同为日本的世界顶级摄影大师，杉本博司与荒木经惟两人的作品常被放到一起比较。对于二人的不同，杉本博司在北京中央美术学院的座谈中谈到：“荒木都是拍摄活色生香的美人裸体，而我拍摄的东西都是安静的东西。”

杉本博司的作品初看让人觉得乏善可陈，无论是长曝光的海面亦或是废弃的戏剧舞台，都让人摸不着头脑。对此，杉本博司这样说：“没有快门装置的人类之眼，必定只能够适应长时间曝光。从落地的那一刻起，到临终躺在床上闭眼那刻止，人类眼睛的曝光时间就只有这一次。”所以杉本博司穷其一生寻找通过时间考验的美丽，于是他找到了大海，因为他相信故人看到的大海和今人看到的相同；他拍摄废弃的剧院，因为他从中可以拍摄初经过时间洗礼的美丽。在理解了这一切之后，站在杉本博司的作品前，你会感到一种难以言喻的虚无与安静。

而比起冷静理性的杉本博司，荒木经惟的作品就多了几分人味。他的作品既有对时间流逝下对那些转瞬即逝的美的捕捉，更有对自己生活的反省。他把自己的生活融入了艺术创作，他拍摄他的亡妻，拍摄小怪兽，拍摄捆绑的女人，拍摄花蕊。他明白，对于时间的流逝，人是无能为力的，有关他亡妻的作品中看似美好的场景，当你明白照片背后的故事，就明白了每次按下快门对他的意义：时间流逝无法停止，唯有记录才能永存。有些作品中的那些小怪兽不正是我们同年的玩伴，随着我们成长，他们也便消失在了我们的生活中吗？

我一直认为摄影术在以前被视作巫术是不无道理的，当然我更愿将它看成一种魔法。它将人的某一瞬间定格，你永远无法回到照片中的那一刻，但是那一刻却永远被记录了下来，时间在这时已经不是一种单纯的单位，而是一种强烈的视觉冲击。不同的时刻观看也会带来不同的感受。人们通过照片追忆时光，记录时间，感受时间的存在。

Hiroshi Sugimoto and Araki Nobuyoshi

The Legend of Time 

As fellow first-class photographers in the world, Araki Nobuyoshi and Hiroshi Sugimoto are often put into juxtaposition for their works. About their differences, Hiroshi Sugimoto once said in a forum held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, “Araki takes photos of sensual nudes of beauties while I prefer peaceful things.”


The works of Hiroshi Sugimoto appear to be bland at first glance. May it be a long exposure of the surface of sea or an abandoned theater stage, it makes people confused. For this matter, Hiroshi Sugimoto responds with “human eyes, without a shutter, are made to accommodate solely to long time exposure. From the moment we are born to our final breath—this process is the only exposure that human eyes have.” Therefore, Hiroshi Sugimoto spends his whole life looking for beauty that stands the test of time. He found the sea, because he believes that the sea people saw in the past and the one we see today are the same; he frames an abandoned theater, because within it he can capture the fairness that endures time. If you’ve learnt about all these things, you will feel a sense of unspeakable nothingness and silence. 



Compared with the calmness of Hiroshi Sugimoto, Araki Nobuyoshi’s works have more human nature in them. There is the moment of fleeting beauty through the drift of time and also the self-reflection of his own life. He blends his own living into the creation of arts by taking pictures of his deceased wife, little monsters, women in bondage, and pistols. He understands that men are helpless with the passing of time.

After learning about the story behind the seemingly happy photo of his deceased wife, you will realize the meaning of every time the shutter is pressed; to him time is unstoppable and only the recording of it can last forever. Aren’t the little monsters our childhood campaigns, which disappear in our life when we grow up?

I always see reason in the old belief of photography being a kind of witchcraft, though I prefer to see it as a form of magic. It freezes a fleeting instant of someone that can never be returned yet it is forever documented. Time is not merely a measurement in the context of photography, but a powerful, almost tangible visual impact. Different moments bring different feelings. Through photos we recollect time, record time and feel its existence in this world.