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探索, 摄影和自然
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CreativityTranscript
00:14Every powerful photograph has a powerful story behind it.
00:20Australian marine photographer Darren Jew has spent a lifetime under the surface.
00:26He feels as at home in the sea, as he does on land.
00:30In the crystal clear waters of Tona, he'll capture rare glimpses into the world of awe-inspiring
00:36ocean giants.
00:37Seeing those whales come towards you is like no other experience I've had in the sea.
00:45Darren then travels to the edge of a dangerous world that few rarely see.
00:51It just brings home how living in a place like this, you're at the mercy of the planet.
00:57Finally, Darren explores new photographic techniques in the waters of Papua New Guinea, venturing
01:03into the depths of World War II history in the ocean's darkest hours.
01:08I'm fortunate enough to have spent a few years in the ocean.
01:10I'm fortunate enough to have spent a few years in the ocean, but I'm fortunate enough to have
01:38spent the last 30 years of my life capturing and sharing the wonders of this planet.
01:45Of all the things I've photographed, I love photographing the ocean the most.
01:48It's my love.
01:49It's my passion.
01:51The way the light falls in the sea, the creatures within it.
01:56For me, there's no bigger challenge and there's no greater reward than capturing images in
02:00the ocean.
02:09When I slip into the sea and my head goes beneath the surface, everything goes quiet and I'm
02:15represented with the endless canvas of the ocean.
02:22I've always felt that this is the place that I belong.
02:33Most of the world's oceans haven't even been explored, let alone photographed.
02:37The thin, light-filled layer is really just the beginning of what's out there.
02:48Darren has arrived at the South Pacific archipelago of Tonga.
02:52He seeks to capture one of the most rarely witnessed ocean phenomena.
02:57Giants of the ocean racing one another to claim a mate.
03:13I remember the first time I saw a humpback from a boat and seeing some peck slapping and
03:19some tail slapping and a blow and just thinking there's so much more going on under the water
03:25that I'd like to see.
03:36Being in the water with a 30-ton animal who's accepting of you, showing you its intelligence
03:42and its interest is really unbeatable.
03:44There's no other wildlife experience like that on the planet.
03:51I've been in the water with people who are seeing whales for the first time and I think
03:55the thing that surprises them most is the tenderness that these huge animals can display
04:01right before your very eyes.
04:09Being respectful and only interacting when the whales want to interact means that you're
04:15going to get better pictures, you're going to have better experiences, you're going to have the time of your life.
04:26Oh my god.
04:27How was that?
04:28Absolutely incredible.
04:30Yeah.
04:31She's an awesome mum.
04:33She's very chilled and the calf is really playful.
04:55When you get a really curious calf and a mum that's settled and happy for the calf to be swimming
05:00with the people, it's a lot of fun.
05:02They're new to the world.
05:04They're new to the world.
05:04Everything that they see is new and they're just like little toddlers with little puppies.
05:14In those situations, I'd be looking for images that capture the bond between the mother and the calf.
05:19Also, something to really show the scale of the mum and the calf because we're using wide-angle lenses a
05:25lot.
05:25Things close to the camera get big and things in the distance get small.
05:28So sometimes the scale gets a little bit out of whack but if you can get the mum and the
05:34calf in the same distance from the camera,
05:35you can really capture that immense size difference between the two animals.
06:00When I'm in the water with mums and calves, it's a pretty relaxed affair.
06:04Sometimes I've got 15 or 20 minutes during an encounter to consider the light, to consider the composition.
06:11But that's a completely different ball game to the challenge of getting in the water to photograph a heat run.
06:23A heat run is the frenetic build-up to humpback whales mating.
06:27The large gathering of males vying for a female is a marine spectacle without equal.
06:34One rarely witnessed or photographed beneath the waves.
06:38The excitement of getting ready to get in the water with a heat run and then seeing those whales come
06:43towards you
06:44is like no other experience I've had in the sea.
06:49Often we'll be sitting on the back of the boat waiting to get in and there'll be animals coming out
06:53of the water
06:53and crashing on top of each other and it almost goes into slow motion and you see the grace and
06:58majesty of what's going on.
07:06It's critical that we try and get a drop from the boat where we're going to see as many whales
07:12as possible in one frame.
07:14As Skipper does a lot of work to get us in position, he'll work out which is the female whale
07:20and he'll just keep tracking her.
