Glaciers: Icy, Magnificent Giants冰川：宏偉的冰雪巨人

When photographing glaciers， the sense of time is on a different scale.

拍攝冰川時，時間標尺變得不同。

I was 15 years old when I saw my first glacier on a family trip to Glacier National Park， Montana， though I never really got close to one. My mother was convinced that around every corner and on every trail， a grizzly bear lay waiting to tear our great American vacation apart. This meant we didn’t ever venture terribly far from the car， and otherwise my only experience with a glacier was seeing a couple of them from quite a long distance away. I mostly just considered them beautiful snow fields tucked into the shadows of the mountain’s couloirs2.

十五歲時，我隨家人一起去了蒙大拿州的冰川國家公園，那是我第一次見到冰川，盡管我始終未能靠近它們。我母親確信，在每一個角落每一條小徑，都有灰熊出沒，伺機粉碎我們美好的美式假期。因此，我們不敢離車太遠，而我與冰川的唯一交集，不過是遠遠望見那么兩三座。我通常以為它們只是籠罩于山間雪溝陰影中的美麗雪原。

It was exactly 15 years later when I turned 30 that I saw my next glacier—except this time， the small plane I was traveling in was about to use it as a runway， sliding along the block of ice with skis where wheels would normally be. It was the Kahiltna Glacier in Denali National Park， Alaska， and I was here to photograph one of my first major assignments about a National Park Service search and rescue team. On this trip， there were no bears， just an endless vista of snow broken only by the occasional deep blue， mile deep crevasse3 you’d have to cross or go around， knowing that if you fell through it would be the last thing you do. The entire two weeks I was on the mountain， we lived on this glacier， more or less.

又過了整整15年，30歲時，我再次見到了冰川——只是這次，我乘坐的小型飛機即將以冰川為跑道，以滑雪板代替通常使用的機輪，在冰塊上滑行。這次我身處阿拉斯加州迪納利國家公園的卡希爾特納冰川，第一次負責國家公園管理局搜救隊的重要拍攝任務。在這趟旅行中，我并未見到灰熊，只有無邊無際的茫茫雪原，偶有深邃蔚藍的裂縫橫亙其間，深不見底，讓人不得不跨越或者繞行，心知若不慎墜入，便是生命終結之時。我們在山上待了整整兩周，幾乎就是住在了這座冰川上。

More than a decade later， I arrived in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Alaska working with the US Fish amp; Wildlife Service to document this incredible refuge， including its glaciers. I no longer lived in fear of stalking grizzly bears or falling a mile down into an icy pit， but rather my energy and excitement were channeled into exploring the edge of one of these ancient icy giants， and truly understanding their magnificence.

十多年后，我抵達阿拉斯加州基奈國家野生動物保護區(qū)，與美國魚類和野生動物管理局合作，記錄這個令人驚嘆的保護區(qū)，包括其中的冰川。此時我已無懼潛伏的灰熊，也不再害怕墜入萬丈冰淵，相反，我滿懷活力與激情，投入到對其中一座古老冰川邊緣的探索之中，試圖真切領悟它們的壯美。

As a photographer having documented many mountainous regions from Montana to Alaska， it’s obvious to me that glaciers are the icy heart of the ecosystems they are part of. Each drop of water finds a path through the wilderness like an artery， giving life to forests， rivers， and people. I focus on this， trying to show the water flowing out， telling a story of water， a changing climate， and an ancient block of ice. I also find myself thinking about what the world will look like without glaciers.

作為一名攝影師，我曾記錄下從蒙大拿到阿拉斯加眾多山區(qū)的風貌，于我而言，冰川無疑是它們所屬生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中的冰冷心臟。每一滴水，都像是穿越荒野開辟路徑的動脈一般，為森林、河流和人類帶來生機。我聚焦于此，竭力展現(xiàn)冰川融水的流淌，述說關于水、氣候變化以及古老冰川的故事。同時，我也陷入思考，沒有冰川的世界會是什么樣子。

As a glacier retreats， the ground around it is barren for a short period of time until seeds start to sprout. This ground is often very dark colored， basically a newborn part of Earth that hasn’t been seen for tens of thousands of years until this moment. The blue of the glaciers， which comes from densely packed ice crystals， when set against the dark ground provides ample opportunities to create dramatic imagery—the juxtaposition4 of bright colors and a monochromatic5 landscape.

當冰川消退時，周圍的地面在較短的一段時間內寸草不生，直到種子發(fā)芽。這塊地的顏色往往很深，仿佛是數(shù)十萬年都未曾有人見過的新生之地。冰川呈現(xiàn)的藍色源于密集排列的冰晶，在深色地面的襯托下，為創(chuàng)造戲劇性的影像提供了充分的機會——明亮色彩與單色地貌的對比令人震撼。

One of the reasons I love photographing nature is that each fleeting moment is a new challenge to photograph， whether it is a ray of sun passing through an opening in a cave， cumulonimbus clouds6 building towers in the sky， a wild animal cautiously entering the scene from the edge of a meadow， or perhaps a comet traveling across the sky. Each of these are the extraordinary moments I wait for， and often only to have a few seconds to get the shot. But here， the sense of time is on a different scale with a slow moving giant carving mountains and valleys as it travels along， slowly melting into the landscape. I wonder to myself， can any photo ever really truly capture this？

我之所以鐘情于拍攝自然，原因之一便是每一瞬間都能給拍攝帶來全新的挑戰(zhàn)，無論是一縷陽光穿過洞穴縫隙，還是積雨云在空中筑起高塔，又或是一頭野生動物小心翼翼地從草場邊緣進入鏡頭，或是一顆彗星劃過天際。每一幕都是我翹首以盼的非凡時刻，而我往往只有幾秒的時間去定格。但在這里，時間標尺變得不同，仿佛一個緩緩移動的巨人在行進中雕琢山巒、刻畫溝谷，并逐漸融入周遭景致。我不禁自問，真有照片能完全捕捉到此番景象嗎？

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1自然攝影師、作家和環(huán)保主義者，以其卓越的自然和野生動物攝影而聞名。" 2 couloir峽谷。

3 crevasse（尤指冰川等的）裂隙;冰隙。

4 juxtaposition（形成反差的物體、形象或想法的）并列。" 5 monochromatic單色的；單色光的。" 6 cumulonimbus cloud積雨云。