War Photographer's Notebook

From afternoon to dusk, the three Wei Ran people who put on windbreakers mingled among a group of old cosplayers wearing military uniforms from various countries during World War II and carrying various antique weapons on their backs. They almost walked from stall to stall.

When the sun went down, the small stall that the three of them had been paying attention to finally lit up with two kerosene lamps.

"Come over and see what treasures there are!"

Before Suisui finished speaking, she had already pulled Wei Ran with one hand and Lu Xinda with the other. They stepped on the mud on the ground and surrounded them with some old guys who seemed to know something about the situation in the freezing rain that didn't stop.

In such a short time, the stall that originally had only a dozen kerosene lamps of various types and only one side to welcome customers, now not only has all the kerosene lamps hanging above the head, but also turned into a "cabinet sister" standing in the middle Open on all sides.

However, just by looking at the appearance and clothes of the cabinet sisters and cabinet brothers, Suisui and Wei Ran, who were running over through the mud, could tell at a glance that the person running this oil lamp stall most likely had a not-so-good reputation. of gypsies.

“Gypsies again”

Suisui mumbled something vaguely in Chinese. No wonder she had such an attitude. Last year, when they went to an island in the Volga River to celebrate the New Year together as a group, they were missed by the gypsies.

Although Suisui doesn't have a good impression of this carefree, slow and romantic nation as a whole, you can tell by looking at the old guys around who are used to carrying Enfields, Mausers and even Garands and Mosin-Nagants on their backs. This small stall selling stolen goods is probably a reserved item for this kind of activity.

When the three of them got closer, they immediately noticed that the items sold on all four sides of the stall were different.

The side farthest from the three of them sells items such as mobile phones, computers, watches, cameras, and even large-size LCD TVs. At the same time, that side is also the side with the most people.

The row of stalls on the left sell things such as pots, pans, coffee pots, tea sets, vases, candlesticks, and small musical instruments.On the right hand side, they sell a variety of jewelry of unknown authenticity and origin, as well as brand-name clothes, shoes and bags.

There is no doubt that there are also many people at the stalls on both sides, and the transaction rate and transaction speed are far higher than those at the opposite stall.

But the stall where Wei Ran and the three people came together was more than half empty. Except for the three of them, the others who came around were all old guys who looked to be over 60 years old.

As for the things displayed on the stalls, they are mostly old books, records, tapes, film cameras, various film negatives and even old photos and albums.

Even Lu Xinda, who was hired by Jia Ya last year, knew that Wei Ran would probably not move away from a stall like this for a while, and she and Suisui were not familiar with the second-hand goods on the other three stalls. Huo really didn't have much interest, so he simply didn't move. Like Wei Ran, he looked through the photo albums with unknown origins but with a lot of traces of time with the same interest.

"Have we been to this place?" Not long after, Lu Xinda asked curiously, pointing to the black and white photos in the album she had opened.

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Suisui both looked over.The photo that Cinda pointed at was a shot of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses pit. They had just visited during the Chinese New Year, so the little girl was naturally very impressed.

Unfortunately, as Lu Xinda flipped through the pages, there was only one sign of China in this large photo album, or one that could be recognized as China.

Perhaps out of the fate of having been to the same place, Lu Xinda not only bought the photo at a high price of two pounds, but also spent an extra pound to buy the young man with dreadlocks but holding a child. The female stall owner helped her seal the old black and white photo.

Seeing that the girl had gained something, Wei Ran and Suisui looked at each other and smiled, then they each withdrew their gazes and continued to look at the photo albums in their hands.

As the photo albums were flipped through, when Wei Ran once again picked up an album that was the size of an A4 paper and five or six centimeters thick and opened it, he discovered that this time it was not a photo album, but a book with a lot of mold remaining. Film album.

Each of these albums made of transparent plastic holds a total of 8 negatives in five horizontal and eight rows.

After asking the shop owner through Lu Xinda's translator and getting permission, Wei Ran took out a tablet for watching dramas from Suisui's bag, opened WeChat's pure white chat window, and then set the screen to always on Use it as a background for viewing these negatives, and carefully examine the small square film.

However, as he browsed through the pages, Wei Ran's face, which was just passing the time, became a little serious.

But just for a moment, he returned to his nonchalant look.He compared the photo album in his hand and searched the stall to no avail. Then he waved to the stall owner.

"Xinda, ask this shopkeeper how much this book costs." Wei Ran said in smooth Chinese.

When Lu Xinda, who had just traded photos with the stall owner and got a free French fries for her sweet talk, translated the question, the stall owner with dreadlocks just glanced at it casually and used her belt. He said in English with a slight accent, "150 pounds. They found this book together. If you want to buy it together, two copies are only 250 pounds."