07:22Because she'll lead the other whales around on the merry chase and we'll go into the water as soon as
07:27he calls it
07:27and we should be presented with an ocean full of whales.
07:41Just the idea of getting multiple bus sized animals in one picture, you're recording a remarkable event.
07:56You know, we only get maybe 30 seconds of time to be in the water, to be in position and
08:03get the shot before the animals are gone.
08:05Because they're moving at quite a pace.
08:29How was that?
08:30Unbelievable.
08:32Amazing, eh?
08:33Incredible.
08:33Eight whales coming straight at you.
08:35Just like steam trains through the ocean.
08:41The fact that the humpbacks let us swim with them here in Tonga is to me a bit of an
08:46indication about how happy they are to have us in their environment
08:50and tells me that we need to be looking after their environment as well.
08:57You know, without the ocean, you know, we'd lose one of the lungs of the planet
09:00and it's a critical aspect of the whole web of life.
09:04And so I hope that the pictures that I create are the ones that will make a difference and can
09:10help people appreciate and respect the ocean.
09:13It's the only one we've got.
09:14It's the only one that we've got to do to work.
09:18Having successfully captured the magnificent heat runs in Tonga, Darren and his crew traveled to the port town of Rabao,
09:26located on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea.
09:33The silent and deep waters of Rabaul Harbour became a graveyard of twisted metal and hulks
09:40of wrecks during its occupation by the Japanese forces as a naval base during World War II.
09:54These haunting wrecks have become a magnet for marine photographers from around the world.
10:02Ever since I was a boy dreaming of destinations around the world, Rabaul was always high on my list of
10:08places to go.
10:10One of the wrecks that really caught my imagination was a Mitsubishi biplane, which the Allied forces codenamed Pete.
10:20I just knew that I wanted to dive it for some reason.
10:23You get these things in your mind from time to time and you envisage the image you want to create.
10:33When I came up here in 2008, I asked about diving the biplane and there was a dispute between landowners
10:40and it was off limits.
10:45So one of the first things I did when I got to Rabaul this time was to negotiate with the
10:49landholders.
10:52While Darren waits, hoping to gain permission to dive the biplane, he decides to use the time to explore the
10:59unusual topography of the surrounding area.
11:03Rabaul's harbour was created by an extremely violent birth and is, in fact, the remnants of a supervolcano.
11:12Around the edges of the harbour rise two active volcanoes that could erupt at any time.
11:23In 1994, both volcanoes exploded and that was the biggest eruption Rabaul had seen since 1937.
11:31The old town was completely destroyed and had to be abandoned.
11:36Exploring the shells of buildings and seeing the destruction firsthand really makes it clear how fragile existence is when you're
11:44living on the edge of a volcano.
11:53Walking down the main street, the bitumen ends and gets replaced by a layer of volcanic ash.
11:59That's not something you see every day.
12:06If you do climate as we are today, it's done at our own risk, so we're all aware.
12:12I've had mates go up and it's been looking like that, stunning as normal, and on their way down, she
12:19decides to erupt.
12:20So that's the main reason we don't recommend going up, because flick the switch, she can go up.
12:29Climbing a volcano under the midday sun is no walk in the park.
12:33The dust is in my eyes, the humidity is so oppressive.
12:38The smell of sulphur is burning the back of my throat.
12:41It's even getting down into my lungs.
12:44The only thing that's keeping me going right now is the anticipation of that view from the crater rim.
12:57Oh, goodness me.
12:59That's incredible.
13:00I don't know what I was expecting to see.
13:03Um, it wasn't this.
13:17With the help of our drone pilot Toby, I'm now going to fly my camera with a fisheye lens, high
13:22up over the mountain.
13:26I'm always looking for something new, and I've got a picture in my mind that'll show the living landscape in
13:31a whole new way.
13:44Oh no, it's not in range.
13:45No, we lost it.
13:46Lost it out of range.
13:47Oh no, you got one.
13:48Okay, we've got a red light.
13:49Okay, you'll land, good lad.
14:00Is that what you were hoping?
14:02Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
14:04It's really worked.
14:09Darren's unique fisheye photograph of the Tavavur volcano turns it into a world of its own.
14:20At any time that volcano could go up, it could have erupted while we were up there.
14:25It's not if it's going to happen, it's when.
14:27It just brings home how living in a place like this, you're at the mercy of the planet.
14:32Only several weeks after photographing the volcano, it was captured by an Australian tourist erupting without warning.
