【Past Events of the Future】

"Feather-light press of the shutter, an extraordinary instant before my eyes is captured with a snap of my fingers. Within that one-thousandth of a second, Earth leaves behind the image it packed to go as it spins along its axis; or perhaps it was a temperate, memorable moment of the present being condensed into a singular frame. Yet, myths surrounding that “present” seem to be our most deeply-rooted misunderstanding of photography.

My fondest works of photography often tell of the rectangular world perceived by the camera’s viewfinder of some ongoing moment on this planet, usually just after or prior to the shutter button’s release. Discovered by the determined photographer’s razor-sharp eyes are the ripples in the wake of story fragments, or details to be yearned after in the future.

There is no present tense in the world of photography—its grammar underscores that moment when the past and the future collide, that wonderful process of blurring the divide between reason and emotion with time.

There exists no other language in this world in which concatenation of past and present tense is permitted, and yet a photograph tells its tale with such nonchalance. On wafer-thin photo paper, a fortuitous event of both the past and the future is deftly pieced together—like the preparation of paints on an artist’s palette or that of a mother’s delicate touch when braiding her daughter’s hair. With such devotion, affection, and selflessness, a photograph can ceremoniously record the fingerprints of time, hazy like moonlight, events of the future already satisfied…

It is my belief that no photo is able to elaborate on a story about the “now”, much like city maps that indicate neither the entrance nor the exit for curious eyes somehow."

- Simon Chang (English translation by Joan Wang)

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【關於未來的往事】

輕觸快門，彈指間截取眼前某個獨一無二的瞬間，那千分之一秒地球自轉時忘記打包帶走的畫面，或凝結當下某個帶有溫度並值得紀念的瞬間 - 關於那個 ”當下” 的迷思，似乎是我們對攝影最根深蒂固的誤解。

那些自己熱衷的攝影作品，通常講述的是快門釋放後或之前，地表上某個角落，透過相機觀景窗所見的那個長方形世界，執著的攝影者眼尖地發現了某段故事曾留下的波紋與未來將被懷念的細節。

攝影世界裡沒有現在式，攝影語法強調過去與未來相遇的剎那，理性與感性的分野頓時間被模糊了的奇妙過程。

世上也沒有任何一種語言其文法允許過去式與未來式併置。但一幅攝影作品卻可以如此瀟灑地說故事，就透過薄薄的一張相紙，輕巧地湊合了過去與未來的一樁喜事，像是畫家作畫時調色盤上顏料的配製，也如同母親溫柔的手指替女兒編辮子；如此隨心所致，深情而且無私，攝影作品行禮如儀捕捉了朦朧如月光般的時間指紋，那些關於未來的往事…

我相信沒有任何照片能夠闡述一個關於 “現在” 的故事，就像坊間的地圖也從來不替讀者標記一座城市出口與入口的位置

- 張 雍

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Peresno lahek premik zaslonke, neverjeten trenutek pred svojimi očmi ujamem s pritiskom prstov. V tisti tisočinki sekunde Zemlja za sabo pusti že pripravljeno podobo, medtem ko se sama vrti okoli svoje osi; ali pa je šlo za blag, nepozaben trenutek sedanjosti, zgoščen v eno samo podobo. Pa vendar se zdi, da je naše nerazumevanje fotografije najbolj globoko utemljeno v mitih, ki obkrožajo to »sedanjost«.

Moja najljubša fotografska dela velikokrat pripovedujejo o pravokotnem svetu, kot ga prikazuje objektiv fotoaparata, o nekem trenutku v teku, ki se ponavadi zgodi tik pred ali po pritisku sprožilca. Odločne in ostre oči fotografa razkrivajo posledice fragmentov zgodbe, ali detajle, k katerim lahko stremimo v prihodnosti.

V svetu fotografije ne poznamo sedanjika – njegova slovnica poudarja tisti trenutek, ko se preteklost in prihodnost križata, tisti čudoviti proces brisanja meja med razumom in čustvi skozi čas.

Na svetu ni drugega jezika, v katerem bi bila dovoljena združitev preteklika in prihodnjika, pa vendar fotografija svojo zgodbo govori s takšno brezbrižnostjo. Naključni dogodek preteklosti in prihodnosti je na skoraj prosojnem fotografskem papirju spretno sestavljen – kakor priprava barv, ki jih umetnik nameša na paleto ali materin nežni dotik, ko hčeri spleta lase. S takšno predanostjo, ljubeznijo in nesebičnostjo fotografija beleži že udejanjene dogodke prihodnosti, odtise časa, meglene kakor mesečina...
Osebno verjamem, da nobena fotografija ne more razložiti »trenutnega«, podobno kot zemljevidi mest, na katerih še tako radovende oči ne najdejo označenega ne vhoda ne izhoda."

- Simon Chang (Slovenski prevod by Hana Čeferin / Galerija Fotografija)

* * * * * *

* TAM-TAM's Street Gallery enters 2021 with an exhibition by documentary photographer Simon Chang, which was co-produced with the Photography Gallery. A series of color photographs on three canvases of Vegova Street in Ljubljana will be on view between 12 January and 8 February 2021.

https://tam-tam.si/simon-chang-pretekli-dogodki-prihodnosti/

https://galerijafotografija.si/artists/67-simon-chang/

【Past Events of the Future】

"Feather-light press of the shutter, an extraordinary instant before my eyes is captured with a snap of my fingers. Within that one-thousandth of a second, Earth leaves behind the image it packed to go as it spins along its axis; or perhaps it was a temperate, memorable moment of the present being condensed into a singular frame. Yet, myths surrounding that “present” seem to be our most deeply-rooted misunderstanding of photography.

