爲世界打開一扇觀察朝鮮的窗口

As one of the few Western journalists who has traveled widely in North Korea, David Guttenfelder believes that photography can open a window onto a country. And on a recent trip to that closed society, he took that credo to a different level.

作爲爲數不多的深入朝鮮境內遊歷的西方記者之一，大衛·古登菲爾德(David Guttenfelder)堅信照片能夠打開一扇窗戶，讓外界瞭解一個國家。在最近一次造訪這個封閉社會的旅途中，他把這一信條提升到了一個不同的層次。

About 31 floors up in his hotel room.

在大約31層樓高的酒店房間裏。

Firing up his Periscope app, Mr. Guttenfelder pointed his iPhone outside his hotel window and began to stream live video. Soon, he was being peppered with questions from online viewers: What was it like? What did he eat? How was it working there? That intense curiosity — not to mention engagement — was similar to when he had posted images to Instagram, not only during his recent visit, but also dating back to his tenure as The Associated Press’s chief Asia photographer.

在設置好Periscope應用之後，古登菲爾德把自己的iPhone對準酒店的窗外，開始錄製直播視頻。很快，網絡觀衆就向他提出了一系列問題：朝鮮是個怎麼樣的國家？他吃什麼？在朝鮮工作感覺怎麼樣？這種強烈的好奇心——更不必說這種互動——同之前他把照片傳到Instagram上時頗爲類似。不僅是最近訪問朝鮮時，在過去擔任美聯社(Associated Press)亞洲首席攝影記者一職時，他也會在Instagram上發佈照片。

“There’s probably not a better place to test the power of photography and photojournalism than a place that has never really allowed photography or foreigners there,” Mr. Guttenfelder said. “We don’t know very much about North Korea because it has not been photographed for 60-something years. The only images we ever see have been distributed by the state as propaganda. For me to go there over the years has been a rare opportunity and responsibility. Otherwise, it’s completely unknown. While imperfect, we have eyes on the ground and some windows opening.”Mr. Guttenfelder, who left the news service last year and is now a National Geographic photography fellow, had gone to North Korea for a six-day assignment for The New York Times, initially to photograph a trip by Gloria Steinem and other peace activists who were meeting with North and South Korean women. But as with any of his more than 40 previous trips there, he found time to document daily moments.

“因爲基本上不允許攝影，也不允許外國人進駐，所以朝鮮可能是測試攝影和攝影新聞報道影響力的最佳地點，”古登菲爾德說道。“我們不太瞭解朝鮮，因爲過去60多年裏都沒有關於朝鮮的照片。那些曾經見過的僅有的照片，都是朝鮮用作宣傳發布的照片。對我來說，能夠在過去幾年裏訪問朝鮮，是一個難得的機會和責任。否則，外界就完全一無所知。雖然並不完美，但是我們在朝鮮有眼線，還有一些通暢的信息渠道。”古登菲爾德去年離開了通訊社，現在擔任《國家地理》(National Geographic)的攝影師，他來到朝鮮爲《紐約時報》展開了爲期六天的工作。最初是爲了拍攝格洛麗亞·斯泰納姆(Gloria Steinem)和其他和平活動人士，同朝鮮和韓國女性的會面，但和之前的40多次訪問一樣，他抽空記錄了一些日常生活的瞬間。

Face it: In a place as walled-off and mysterious as North Korea, any image not produced by the state was a revelation. In a way, Mr. Guttenfelder said, he felt it was his responsibility to show the outside world the reality away from stage-managed events.

要知道，在一個像朝鮮這樣封閉而神祕的國家，任何一張並非由國家拍攝的照片，都是一種揭示。古登菲爾德表示，從某種程度上說，他感覺到自己有責任向外界展示真實的朝鮮，而非一些檯面上精心安排的活動。

“It’s an amazing place to work as a photographer,” he said. “Anything I photograph I feel is of news value because we don’t know what the places looks like. Every picture looks like a piece of a puzzle, and the sum of the parts begin to reveal something.”That approach dates to one of his earliest trips to North Korea in 2000, when he accompanied then-Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright on a visit to Pyongyang. Back then, the Communist government gave new meaning to the notion of a closed society: The windows on his bus were covered with drapes, and he was told not to even bother taking out a camera. Even the windows of his hotel were covered.