Picking up a photo album pointed by the stall owner and taking a look at it, Wei Ran waited for Lu Xinda to translate the stall owner's words back, then stacked it with the album of negatives in his arms, and then counted out 250 The pound was handed over.

The deal was reached extremely smoothly. Wei Ran waited until the stall owner helped him wrap the two booklets together with newspapers and wide tape, and put them into an extra canvas handbag and handed them over, then he said casually, "Xinda, ask him again, where did he buy these photo albums? Yes, where did he buy them from?"

“Eastbourne”

The stall owner holding the child answered the question without any concealment, and then proactively added as if he was afraid that Wei Ran and others would not know where this place was, "It's the largest town in East Sussex. At that time, there were a lot of beachgoers there.”

After hearing this, Wei Ran politely thanked Lu Xinda, took the things he bought, greeted Suisui and walked out.

"Did you find something good?" Suisui caught up and asked excitedly in her native language in a lowered voice.

"Probably." Wei Ran nodded imperceptibly, "We'll wait until we find a hotel to stay at tonight. Don't let Henry notice what he bought."

Hearing this, Suisui immediately wisely shut her mouth. At the same time, she also subconsciously felt that Wei Ran looked like her father, Professor Alexei, who used to buy Soviet Union at the market by Chacha Lake. What it looked like when you bought the relics of the Soviet Red Army for the price of rubles.

On the other hand, Lu Xinda, this little girl was still concentrating on enjoying the French fries given by the gypsy female stall owner, but she was not very interested in the treasure Wei Ran bought.

Almost at the same time that the small stall with more than a dozen oil lamps lit was blocked by other tents and World War II military vehicles, Mr. Henry's call came from the walkie-talkie in Wei Ran's pocket - the auction was about to begin.

"Are you still going to the auction?" Suisui asked Wei Ran. The girl couldn't wait to see what treasures he had found.

"Aren't you going?" Wei Ran asked with a smile. He also wanted to quickly look through the photo album he just bought.

"Then I won't go. It's too cold here, and the auction is too expensive." Suisui opened her mouth and found a good reason.

Now that they had made a decision, the three drama queens quickened their pace, hugging their shoulders and getting into Henry's tent.

No need to be reminded, the little girl Lu Xinda squatted beside the wood stove, warming herself by the fire, shivering to express that after the three of them went out for a walk, they felt it was too cold, so they did not go to the auction.

"You young people are too lacking in physical exercise."

Henry, the fat man who obviously lacked the most exercise, patted his beer belly with swelling waves, casually put on a World War II British Navy woolen coat and said, "In this case, you can stay and help me guard the tent. There are enough people in the carriage. There is firewood, if you want to warm up quickly, go inside and find a bottle of your favorite wine to have a drink, but don’t be polite."

After saying that, without waiting for Cinda Lu to help translate, Henry called to the black boy Robert, pulled a camper van and left the warm tent.

Watching the two of them go away on tiptoe, Lu Xinda immediately put down the tent door, and even untied the small curtain attached to the ventilation window on the tent door and attached the Velcro around the window.

By the time she was prompted by belated curiosity, she pulled up a chair and sat down next to Wei Ran and Suisui. Wei Ran had already torn apart the newspapers and tapes used as packaging, and couldn't wait to open the pages he cared about most. That album of negatives.

"What treasure did you see?" Suisui asked curiously, and her big expectant eyes followed Wei Ran's movements and landed on the album.

"You'll find out later"

Wei Ran was not in a hurry to explain. He just asked for the tablet to light up the screen and put it under the film, flipping through the pages.

The content of the first dozen pages is quite normal. It basically records the scenery across the UK, as well as a middle-aged woman with a slightly plump figure, wearing an apron and holding various delicacies in her hands, and her family.

But when he turned to the middle part, what was recorded in the negatives turned into some slightly "obscene" photos.

These photos that are "not allowed to be broadcast by television stations" range from shots that look like staged shots to moments that look like they were captured at random.

Regardless of whether they were posing or taking a snapshot, the "old couple" Wei Ran and Suisui naturally didn't feel any embarrassment, but the little girl Lu Xinda was already blushing with embarrassment at this time, and she didn't know whether she should turn her head over. Take the melon back.

If you don’t accept it, doesn’t that mean you still want to see it?

But if he takes it back, doesn’t it mean he saw it?

Just when the little girl fell into a subtle embarrassment, she did not expect that Wei Ran, a big gangster, actually took out his mobile phone and turned on the camera function, pointed at one of the negatives and enlarged it.

By the time she reacted, Wei Ran had already "clicked" and took a particularly clear photo of the film that was illuminated by the tablet screen!

"What are you doing? There are children here."

Suisui patted Wei Ran angrily and asked in a particularly disgusting manner, "Isn't the baby you are looking for just these obscene films?"

