Alone in the Darkroom 一個人的歡喜

I have spent seven weeks every summer for the past seven years at a camp in a small town called Poland， Maine.

Poland Springs is the only major attraction in Poland and the town itself is tiny by my big city standards， but it is the perfect place to spend my summers. There I am surrounded by a few ice cream parlors2） and lobster restaurants， a beautiful lake， my best friends and great tasting water. There are many places on the camp that I love， one of them being the darkroom in the photography lab. I love black and white film3） photography， especially when I get to develop4） pictures of one of my favorite places in the world.

One day this past summer I was lucky enough to be alone in the darkroom， something that rarely happens， since the darkroom is usually packed with all seven enlargers5） occupied. To those of you who have never been in a darkroom： number one， an enlarger is the machine that projects the image from your film onto paper， and number two， try your hardest to go into one someday； it really is an incredible experience that I highly recommend. It's amazing to take a picture of something， to capture a single object or moment， and then to be able to watch the image slowly appear before your eyes. I was so incredibly happy during those 45 minutes. I had absolutely nothing to worry about， and the images all came out better than I could have imagined. I still have one mounted6） on my wall in my room， of a loose single feather， alone on the gravel7） pathway. The room was filled with the strong smell of the photo chemicals and Taylor Swift's "Fearless" was blasting8） from the iPod speakers （another benefit of being alone in the darkroom is being able to choose the background music without the opinion of ten other girls）. "'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this，" I sang along to the familiar lyrics.

In that moment， I felt I could do anything. A wave of reassurance9） rushed over me， making me feel that no matter what happens in the future， everything would end up okay. I realized how incredibly lucky I am to be able to spend my summers in a place where I know my best friends are never farther than a two-minute walk away. I thought about how although I was alone during that time， camp is a place where I constantly feel surrounded by support and love. I promised myself that I would remember to be grateful for the small， seemingly insignificant moments like this one in my life that make me who I am.

過去的七年里，每年夏天我都會去緬因州一個名叫波蘭的小鎮(zhèn)，在那里的一處營地待上七周。

波蘭泉是那兒唯一的主要景點，而且按照我對大城市的界定標準，波蘭鎮(zhèn)本身很小。不過，它卻是我度過暑期的完美去處。在那里，我的周圍就有幾家冰淇淋店和龍蝦餐廳，有一個美麗的湖，有味道飴人的飲用水，還有摯友們相伴。營地里有很多地方我都非常喜歡，攝影工作室里的暗室便是其中之一。我喜歡用黑白膠卷攝影，尤其熱衷于把世界上自己最喜愛的地方的黑白照片沖洗出來。

在剛剛過去的這個夏天，有一日我很幸運地得以獨自一人待在暗室里，這種情況很少出現(xiàn)，因為這里常常被總共七臺照片放大機塞得滿滿當當?shù)?。針對那些從未進過暗室的人，有幾點要說明一下：第一，放大機是把膠卷上的影像投射到相紙上的一種機器；第二，盡可能爭取哪天進暗室里看一看，這真的是一種非凡的體驗，我向大家強烈推薦。拍一張照片，照下某件物品或是捕捉到某個瞬間，然后還可以看著它的影像在你眼前慢慢顯現(xiàn)，這個過程太神奇了。在這45分鐘里，我感到無比幸福，根本無須擔心任何事情，而且所有影像的顯影效果都好得超乎我的想象。我房間的墻壁上至今還裱掛著一張這樣沖洗出來的照片，照片上是一片散落的羽毛孤零零地躺在礫石小路上。暗室里充斥著洗照片用的化學制劑散發(fā)出來的濃烈氣味，用iPod播放的泰勒·斯威夫特的歌曲“Fearless”震天價響——獨自待在暗室的另一個好處便是你可以隨意選擇背景音樂，而不必在意其他十位女生的意見。“因為我不知道如何變得比這更好。”我跟著熟悉的歌詞一起唱了起來。

在那一刻，我覺得自己無所不能。一陣慰藉涌上心頭，讓我覺得無論未來發(fā)生什么，一切都將有不錯的結局。我意識到，能在這樣一個我知道自己離好友永遠不超過兩分鐘路程之遙的地方度過夏天，我是何等的幸運?；叵肫饋?，雖然在暗室的那段時間我是孤身獨處，但營地這個地方就是能讓我始終感到被愛和支持包圍著。我向自己保證，我會記得對自己人生中類似這樣渺小的、看似微不足道的瞬間心懷感恩，正是它們的存在成就了今天的我。