“對於攝影師來說，朝鮮是一個不可思議的地方，”古登菲爾德表示。“我覺得我拍攝的任何一張照片都具有新聞價值，因爲我們不瞭解這些地方都是什麼樣子。每張照片似乎都是拼圖的一部分，把這些部分拼湊起來，就可以揭露一些事物。”這種方式可以追溯到他最早在2000年訪問朝鮮的時候，當時他陪同時任美國國務卿的瑪德琳·K·奧爾布賴特(Madeleine K. Albright)訪問朝鮮平壤。那時，朝鮮的共產主義政府刷新了“封閉社會”這一概念的含義：古登菲爾德乘坐的汽車的窗戶被封上了簾子，並且被告知不要妄想拿出照相機，就連他住的酒店窗戶也被封上了。

“I couldn’t see outside,” he said. “I had the feeling that North Korea was not real. That it was a facade, like ‘The Truman Show.’ That’s what most people still think about North Korea.”

“我沒法看到外面，”他說道，“我有一種感覺，朝鮮一點都不真實。它是一種假象，像《楚門的世界》(The Truman Show)。大部分人眼裏的朝鮮仍舊是這樣的。”

The importance of that visit took a back seat to things he began to notice on the periphery, like a scene of children tossing snowballs. At one point, when Dr. Albright was at a ceremony where food was being donated, he noticed a child who was cutting up in class. He could identify, imagining himself as a child being the class clown. It was a breakthrough moment.

那次訪問變得不再重要了，因爲他開始注意到周圍的一些事物，比如說小孩子打雪仗這樣的場景。奧爾布賴特出席一場食品捐贈儀式期間的某個時刻，古登菲爾德注意到一個孩子在班上插科打諢。對此，他完全可以認同，而且能夠把自己想象成一個孩子，一個班裏的活寶。這是一個具有突破性的瞬間。

“That was a surprising moment and informed how I try to photograph the country,” he said. “There are connections to be made. There are universal things to discover in a photo. Regular life shouldn’t be surprising. It should not be surprising there is real life and people try to get by. That seems to be one of the loudest things I can say with really subtle, mundane moments.”

“那是一個出人意料的瞬間，讓我知道了應該如何拍攝這個國家。”他說道。“需要製造一些共鳴，從一張照片裏可以發現一些普世的東西。日常生活不應該是讓人驚訝的，朝鮮存在着真實的生活，人們努力維持生計，對此我們不應該感到驚訝。這似乎是我能通過那些細微且平淡的瞬間，講出的最響亮的話。”

He embraced that approach in earnest in 2013, when North Korea allowed local 3G mobile phone service, permitting him to do everything people in the United States were doing on their smartphones, including using Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare. While others used the technology for personal reasons and connections, he saw the value as a journalist in an isolated society.

他真正採取那種做法是在2013年，當時朝鮮許可了本地的3G移動電話服務，於是他也能做美國人在智能手機上做的事情了，比如使用Twitter、Instagram和Foursquare。其他人出於個人原因和聯繫的目的使用科技手段時，他作爲封閉社會的一個記者，看到了其中的價值。

His Instagram feed attracted hundreds of thousands of followers, and he realized this work on social media was as important as any of the other photography and journalism he was doing. With his use of Periscope, he continued to find new ways to use new tools, even if he had first used it only a month earlier — to watch the title bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. “I ended up watching with some family in Mexico filming the fight” on their living room television, he said. “I hadn’t used it until I got to North Korea.”