"Obscene films?"

Wei Ran smiled, then pulled out the photo he had just taken and handed it to Suisui, "Do you know who the man in this photo is?"

Hearing this, Suisui took the phone and took a look.

In this photo, there is a man with slightly sparse hair. When this photo was taken, he was holding a cigarette in one hand and holding a slender woman with a half-naked upper body in his other hand. He used his hand to "kindly" help her. He looked at the woman and covered a big lamp on her chest. At the same time, as if accidentally, she clamped the lamp bead of the big lamp with her other hand as if she were holding a cigarette. The headlight undergoes physical elastic deformation.

And although the woman being held in the arms only showed less than a third of her face in the film, one of her hands covered the other big light on her chest in the same posture. , and the other hand seems to be holding a camera for taking selfies.

"Is this old gangster famous?" Suisui asked curiously.

"Famous? Of course he is famous!"

Wei Ran said without any pause, "The old gangster you are talking about is Max Ernst."

"Max Ernst? Who is he?" Suisui asked with a confused look on his face.

"A French painter and sculptor"

Wei Ran continued to browse the negatives carefully and introduced, "He is also the soul of Dadaism and Surrealism."

"So this person is famous?"

Suisui asked again with increasing confusion. Although she was legally considered a "European" with Russian nationality, firstly, Russia was "too far" from Europe, and secondly, she was also "too far" from Russia.

So she didn't know the bad things and people in Europe as well as she remembered the various monsters in Journey to the West.

"Of course he is famous," Wei Ran simply raised his head and explained, "This is equivalent to the Leonardo da Vinci of Surrealism."

As soon as these words were spoken, even Lu Xinda, who was a little embarrassed at first, raised her head and glanced at the negative photo on the screen of her mobile phone.

The reason why Wei Ran recognized this person at a glance was really thanks to those art training courses at Hongqi Forest Farm.It was precisely because of those seemingly useless courses that he took the phone away from Suisui without turning the page, zoomed in on the two negatives again and took a photo of each.

“These two are even more remarkable”

Wei Ran handed the phone to Suisui again, and this time, even Lu Xinda came forward curiously.

In the first photo, a beautiful woman, almost naked, is sitting on the lap of a man in formal attire. She holds the man's back with one hand, and holds a big light on her chest with her other hand. When it reached the man's mouth, a wide collar was tied around her own neck.

The straight chain on the collar passed through the tulle she was wearing, and was pulled straight by the man's hand hidden behind the tulle, forcing her to raise her head, revealing a look full of expectation. and enjoy the exquisite profile.

In the second photo, there are several men sitting around a long table under a tree. The man facing the camera is squeezing the headlights of a topless woman next to him. The woman reached out to hook the man's neck, and stuck out her tongue to seem to be licking the man's earlobe. One of her hands had even grasped the man's gear lever through his pants.

Opposite this man, two other men and a woman who was also naked from the waist up were smiling, as if they were looking forward to what this man and woman would do in front of them.

"You're not an adult yet, don't look around."

Suisui reached out and pushed Lu Xinda's little head aside. At the same time, she turned to Wei Ran and asked, "Isn't there a celebrity in these two pictures?"

"The man in the first negative is Man Ray, an artist in the same genre as Max Ernst."

Seeing that Suisui and the red-faced Lu Xinda looked confused, Wei Ran simply continued, "You must know the man who is busy in the second picture."

"Who is it?" Suisui asked subconsciously.

"Picasso"

"Who?!"

Suisui couldn't help but exclaimed. She didn't understand the Max Ernst and the slow and fast thunder just now, but she knew about Picasso.Not only her, but also Lu Xinda's eyes widened.

“Really Picasso”

Wei Ran replied seriously, "And I'm sure that the person who took the second photo was a woman, or more accurately, a woman who was also naked from the waist down."

"Why?" Suho asked subconsciously.

"How many men are there in the second photo?"

"Three," Suisui replied after looking down at the phone screen.

"Where's the woman?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"Both of them, both topless."

After Suisui said this, she also showed a look of realization. Indeed, without being perverted, three men and two women were not enough. Three men and three women were slightly more reasonable.

Moreover, two women are naked, and the other woman hiding behind the camera cannot really be dressed appropriately.

"Is it possible that the person taking the photo is a man?"

Lu Xinda subconsciously expressed her bold guess, but immediately after, the little girl added awkwardly, "That! Pretend I didn't say anything!"

"Yes"

Suisui echoed as if she was helping the underage girl cover up her embarrassment, "It could also be a male photographer. Four boys and two girls would be enough."

"Hey, hey, there is a child here."

Wei Ran stopped the other party's sarcastic remarks and said with increasing certainty, "The person who took this photo is a woman, and she is a very beautiful woman with short hair."

