人生不設(shè)限·近乎全盲的攝影師

失去摯愛、關(guān)系破裂、財務有困難或生病可能會毀了你——如果你任由悲傷和絕望將你淹沒。有個方法可以在這些挑戰(zhàn)中殺出一條路：即使生命似乎要把你擊倒，也要仔細注意有什么浮現(xiàn)出來。

A lost loved one, a broken relationship, a financial setback, or an illness can break you if you let grief and despair overtake you. One way to fight through those challenges is to stay alert for what rises up even when life seems to be taking you down.

我在《蝴蝶馬戲團》的拍攝場地遇見了攝影師葛蕾妮絲·史維遜。她雖然住在奧蘭多，但在本片導演，也是她的朋友維格夫婦的邀請下，來到加州擔任這部片子的側(cè)拍攝影師。葛蕾妮絲得過獎，常常接受雜志社、企業(yè)、報社和網(wǎng)站的委托，擔任攝影工作。她同時也從事人像和自然攝影。她很愛攝影，這是她的熱情所在。

I met the photographer Glennis Siverson on the set of The Butterfly Circus. Though she lives in Orlando, Glennis had come to California to serve as the set photographer at the invitation of the directors and her friends the Weigels. Glennis is an award-winning photographer whose work is commissioned by magazines, corporations, newspapers, and Web sites. She also does portrait and nature photography. She loves photography. It is her passion.

葛蕾妮絲曾在大企業(yè)的人力資源部門工作了二十多年，卻在經(jīng)濟衰退中失去了“安全又有保障”的工作。但葛蕾妮絲接受了這個挫折，并利用前進的動能去追求自己熱愛的事，于是成了一位全職攝影師。

But for more than twenty years, Glennis worked in the human resources field for big companies. She lost her "safe and secure" job in the recession. Glennis took that kick in the pants and used the forward momentum to pursue her passion. She became a full-time photographer.

“我想，現(xiàn)在不做，就永遠沒機會了。”她說道。

"I decided it was now or never!" she said.

很棒的故事吧?葛蕾妮絲真是好樣兒的，她把可能帶來負面結(jié)果的事情，變成創(chuàng)造更美好人生的機會。

Great story, right? Glennis is a real-life example of someone who took a potentially negative event and used it as an opportunity to create an even better life.

真了不起!

Terrifi c! Wonderful!

還不止這樣呢!你知道嗎?葛蕾妮絲這位得獎攝影師近乎全盲。

But there's more. You see, Glennis, the award-winning photographer, can hardly see. She is legally blind.

“小時候我的視力就很弱。”她說，“5歲就戴上眼鏡，不過視力還是愈來愈差。大概在1995年，我被診斷出眼角膜病變，角膜變形且退化，甚至到了左眼看不見的地步。因為我的近視非常嚴重，所以沒辦法做激光手術(shù)，唯一的選擇是角膜移植。”

"Ever since I was a child I have had poor eyesight," she said. "I got glasses at age five and my vision kept getting worse. Then around 1995 I was diagnosed with corneal disease. The cornea is misshapen and degenerates. It got to the point that I couldn't see out of my left eye. Since I had extremely severe nearsightedness, it was past the threshold to get Lasik surgery. My only option was a cornea transplant."

2004年，葛蕾妮絲接受了這項手術(shù)。醫(yī)生告訴她，手術(shù)后，她左眼的視力在不戴眼鏡，也不戴隱形眼鏡的情況下，可以矯正到0.5。“但所有可以出錯的地方都出了錯，只差沒廢了我這只眼睛。”她說，“手術(shù)讓我的視力變得更差，還出現(xiàn)青光眼。我的左眼視力變差，接著是右眼視網(wǎng)膜出血(和手術(shù)無關(guān))，所以現(xiàn)在上面有個盲點。”

In 2004 Glennis underwent that surgery. Her doctor had told her that it would correct the vision in her left eye to 20/40 without glasses or contacts. "But everything that could go wrong pretty much did—short of losing my eye," she said. "The operation made my vision worse. I also got glaucoma as a result. My vision worsened in my left eye, and then, unrelated to the operation, I had a hemorrhage on the retina of my right eye. So I have a blind spot on it."

從工作了二十多年的地方被解雇，然后經(jīng)歷一場差點把她弄瞎的失敗手術(shù)和視網(wǎng)膜出血，葛蕾妮絲如果絕望、放棄，大概沒人會怪她，說不定大家還覺得她應該更痛苦、更憤怒一些才對。

Laid off from her job of twenty years, and all but blinded by failed surgery and a hemorrhaged retina, Glennis could not be blamed for despairing and giving up. You might expect her to grow bitter and angry.

