员，而如今只有380位修女住在这个修道院。修道院里有独立的房间，房间里配有双人床、电视、la-Z-boy椅、公用卫生间和放置修女们所有物品的衣橱。多数住户在生活上都不能自理，只能依靠修道院的工作人员。修女们在去世前的日子里，以团体练习、宾戈游戏、手作、和祈祷度日。

我的生活被各种各样的宗教围绕着。我在佛教环境中长大，我母亲的家庭信奉犹太教，父亲的家庭信奉天主教，而叔叔则是印度教教徒。我想知道人们都是如何选择信仰，以及这种选择是如何引导他们的生活的。我当初对这个修道院产生兴趣是因为我的姨妈是一名天主教修女。我想继续做一个项目，关注宗教和死亡的交集。

请推荐一本你最近读的书或者看的电影，并谈谈你的感想。
最近我在纽约电影节上观看了Apichatpong Weerasethakul的影片《能召回前世的布米叔叔》。电影的音效很出色，让乱糟糟的环境一下就安静下来了；片中独特的摄影手法也让我很难忘；整个观片过程中我完全沉浸在那个有着一个质朴农夫、一只激光眼猴子、泰国公主和佛教僧侣的世界中。影片呈现了多种我以前完全不知道的泰国电影的风格。

请谈谈你最新的计划。
明年一月份我将会在纽约的“动态玛格南”实习三个月。一想到要在这样的多媒体项目中做事我就觉得很兴奋，因为这样的项目使媒介不再借助于简单的听觉效果和幻灯片上的照片展示。

撰文、访谈：言由 / 假杂志版权所有，转载请超链接本文网址 / 感谢白白推荐
Written & Interviewed by Yuan Di / all images © Mae Ryan; Please link Jia Za Zhi, if you want to use any part of this aritcle / Thanks to Wenjie Yang‘s recommendation
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