伟大摄影师镜头中的白宫风云

Photographing the White House From the Inside
By JAMES ESTRIN December 20, 2013

伟大摄影师镜头中的白宫风云
JAMES ESTRIN 2013年12月20日
Yoichi Okamoto was the first official White House photographer, serving under President Lyndon B. Johnson from late 1963 to January 1969. Known as Oke, he was born in Yonkers in 1915 and was a still and motion-picture photographer in the Army during World War II. He then worked for the United States Information Agency and met L.B.J. while he was vice president, photographing his trip to Berlin in 1961. Johnson liked him, and Mr. Okamoto accompanied him on other overseas trips.
冈本洋一(Yoichi Okamoto)是白宫第一位官方摄影师，自1963年底到1969年1月为林登·B·约翰逊(Lyndon B. Johnson)总统效力。人们称冈本洋一为“奥凯”(Oke)，他1915年出生在扬克斯，二战期间在陆军担任静态和动态摄影师。之后，在美国新闻署(United States Information Agency)工作期间，他结识了时任副总统的约翰逊，并拍摄了他1961年的柏林之行。约翰逊很欣赏他，他的其他几次海外之行也有冈本洋一的陪同。
[要查看本链接请先注册并登录], the White House photographer during the Ford administration, won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 1972 for his coverage of the Vietnam War for United Press International. He and James Estrin discussed Mr. Okamoto’s work and the life of a White House photographer. Their conversation has been edited.
戴维·休姆·肯纳利(David Hume Kennerly)是福特时期的白宫摄影师，1972年，他为合众社(United Press International)拍摄的越战照片赢得了普利策奖(Pulitzer Prize)的专题摄影奖。他与詹姆斯·埃斯特林(James Estrin)讨论了冈本洋一的作品以及白宫摄影师的生活。以下是经过编辑的对话。
Q. How did the office of the White House photographer start?
问：白宫摄影师这个职位是怎么来的？
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约翰逊总统执政期间，专职白宫摄影师冈本洋一记录下不同时刻的约翰逊：他会见马丁路德金，以及和肯尼迪会晤等重要历史时刻，约翰逊生病打点滴、理发的样子也被冈本洋一拍了下来。
A. L.B.J. had seen all these pictures of J.F.K. [President John F. Kennedy] from outside photographers like Jacques Lowe and Stanley Tretick. They had John Jr. under the desk. George Tames had the famous picture from behind the desk, “The Loneliest Job.” J.F.K. was this really good-looking young guy with a beautiful wife and his gorgeous kid. The marriage of J.F.K. and still photography was made in heaven, for both, because J.F.K. came across so beautifully in pictures, and he knew it.
答：约翰逊看见过雅克·洛(Jacques Lowe)和斯坦利·特莱蒂克(Stanley Tretick)等外来摄影师为约翰·F·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)总统拍摄的照片。他们捕捉到小约翰躲在桌子底下的照片。乔治·塔梅斯(George Tames)则拍摄了那幅从桌子后面取景的著名照片：《最孤独的工作》(The Loneliest Job)。年轻英俊的肯尼迪有美丽动人的妻子和迷人的孩子。肯尼迪与静态摄影可谓天作之合、相得益彰，因为肯尼迪在照片里显得魅力十足，他自己也知道这一点。
Many of the mental images we have of J.F.K. were taken by outside photographers. There was no in-house photographer.
许多肯尼迪最棒的照片都由外来摄影师拍摄。白宫自己没有专职摄影师。
L.B.J. wanted pictures like J.F.K. was getting, and so he remembered Okamoto photographing for the United States Information Agency on his trips overseas. L.B.J. just let him in to do whatever he wanted to do. And L.B.J. did that out of a sense of vanity and out of a sense of history.
约翰逊想要有肯尼迪那样的照片，所以他想起了为美国新闻署拍摄他出访的冈本洋一。约翰逊让冈本洋一进入了白宫，做怎么做都行。约翰逊这样做既是出于一种虚荣，也是出于一种历史感。
Okamoto was there taking pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. in the cabinet room meeting with L.B.J. (Slide 8). He was underneath the table, when [Aleksei] Kosygin, the head of the Soviet Union, and L.B.J. met at Glassboro, N.J. (Slide 13). He was in the operating room when L.B.J. had gallbladder surgery.
小马丁·路德·金(Martin Luther King Jr.)在内阁室与约翰逊见面时，冈本洋一就在那里为他拍照（幻灯片第8张）。苏联领导人阿列克谢·柯西金(Aleksei Kosygin)和约翰逊在新泽西州格拉斯波罗见面时，冈本洋一在桌子下面拍照。（幻灯片第13张）。约翰逊动胆囊手术时，他也在手术室里。
He had astonishing moments. He had the photographs that really showed the relationship between R.F.K. [Robert F. Kennedy] and L.B.J. Neither of whom liked each other, and the pictures showed that.
他捕捉到了一些出人意料的时刻。他拍到了真正体现罗伯特·F·肯尼迪(Robert F. Kennedy)和约翰逊关系的照片，他们彼此都不喜欢对方，照片也显示了这一点。
I’d always known Oke was a good photographer, but when I went through the contact sheets at the L.B.J. library, what I saw was greatness. I saw a photographer who not only took really good individual photos, but he thought and he photographed as a storyteller. He captured the tension and the fatigue on the face of L.B.J. When you look at the pictures, you just feel like you’re there.
我一直知道奥凯是一名出色的摄影师，然而，当我在约翰逊总统图书馆浏览相版时，我才认识到他的伟大之处。这位摄影师不仅能拍出一张张优秀的照片，而且还会思考，会用照片来讲故事。他捕捉到了约翰逊脸上紧张而疲惫的神情，当你看这些照片时，你会觉得自己就在现场。
Oke became the godfather of White House photography. Nobody had done it that way before, and pretty much nobody’s done it since.
