文/李镇西
保罗.卡普尼格罗，1932年生于美国波士顿。在世界摄影史中与安塞尔?亚当斯、爱德华.韦斯顿、保罗.斯特兰德等一系列“纯影派”、“直接摄影”的摄影师被记载于同一时代。“直接摄影”是摄影史中非常重要的一个派别，最早于1917年由美国现代摄影之父阿尔弗雷德.史蒂格里茨提出。史蒂格里茨是纯粹主义摄影的倡导者和摄影分离运动的先驱。保罗.卡普尼格罗是他们中唯一在世的摄影师。同时，也是我们能够见到的老一代“纯影派”风格摄影家中最后一位世界级著名摄影师。
保罗最先跟亚当斯的一个学生本杰明?陈学习摄影，在他认识亚当斯之前，正是本杰明?陈介绍了亚当斯的工艺技术给保罗，即亚当斯所称的“区域曝光”，讲如何使用胶卷、相纸、如何冲洗，会给摄影者带来相当具体的效果。他在此期间看到了本杰明.陈收藏的亚当斯、米诺怀特、韦斯顿等大师的摄影作品。他第一次见到亚当斯的作品就被其深深吸引。在本杰明?陈为米诺怀特举办的告别派对上，认识了亚当斯、米诺怀特等多位摄影大师。随后和米诺怀特学习摄影并一同去很多地方摄影，协助怀特在波特兰和旧金山的工作室教学，还有幸在亚当斯的摄影工作室任教。他说：“我在摄影的道路上很幸运，甚至不用去学校学习摄影，而是直接跟着这些摄影大师一起拍摄，与他们交流，便知道如何继续拍下去。”
保罗的作品受史蒂格里茨、米诺怀特、亚当斯的影响很大。他说：“摄影都不是随意的，而是非常好的技术，米诺怀特会问这张照片的意义是什么？摄影者可以拍美丽的树、美丽的山，米诺怀特更加注意作品的细节，一张可以给摄影者带来感受的照片。史蒂格列茨拍摄白云，他会说这不是拍摄白云，而是表达摄影者对某些事物、甚至某个人的感受。一朵云让史蒂格里茨想起乔治奥基芙，这其中有感受让史蒂格里茨联想到奥基芙。所以他拍的云是关于某个人或拍摄对象的感受。蒂格里茨以云朵和天空作为拍摄对象，传达一个观念。在视觉艺术中，是形式而不是内容在传达情感，心理状态起着关键作用。史蒂格里茨通过光线和阴影的抽象形式传达感受。”保罗不仅注重科学摄影，用科学的技术去直接表达对摄影作品的感受，他还追求灵魂摄影，潜藏在摄影作品背后的灵魂。
音乐是感受的抽象。他自幼喜欢音乐、弹奏钢琴，将音乐的节奏和旋律倾注于凝固的摄影瞬间，在静止的图片里涌现无限的情感。保罗说：“音乐是在我的照片里，不是指在一张真实的照片里，我拍摄静物、自然，它更多的是在颜色和对比以及总体的感受。因此，我的音乐是在我的照片中。”哲学是认知的抽象，哲学是人类智慧的抽象，音乐是人类心灵的抽象。哲学家的思考是冷酷的批判，音乐家的思考是炽烈的歌唱。他曾经对乔治?伊万诺夫的哲学思想很感兴趣，而后他在美国很多地方拍摄了很多照片。正因为他又喜欢音乐，于是他开始研究乔治?伊万诺夫的一个学生廉尼兰的音乐。一个好的哲学体系和一部好的音乐作品一样，都是美的。哲学与音乐的发展都是通向美，它们的终极目的必定是美。保罗将音乐与哲学思想倾注于照片里，去找寻有感受的图景。
我以为灵魂摄影是保罗?卡普尼格罗追寻的一个永恒主题。在他的作品里，无不体现着事物的“灵性”，事物表象背后所收藏的本质。保罗始终在寻找、在发现、在探究，他通过最直接、最纯粹的摄影方式去找“看不见”的作品背后。
他在创造另一种可能，一种用眼睛去“倾听”的可能，去倾听带来的新生事物，去唤醒实物的背后实质。《银河系苹果》看似一个极其普通的苹果，在保罗?卡普尼格罗的摄影里却是一个银河系，他用纯粹地黑白灰去展现一个看似不存在的神秘空间。他将具象的苹果拍成抽象，在无限的宇宙空间里展现光点的律动。他将自然里最真实、最朴实的实物用他的相机去表现一种奇妙的可能。
Dukes edit of: The Creation of a New Possibility
——The Soul Photography of Paul Caponigro
LI Zhenxi
Paul Caponigro is renowned as one of America’s most significant master photographers. Born in Boston in 1932, he is regarded as a fellow artist of the leading figures of “Straight Photography,” or “Pure Photography” in the United States, along with Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Paul Strand.