他在Instagram上的動態吸引了成千上萬的關注者，隨後他意識到這項在社交媒體上的工作，與他在做的其他攝影和新聞工作一樣重要。他對Periscope的運用，實際上延續了以創新方式運用新工具的做法，儘管他開始使用Periscope才一個月——觀看曼尼·帕奎奧(Manny Pacquiao)和小弗洛伊德·梅威瑟(Floyd Mayweather Jr.)的冠軍較量。他說，“結果我觀看的是墨西哥一家人”在起居室的電視上錄製的比賽畫面。“我在去朝鮮之前從來沒用過。”

But once there, he took advantage. During a drive in the countryside, he again pointed his phone out the window, showing rural scenes.

但一到朝鮮，他就抓住了機會。一次在鄉間駕車時，他把手機伸出窗外，展示鄉間的景象。

“To see the countryside, the rural areas of the country, and know it was not me being led, directed to stand in some spot, this was clearly candid, the world passing by… ,” he said. “Even if the video is a bit shaky, it’s certainly not broadcast quality, but it’s more powerful in a way. People feel they are there, and you can transport them to a place very few people have ever seen.”Bringing outsiders into close contact with life in North Korea — if only via a phone or a laptop — continues to guide Mr. Guttenfelder. He has been curating @EverydayDPRK, an Instagram feed in which he features images taken by foreigners living in or visiting North Korea. His contributors include a model-turned-English-teacher from California; a tour guide who had made some 150 trips there; and an Indonesian stay-at-home father.

“我看到了鄉間，看到了這個國家的農村，我知道自己站到某個地點時，並沒有被人引導、指示。這都是坦誠的，世界在我身邊經過……”他說。“儘管視頻有些晃動，並且畫面質量肯定不到播出的水準，但它在某種方式上更有力度。人們覺得他們是在現場，而你能把他們帶到極少有人見過的地方。”帶外人近距離地接觸朝鮮的生活，這仍然是古登菲爾德的指引目標——雖然只是通過手機或筆記本電腦。他一直在整理@EverydayDPRK的內容，這個Instagram賬戶展示的是在朝鮮生活和參觀的外國人拍攝的照片。向他提供照片的包括一個來自加州、以前做過模特的英語教師；一個去過朝鮮150次的導遊，還有一個印度尼西亞的居家父親。

Each one offers another peek, another piece of the puzzle. Each image also helps dispel some of the misconceptions about the country.

每個人都提供了一瞥的景象，提供了拼圖的另外一塊。每張照片都有助於驅散關於這個國家的誤解。

“They are questioning reality,” Mr. Guttenfelder said of some viewers. “It’s hard for people to believe that North Koreans commute to work on the bus, or what they see in cities and the countryside is representative of real life there.”

“他們在質疑真實性，”古登菲爾德談到一些關注者時這樣說。“人們很難相信朝鮮人坐公交上下班，也很難相信他們看到的城市和鄉村反映了那裏真實的生活。”

Granted, a dictatorship wary of the outside world is not an easy place to work. Some critics would counsel him to stay away altogether, rather than try any engagement. Mr. Guttenfelder said that despite the constraints, he had not been censored, which in some ways makes his responsibility even greater: to decide what is real or not.

誠然，一個對外部世界謹慎提防的獨裁國家不是一個容易工作的地方。一些批評者會勸告他避而遠之，而不是試圖有所接觸。古登菲爾德說盡管有着各種限制，他還沒受到審查，而這在某些方面讓他的責任變得更大：判斷什麼是真實的而什麼不是。

“Social media is uncharted territory for all of us, including North Korea,” he said. “I’m allowed to work there as a journalist, and this is a tool, one of the many I use to tell the story. I don’t think there is a clear line on this. I also think there shouldn’t be, really. I think it’s in everyone’s interest to have connections made between North Korea, its neighbors and the rest of the world. The more information that flows in both directions, the better for everyone.”

“社交媒體對所有人都是一個未知的領域，包括朝鮮，”他說。“我獲准以記者的身份在那裏工作，而這是個工具，許多我用來講故事的工具之一。我不認爲在這個問題上有一個清晰的界限，我也覺得不該有，真的。我認爲在朝鮮和它的鄰國，以及世界其他國家之間建立聯繫，對每個人都有好處。彼此間雙向流動的信息越多，對大家也就越好。”