奥凯成了白宫摄影的鼻祖。以前从未有人像他这么做，而自他之后，也几乎也人达到这样的水准。
Oke had the combination of a great subject, a really difficult time in American history with the Vietnam War going on, with civil rights problems. He was photographing the heart of all these things that were happening during that presidency. And how L.B.J. just dealt on a day-to-day basis.
奥凯的时代恰好具备了一个宏大主题的各种元素——那是美国历史上困难重重的时刻，越南战争仍在继续，又面临各种民权问题。奥凯拍摄了那届总统任期内处于所有这些事件中心的人物。以及约翰逊是如何日复一日处理这些事务。
When I look at Oke’s pictures, I see magic. And I think it underscores the value of the White House photographer in the hands of someone like him. And others have done well and have come close to it, certainly.
当我看着奥凯的照片时，我感受到了神奇的力量。我想，它们体现了由他这样的人担任白宫摄影师时，这一工作能够带来的价值。有些人做得也不错，非常接近这一水准。
And I think some of us had better access than others and knew what to do with it when we had it. It’s kind of an up and down. I don’t want to grade all the other photographers. But, it underscored again to me the importance of the job. And in every photograph, in all the photographs I saw in all of the presidential libraries, I really, there was a sense of reality to it. It wasn’t like those pictures were taken for propaganda reasons.
我认为，我们中的某些人相比其他人能接触到更好的题材，也知道如何加以利用。这可以说是一种运气。我不想给所有其他的摄影师评分。不过，这再次向我证明了这份工作的重要性。从我在所见过的各家总统图书馆的所有照片里，奥凯的每一幅照片都让我有一种身临其境的感觉。它们和那些为宣传而拍的照片不同。
Q. Tell me more about Oke. What was he like?
问：能和我多说说奥凯吗？他是一个什么样的人？
A. He was a very quiet, professorial kind of guy. And you know, Oke ultimately killed himself in 1985. I don’t know why. From what I’ve heard, he had a history of depression.
答：他是一个非常安静的、非常专业的人。你知道，奥凯最后在1985年自杀。我不知道原因。但据我所知，他长期患有抑郁症。
We know a lot of photographers, and a good many of them are a little more like me, kind of extroverted and don’t mind talking about what’s on their mind. Oke was very reserved and incredibly tight-lipped.
我们认识许多摄影师，其中有很多更像我，性格外向，乐意说出自己的想法。奥凯则谨言慎行，口风很紧。
After I got the job, I called him and he came over and had lunch with me, and I asked his advice about how to do it. Oke gave me some good advice. He said: “Remember one thing: that when you’re here, everybody will be your friend, the cabinet officers and all that. But what they really want are the pictures.” [Laughs.]
我得到这个工作后，给他打了电话，他过来和我一起吃了午餐，我就如何做好工作征求他的意见。奥凯给了我一些好建议。他说：“牢记一件事：当你在那儿时，每个人都会拿你当朋友，内阁官员和所有人都是朋友。不过，他们真正想要的就是照片。”（大笑）
And I think he was right. It was kind of cynical, but I think he was correct. And he told me: “You just have to be there all the time. You can’t not be there.” And I never forgot it. He said, “There’s only so much time, you’ll be in that job, you’ll never have another opportunity like that.” He said particularly in my case where I could do whatever I wanted. Upstairs and downstairs, access like he had at the White House.
我认为他说的没错。这么说有点儿悲观，不过，我想他是对的。他还对我说：“你要做的就是时时刻刻待在那儿。你不能离开。”我从没忘记这一点。他说，“你只有这么点儿时间能做这个工作，永远不会有第二次这样的机会。”他说，对我来说尤其如此，我想拍什么都行。我可以去任何地方，享受的自由就像他在白宫时一样。
Upstairs is the first lady’s domain. You know, if you don’t get along with both of them, you can’t go into the family quarters because that’s the first lady’s empire. And a lot of these White House photographers haven’t been able to just do that with impunity. I was one of them who could.
楼上是第一夫人的地盘。你知道，如果你不和总统和第一夫人同时搞好关系，就不能走进第一家庭内部，因为那里是第一夫人的疆域。有许多白宫摄影师都没能完全不落埋怨地完成这一点。我是能做到这点的一个人。
But he said: “You got to just be there all the time; 16 hours a day. That’s how you’re going to get the good pictures.” And he was absolutely right about that.
可是奥凯说：“你必须要一直待在那里，每天要待16小时。这才是你能拍到好照片的秘诀。”他的这个说法绝对正确。
I cannot underscore enough how exciting going through his photographs was for me. And I think anyone that gets tagged to be the White House photographer the next time around should spend a week in the archives looking at Okamoto’s pictures.
我无法形容翻阅他的照片让我多激动。我认为，任何一个被任命为下一个白宫摄影师的人，都应该在档案馆里花上一周时间，看冈本洋一的照片。
Nobody in my area came closer to greatness than Yoichi Okamoto.
在我从事的这个领域，没有一人的表现像冈本洋一那样无与伦比。
I think when you see Okamoto’s work you understand the value of why there should be a White House photographer. And I think, it’s where it all started. It’s like looking at the Abraham Lincoln presidency if you’re going to be the president of the United States.
我想，当你看到他的作品时，你就会明白设立白宫摄影师职位的价值所在。毕竟这个领域就是由他开始的。这就好比，如果你要当美国总统，就需要了解亚伯拉罕·林肯(Abraham Lincoln)的执政历程一样。