【汉译英连载】牛犇东摄影集《中国的大地》8
第八章 南国飞流尽开颜
Chapter 8 Huangguoshu Waterfall—A Natural Tourist Draw in Southwest China
1987年秋天，正值秋水丰盈，黄果树瀑布像一条巨龙从绿荫葱茏的绝壁奔腾而下，吞天化地的洪流腾起一片银白的水幕，在斜照下形成一道美丽的彩虹；跌落深潭仍不息野性的水流越过岩嶂，汇成一道更加宽广曲美的白簾，流入下一级碧潭··· 我把相机机位放得很低以强调水势，彩虹的柔美与飞瀑的壮烈共冶一炉，组成多维度时空交响，激起我内心深处狂波巨澜。
It was the autumn of 1987. Water was overbrimming. Huangguoshu Waterfall poured down a lush green precipice like a huge dragon gulping the universe, splashing up a silvery-white water curtain and carving out a splendid rainbow against the setting sun. Having plunged into a pool, the unbridled torrents tumbled over layers of rocks, converged into a wider curtain, and flowed down to an emerald pool. To highlight the rushing currents, I lowered my camera so that the graceful rainbow and the grand waterfall blended harmoniously into a multidimensional symphony echoing with my inner passion.
说起瀑布, 位处广西大新县中越边境的德天瀑布, 比起闻名于世的黄果树瀑布, 却毫不逊色。然而要拍好她，却非易事。第一次见德天尊容，还是上世纪80年代在北京偶然见到刊登在《人民画报》上她的—幅照片，惊为仙境！90年代移居南方，终于有机会—见芳颜。95年6月，值大雨数天后，瀑布径流大小正巧（过大白茫茫一片；过小氛围惨淡），参差错落有致，游人如鯽。选好合适拍摄点后，便架机等候游人入画场景。可等来等去，整整数小时过去，仍乱不忍睹，按不下快门。时值酷暑，温高气闷，衣衫湿透，然未敢离开半步... 终于功夫不负有心人，一组衣着光鲜，体态有仪的人群移动到画面美妙处，待到她们唱合有形，相对稳定的短暂机会，用二分之—秒的次慢速，终于按下快门。（#08,007图) 如是动中有静，静中有动，动静有序的图景终于完成。德天瀑布事后又去过多次，然再无机会。特别10年后的2005年，《中国摄影》杂志到彼举行风光摄影研讨会。人们发展旅游，到之吃住确乎安逸，然瀑布景观却今非昔比。径流稀松, 却人满为患，河中游船比比... 结果大师高手虽众, 却无可奈何，英雄气短! 翌日便移师明仕田原等地。（#08,005图)
然更有甚者，1986年夏，我冒雨在贵州安顺龙宫洞瀑处用Mamiya RB67 中片幅相机匆匆拍过一幅6X7反转片, （#08,009B图P) 碍于当时器材有限, 心有不甘。 12年后的1998年春，当我信心满满，带着顶尖摄影器材有备而来，殊不知到得现场一看，却叫苦不迭！当年洞口游人行走的颇为优雅浪漫的石磴子变得七零八落，东倒西歪，竟然被近旁一座不伦不类石桥取而代之； 走进洞口张望，原来美妙的洞中天竟被加高的水坝挤成了一条缝（据说是为了提高水位增加游船而为）... 惜哉，痛哉，此景永难再现！
Detian Waterfall in Daxin county, Guangxi province is a strong contender of the world-famous Huangguoshu Waterfall. Bordering China and Vietnam, this waterfall is hard to shoot well. My first encounter with Detian waterfall dates back to the 1980s. Chancing upon a photo of Detian in China Pictorial in Beijing, I was soon addicted to this wondrous waterfall. In the 1990s, I migrated south and saw the waterfall with my own eyes. After days of downpours in June 1995, the curtains, neither too brimmed, nor too bleak, cascaded in a well-arranged manner, attracting streams of tourists. Choosing the proper shooting spot, I set up the camera and waited for frame-in tourists. However, the scene proved disappointing and my shutter remained unclicked for several hours. It was a sweltering summer, and I was drenched in sweat. But I didn’t dare to move. Finally, my persistence paid off. A group of well-dressed people entered my lens decently and was photoed within half a second (#08,007). Sadly, such a mixture of dynamism and quiescence never recurred in my revisits. When Chinese Photography held a landscape photography workshop at Detian Waterfall in 2005, attendees were disappointed at the spoiled scene despite comfortable room and board. The falls were skinny but overcrowded, and the pools were teeming with rafts. In the end, the masters bemoaned and switched to Mingshi countryside the next day (#08,005).
Worse still, back in the summer of 1986, I shot a 6X7 reversal film of Anshun Loong Palace Cae Waterfall in Guizhou province with a Mamiya RB67 in spite of heavy rain (#08,009B). Being poorly equipped, I felt dissatisfied and planned for a second try. However, when I brought a top-notch camera kit to the cave in the spring of 1998 with full confidence, the scene was nothing but an eyesore. The stepping stones at the cave entrance, once elegant and romantic, were scattered here and there and overshadowed by a nondescript stone bridge nearby. Inside the cave, the once intriguing thread of sky was squeezed into a slit because of raised water level to increase rafts, which would be irreversible forever. What a pity!