My fondest works of photography often tell of the rectangular world perceived by the camera’s viewfinder of some ongoing moment on this planet, usually just after or prior to the shutter button’s release. Discovered by the determined photographer’s razor-sharp eyes are the ripples in the wake of story fragments, or details to be yearned after in the future.

There is no present tense in the world of photography—its grammar underscores that moment when the past and the future collide, that wonderful process of blurring the divide between reason and emotion with time.

There exists no other language in this world in which concatenation of past and present tense is permitted, and yet a photograph tells its tale with such nonchalance. On wafer-thin photo paper, a fortuitous event of both the past and the future is deftly pieced together—like the preparation of paints on an artist’s palette or that of a mother’s delicate touch when braiding her daughter’s hair. With such devotion, affection, and selflessness, a photograph can ceremoniously record the fingerprints of time, hazy like moonlight, events of the future already satisfied…

It is my belief that no photo is able to elaborate on a story about the “now”, much like city maps that indicate neither the entrance nor the exit for curious eyes somehow."

- Simon Chang

(English translation by Joan Wang)

- - - - - -

【關於未來的往事】

輕觸快門，彈指間截取眼前某個獨一無二的瞬間，那千分之一秒地球自轉時忘記打包帶走的畫面，或凝結當下某個帶有溫度並值得紀念的瞬間 - 關於那個 ”當下” 的迷思，似乎是我們對攝影最根深蒂固的誤解。

那些自己熱衷的攝影作品，通常講述的是快門釋放後或之前，地表上某個角落，透過相機觀景窗所見的那個長方形世界，執著的攝影者眼尖地發現了某段故事曾留下的波紋與未來將被懷念的細節。

攝影世界裡沒有現在式，攝影語法強調過去與未來相遇的剎那，理性與感性的分野頓時間被模糊了的奇妙過程。

世上也沒有任何一種語言其文法允許過去式與未來式併置。但一幅攝影作品卻可以如此瀟灑地說故事，就透過薄薄的一張相紙，輕巧地湊合了過去與未來的一樁喜事，像是畫家作畫時調色盤上顏料的配製，也如同母親溫柔的手指替女兒編辮子；如此隨心所致，深情而且無私，攝影作品行禮如儀捕捉了朦朧如月光般的時間指紋，那些關於未來的往事…

我相信沒有任何照片能夠闡述一個關於 “現在” 的故事，就像坊間的地圖也從來不替讀者標記一座城市出口與入口的位置

- 張 雍

* TAM-TAM's Street Gallery enters 2021 with an exhibition by documentary photographer Simon Chang, which was co-produced with the Photography Gallery. A series of color photographs on three canvases of Vegova Street in Ljubljana will be on view between 12 January and 8 February 2021.

https://tam-tam.si/simon-chang-pretekli-dogodki-prihodnosti/

有好多網友inbox問我Present Perfect Tense （現在完成式）同Simple Present Tense （簡單現在式）既問題，我講多少少:

Present Perfect Tense 現在完成式
呢個Tense 用於由以前發生，但冇指明特定時間（i.e. yesterday, last week...），又對現在有關連既事。例如 「I have had everything (all these accomplishments). 我已經擁有一切（成就）」。呢度Have係auxiliary verb（助動詞）；had係main verb（主動詞），以past participle（過去分詞）形式出現。係呢一句Present Perfect Tense帶出「已經擁有」呢個時間性。Already呢個adverb（副詞）可以配合使用於Present Perfect Tense，強調「某事比另一件事早發生」，例如「 I would not need to be more successful when I have already had everything. 當我早就擁有一切，我唔需要更成功。」

Simple Present Tense 簡單現在式
一般用於陳述事實、表達概念。例如 「I have everything. 我擁有一切。」Have 就係main verb。Already 亦可以用喺Simple Present Tense，喺度表達「有野比起預期早左發生」，或者「一啲發生左但係你預期之外嘅事」。例如「 I already have everything. 我擁有一切（感覺早左或者意料之外）」。

另外一個問題：用左Present Perfect Tense仲可以加”at this moment”？
我嘅答案係翻譯時要睇當事人想表達嘅原意。我想保留當事人想強調嘅意思，以及我想帶出”This instant”同”At this moment”既分別。雖然中文嘅譯法大家都係叫「而家」，但係意思有少少分別。”This instant”通常配合Imperatives（命令式動詞）使用，好似我片中例子：「Shut up this instant！而家（即刻）收聲！」呢個「而家」帶有「即刻去做某件事」嘅意思；At this moment 既而家就淨係「而家」，當刻嘅意思。基於上述原因，最後我決定加個逗號隔一隔帶有Present Perfect Tense既句子，加”at this moment”喺最後。

PS: 我完全理解口語英文變化好多，我自己講英文嘅時候都會犯正統文法上嘅錯誤。我當初分享英文片段，就係想借生活化嘅題材，以不同嘅表達方式去引起大家興趣，因為解釋英文嘅時候，contextualization 將語言運用搬到去生活上既情景，對理解語言有好大幫助。香港嘅學習英文模式就係缺乏真實嘅context情景去應用同理解，學生學grammar只係機械式不斷造句，睇passage只係睇textbooks作出黎既文章，一嚟欠缺真實性，二嚟邊個會有興趣睇？我希望每一次嘅討論都可以令你有動力去查下、去了解英文嘅運用，甚至問下身邊既人：「應該點講？」。Thank you.