Glaciers: Icy, Magnificent Giants冰川：宏伟的冰雪巨人

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

拍摄冰川时，时间标尺变得不同。

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.

十五岁时，我随家人一起去了蒙大拿州的冰川国家公园，那是我第一次见到冰川，尽管我始终未能靠近它们。我母亲确信，在每一个角落每一条小径，都有灰熊出没，伺机粉碎我们美好的美式假期。因此，我们不敢离车太远，而我与冰川的唯一交集，不过是远远望见那么两三座。我通常以为它们只是笼罩于山间雪沟阴影中的美丽雪原。

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.

又过了整整15年，30岁时，我再次见到了冰川——只是这次，我乘坐的小型飞机即将以冰川为跑道，以滑雪板代替通常使用的机轮，在冰块上滑行。这次我身处阿拉斯加州迪纳利国家公园的卡希尔特纳冰川，第一次负责国家公园管理局搜救队的重要拍摄任务。在这趟旅行中，我并未见到灰熊，只有无边无际的茫茫雪原，偶有深邃蔚蓝的裂缝横亘其间，深不见底，让人不得不跨越或者绕行，心知若不慎坠入，便是生命终结之时。我们在山上待了整整两周，几乎就是住在了这座冰川上。

More than a decade later， I arrived in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Alaska working with the US Fish & 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，我抵达阿拉斯加州基奈国家野生动物保护区，与美国鱼类和野生动物管理局合作，记录这个令人惊叹的保护区，包括其中的冰川。此时我已无惧潜伏的灰熊，也不再害怕坠入万丈冰渊，相反，我满怀活力与激情，投入到对其中一座古老冰川边缘的探索之中，试图真切领悟它们的壮美。

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.

作为一名摄影师，我曾记录下从蒙大拿到阿拉斯加众多山区的风貌，于我而言，冰川无疑是它们所属生态系统中的冰冷心脏。每一滴水，都像是穿越荒野开辟路径的动脉一般，为森林、河流和人类带来生机。我聚焦于此，竭力展现冰川融水的流淌，述说关于水、气候变化以及古老冰川的故事。同时，我也陷入思考，没有冰川的世界会是什么样子。

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.

当冰川消退时，周围的地面在较短的一段时间内寸草不生，直到种子发芽。这块地的颜色往往很深，仿佛是数十万年都未曾有人见过的新生之地。冰川呈现的蓝色源于密集排列的冰晶，在深色地面的衬托下，为创造戏剧性的影像提供了充分的机会——明亮色彩与单色地貌的对比令人震撼。

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？

我之所以钟情于拍摄自然，原因之一便是每一瞬间都能给拍摄带来全新的挑战，无论是一缕阳光穿过洞穴缝隙，还是积雨云在空中筑起高塔，又或是一头野生动物小心翼翼地从草场边缘进入镜头，或是一颗彗星划过天际。每一幕都是我翘首以盼的非凡时刻，而我往往只有几秒的时间去定格。但在这里，时间标尺变得不同，仿佛一个缓缓移动的巨人在行进中雕琢山峦、刻画沟谷，并逐渐融入周遭景致。我不禁自问，真有照片能完全捕捉到此番景象吗？

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1自然摄影师、作家和环保主义者，以其卓越的自然和野生动物摄影而闻名。  2 couloir峡谷。

3 crevasse（尤指冰川等的）裂隙;冰隙。

4 juxtaposition（形成反差的物体、形象或想法的）并列。  5 monochromatic单色的；单色光的。  6 cumulonimbus cloud积雨云。