14:53Word has come through that the landholders have agreed to allow access for Darren to dive the waters where the
15:00biplane wreck lies.
15:02The next challenge was finding Pete's biplane.
15:05Steve, our dive operator, hadn't been on the site for a number of years.
15:13There was a bit of a question on my mind that will I actually find where the plane was?
15:27I've come to the area where I recall the plane to be.
15:32I'm going to jump in and try to get down about 10 metres and then hopefully see the plane directly.
15:52You found it, fantastic. That's great news. Is she still in good condition?
15:57Still in good shape to the looks of it.
15:59Can't wait to get in there.
16:11Any dive you do is full of anticipation.
16:14But to be diving on a site that you've longed to dive just heightens that excitement that much more.
16:46That was bloody fantastic.
16:47What a beautiful site that is.
16:49That's got to be the best wreck I've ever dived.
16:52Yeah, it's incredible.
16:55We were all absolutely blown away by how beautiful this biplane was.
16:59After 70 years on the ocean floor, it was incredibly intact.
17:02So when Darren expressed an interest to not only photograph Pete's biplane,
17:06but to do it at night using a long exposure, I was pretty excited.
17:11A long exposure photograph is created by opening your shutter for an extended period of time
17:17and letting in a lot of light.
17:20It's often used in low light conditions for landscapes or the night sky.
17:25These types of photographs can be enhanced by bringing in an external light source.
17:31This technique is often called painting with light.
17:35It allows you to fill in extra elements of your subject with the external light source.
17:43So to test this method using a long exposure and introducing torchlight to effectively paint in the detail of the
17:51wreck,
17:51Darren decided to travel to Georgia's wreck to do a shallower night dive before descending down to the deeper depths
17:57of the biplane.
18:01This was a first for Darren. Darren had never actually photographed using a tripod on the sea floor at night.
18:07Using some dive weights on the bottom of the tripod to keep it firmly in place and triggering the bulb,
18:13Darren left the tripod
18:14and then proceeded to swim around the wreck with his torch painting in the detail.
18:32Just seeing these beams of light, I mean the inky blackness of the ocean, it was eerily quiet but it
18:38was like there was a symphony going on in my mind
18:41and Darren was sort of conducting this orchestra.
18:45It was just a very surreal experience and one I'll never forget.
18:54So after last night's experience painting the Georgia's wreck, we learnt a lot.
18:59I hadn't done this before and we learnt that there's a critical moment to get the picture when there was
19:04still just a glimmer of light in the sky.
19:07Over the three minutes of this exposure that was able to build up and give us that colour and brightness.
19:12This really means that we're going to be going for something really remarkable on the plane itself.
19:24Our first night dive on Pete's was the culmination of all of the planning and negotiation and practice of painting
19:34with light on Georges.
19:35All of that work had gone into creating this one very, very special moment and we had 20 minutes at
19:4227 metres.
19:50Gliding above the wreck, looking at the details through the beam of the torch, the colour and the amount of
19:56life that had been attracted to her,
19:59was like I was visualising and building the picture as I swam.
20:29Let's go.
20:30Let's go.
20:34Let's go.
20:35Let's go.
20:38Let's go.
20:40Let's go.
20:41Let's go.
20:41Wow.
20:43Fantastic.
20:43Yeah, how about that?
20:45You happy with it?
20:46Yeah, beautiful sight.
20:53The most challenging images are always the most satisfying and to create this picture over so many
20:58days was just the most amazing experience.
21:02Darren's image of Pete's biplane captures an ethereal beauty that is truly unforgettable.
21:09But it also highlights that an old machine built for death and destruction has now become home to an array
21:16of soft corals and invertebrates
21:19that continue to support life on Rabal's sea floor.
21:28The world has taught me, and photography has taught me, to capture every creature as if it's the last.
21:35To treat every moment as fleeting.
21:39Our planet moves on.
21:41It evolves.
21:42It changes.
21:44And tomorrow is always going to bring me something new.
21:49If my images can influence just a few more people to care for the nature of our world, then I
21:55feel like I've done my part.
22:13It's a architectural view.
22:14The making of this world is a particular thing.
22:14The eternal mind has taught me I have a lot.
22:15I want to practice.
22:16You have a natural view.
22:16It changes.
22:16The original way to make the world may be.
22:17It changes.
22:18It changes.
22:21It changes.
22:23The way they may have made the world.
22:26It changes.