Straight Photography is a genre of photography of great significance in the world of photography. Stieglitz became its leading proponent in the United States in the early 1900s, influencing Paul Strand, America’s West Coast photographers and Caponigro. Stieglitz was a major advocate of purist photography and led the Photo-Secession movement. He is regarded as the “Father of American Photography.”
Caponigro is the only remaining world-class master of Pure Photography, the last of this generation of great photographers whose works are recognized and admired worldwide.
Caponigro’s photographic career was greatly aided by Benjamin Chinn, a student of Ansel Adams who befriended Caponigro. Chinn introduced Caponigro to the “Zone System,” a technique for determining optimal film exposure and development pioneered by Adams. Because of Caponigro’s already developing personal style, Chinn brought the photographic works of Adams, Minor White and Edward Weston to Caponigro’s attention, greatly impressing the young photographer.
Caponigro first met Adams at a going-away party that Chinn held for White. In ensuing years, Caponigro would work closely with White, whether traveling together or as teacher and student and as colleagues.
Of this era, Caponigro said, “I was very lucky in my journey in photography. I didn’t even need to go to school to learn. Instead, I took photos with these great photographers, and exchanged thoughts with them. Then I knew how to proceed.”
Caponigro’s works were deeply influenced by the great photographers he had come to know and admire.
He said, “Photography is not random or instantaneous. It requires good techniques. Minor White would always ask: ‘What is the meaning of this photo?’ Any photographer could take a photo of beautiful trees and mountains, but Minor cared more about the details of the photos and the feelings they evoked. When Stieglitz took a photo of a cloud, he would say that it was not about the cloud, but the feelings of the photographer about certain persons and things, such as his wife, the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe.”
Caponigro relies on scientific approaches to his photography, which means to use scientific techniques to convey the photographer’s meaning, but the goal is to reflect and express emotions. His photography is soulful, which means to explore the soul that inspires the photos.
Music is an abstraction of feelings. Caponigro loves music and started playing when he was a child. He instills the rhythm of music into a still moment and expresses infinite emotion and feelings into the pictures he takes.
He said, “Music is in my pictures. But it is not in the form of any physical picture. It is in the color and contrast of the pictures and the overall feelings about the pictures.”
Philosophy is an abstraction of human cognition and the wisdom of mankind. Music is a heartfelt abstraction. The philosopher’s mind is filled with cold criticism, but the musician’s is filled with cheerful songs. Caponigro was very interested in the philosophical thoughts of Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff, but he also travelled the United States, taking many photos in his own thoughtful way, developing his own individual spirit. He found a friend in music and philosophy in Gurdjieff follower, Willem Nyland. Both influenced Caponigro’s thoughts and ideas.
Just like a good piece of music, a good philosophical system is also beautiful. The goal of both philosophy and music is beauty. Caponigro combines philosophical and musical thoughts with photography and searches for “views with feelings.”
I believe that soul photography is the eternal theme that Caponigro has been pursuing. All of his works reveal souls and uncover the true nature of hidden things. He has explored and discovered the most direct and purest ways to reveal the hidden meaning behind his photos.
He has created a new possibility: the possibility of “listening with the eyes” and “waking up to the nature of things.” The apple in “Galaxy Apple” appears to be a normal apple, but it becomes something much more in Caponigro’s work. He used simple tones of black, gray and white to create a mysterious and seemingly non-existent space. He turned the apple into an abstract form and made it shine with points of light projecting through the infinite universe.
Caponigro uses his camera to create a wonderful new possibility of presenting the most real and common things in nature in an innovative way.