但情況正好相反。因為心懷感激，葛蕾妮絲的生命得以飛得更高、更遠。

Instead, she was grateful to soar higher and farther.

“我不認為自己‘殘障’或‘失能’，反而覺得自己更有能力了，因為近乎全盲讓我成為一個更好的攝影師。”她說。

"I don't think of myself as disabled. I think of myself as enabled, because being nearly blind has made me a better photographer," she said.

葛蕾妮絲已經(jīng)看不見細微處，但她不覺得自己被剝奪了什么，反而因為不必再執(zhí)著于一些小地方、小事情，所以心懷感激。

She can no longer see fine details, but instead of feeling deprived, she is grateful that she is free not to obsess about the little things anymore.

“在失去大部分的視力之前，如果是人像攝影，我甚至會注意每根頭發(fā)，以及這個人身體的每個角度。因為太注意局部，所以我的作品看起來很僵硬、不自然。但現(xiàn)在我的拍照方式比較像是直覺反應——我感覺，我看，我拍!現(xiàn)在我的作品比較出于直覺，跟周遭的人和環(huán)境也有了更多互動。”

"Prior to losing most of my eyesight, if I was doing portrait photography, I was focused on every strand of hair and every angle of the person's body. My work looked stiff because I was so focused on composition. But now my approach is pretty much a gut reaction. I feel it. I see it, and I shoot it. My work is more instinctual, and I interact with people and surroundings much more.

葛蕾妮絲說，她現(xiàn)在拍出來的照片會有瑕疵，但是更具藝術(shù)性、更動人了。“有個小姐看到我為她拍的照片后哭了出來，因為她覺得我真的抓住了她的神韻。”她說，“過去我的作品從來沒有感動過任何人。”

Glennis said her photographs now are flawed but are more artful, more compelling. "One gal actually cried when she saw my images of her because she felt I'd captured her so well," she said. "I had never moved anyone emotionally before."

自從失去大部分的視力之后，葛蕾妮絲的人像和景觀攝影作品已經(jīng)得到十個國際獎項，她所拍的一幅照片還從16 000件參賽作品中被選出來參展，入選的作品只有111件。

Since she lost much of her eyesight, Glennis has won ten international awards for her portrait and landscape photography.

眼盲讓葛蕾妮絲無法繼續(xù)原來的人資工作，然而許多偉大的藝術(shù)家，例如莫奈和貝多芬，卻不受身體的障礙所限，在藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域卓然有成，因為他們把障礙當作機會，為自己藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)開發(fā)了全新的方式。

One of her photos was selected from sixteen thousand entries for an exhibition of just 111 works. She's had photos selected for four exhibitions at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado.

葛蕾妮絲充滿感激地告訴我，她最愛的一節(jié)《圣經(jīng)》經(jīng)文是：“因我們行事為人是憑著信心，不是憑著眼見。”[27]

Her blindness would never have allowed Glennis to continue her job in human resources, but many great artists such as Monet and Beethoven thrived despite disabilities because they used them as opportunities to explore their art in new and fresh ways. Grateful, Glennis told me that her favorite Bible verse is now "We live by faith, not by sight."

“事實上，這說的就是我現(xiàn)在的人生， 不過讓我做一點補充。我當然會擔心全盲，那真的非常非常非?？膳?，畢竟這種事也沒有使用手冊可以參考啊。”她說道。

"That literally is my life now. I've had to make adjustments, sure. I worry about being totally blind. It's been very, very scary. There is no manual for this."

葛蕾妮絲走在一條全新的路上，她將此視為禮物，而非生命的瓦解。“我以前是個控制狂，但現(xiàn)在我試著一天一天地過，享受每個當下。”她說，“另外，我為了自己還活著、為了有棲身之所、為了太陽依然照耀而感恩。我不擔心明天，因為我們永遠不知道明天會如何。”

She is on a new path, but instead of seeing it as a disruption in her life, she views it as a gift. "I'd been very controlling before. Now I try to live day to day and enjoy each moment," she said. "I also try to be grateful that I have a roof over my head and I'm alive and the sun is shining and I don't worry about tomorrow because we never know what tomorrow will bring."

葛蕾妮絲真的很棒，是個擁抱機會的人，對吧?她鼓舞了我，而我希望她也激勵了你去尋找并明智地選擇向夢想前進的方法，然后當你的心說“去吧”的時候，請采取行動。

Glennis is a great lady, who embraces opportunity, don't you agree? She inspires me, and I hope she inspires you to look for ways to advance your dreams, choose them wisely, and then act upon them when your heart says "go."