"Where did you see it?"

Suisui couldn't help but look at the photos on the screen again, and then looked at the photo album held in Wei Ran's hand.

"I saw another photo of the same scene, the same characters, but with different actions."

Wei Ran explained with a normal expression, "That photo is relatively subtle, but that's just relative. You should still be naked."

"Where did you see it?" Suisui asked.

"You can see it everywhere, you can just search it on the Internet. The beautiful woman who took this photo is a very famous and very controversial photographer."

Wei Ran said and took the phone again, searching while replying, "The reason why I just decided to buy this photo album was because I saw this familiar but different photo."

"Who is this beautiful female photographer you are talking about?" Suisui asked while taking out her mobile phone and opening the search engine.

"The most beautiful woman in France" Wei Ran deliberately pretended to be secretive while rummaging through the pictures he found.

"Sophie Marceau!" Lu Xinda replied subconsciously.

"Sophie Marceau?"

Wei Ran smiled and shook his head, "It's not her. In terms of age, the person I'm talking about is almost old enough to be Sophie Marceau's grandmother."

"Stop being so pretentious, who is it?" Suisui glared at Wei Ran impatiently.

"Lee Miller, or Elizabeth Miller."

Wei Ran showed the searched pictures to Suisui and gave the answer at the same time, "This Miss Li has maintained entangled and ambiguous relationships with many very famous surrealist artists, and is also the muse recognized by these artists. Si. Of course, she was also the most beautiful woman in France at that time."

"What is a muse?" Lu Xinda asked blankly.

"The muse is"

Wei Ran thought for a while, "For artists, she is a goddess who brings creative inspiration, which is different from and higher than models."

"Is that how inspiration comes?" Lu Xinda pointed to the photo album in Wei Ran's hand with a look of disgust, "Artists are so shameless."

"This is the difference between artists and hooligans. Artists can always give beautiful and high-sounding excuses to all kinds of absurd hooliganism. By this standard, the United States is a great artist."

Suisui returned Wei Ran's phone and took over the conversation. The photo that Wei Ran just found through the Internet was indeed exactly the same as the people on the film. The only difference was exactly as he said. It's just relatively less explicit. The word "relative" should be bolded.

"That's right"

Wei Ran agreed mindlessly, "But compared to these chaotic relationships, the most famous thing about Miss Li is that she took a bath in Mustache's bathtub."

"She also had an affair with Mustache?!" Suisui's eyes widened.

"It's not"

While Wei Ran answered, he also turned back a page in the film album in his hand, placed the tablet underneath and continued to browse the films. At the same time, he kept explaining, "This Miss Li was originally one of those artists. Their model turned photographer, but after the start of World War II, D-Day to be precise, she became a war photographer working for the United States.

On the Western Front battlefield, she took many surrealist battlefield photos. Especially after the capture of Munich, Ms. Li specially took a bubble bath in the bathtub of the apartment where Mustache once lived, and A famous anti-war photo was taken. "

"How do you know this woman so well?"

Suisui asked deliberately with a smile. She was not jealous, but based on her understanding of Wei Ran, it was impossible for this historian to remember so many famous artists - he didn't have that many artistic germs on his body. .

"On the way back just now, I searched through this album to confirm it."

Wei Ran answered very frankly that the only thing he remembered was actually the photo of Picasso and his friends having a silver party. This photo appeared more than once in the art training class at Hongqi Forest Farm.

"Are there any interesting photos later?"

Suisui looked at Lu Xinda who was snickering as if this was the case, and then focused her attention again on the photo album held by Wei Ran.

Compared with the "art" of the artists on the previous page, the negatives on this page seem to be all street scenes of British cities that were bombed during World War II.

The difference is that in these frozen building ruins, where the camera focuses, there is always Lee Miller, who is well-dressed, moves elegantly, and fully displays his feminine charm.

This beautiful, delicate and angelic woman with short hair seems to want to use her full feminine charm to defeat this cruel war.

Really good shot
Wei Ran muttered to himself that he had taken a few days of photography and composition lessons from Kirov's one-armed veteran Leva.So he can naturally tell the good from the bad, and he can also see what the photographer behind the lens wants to express in some photos.

But as he continued to turn back, he was stunned. On this page of negatives, there was a large area of ​​dried stains that seemed to have been smeared by someone, whether it was oil paint, sauce, feces, or blood.Even in the middle of the stain, there is a palm print with a roughly complete outline.

After looking at each other and Suisui, Wei Ran carefully turned back one, two, or three pages.However, the subsequent negative albums were all artificially stained, and even several of the transparent plastic album pages were stuck together with stains, so that he did not dare to tear them apart rashly. .

Looking at Suisui again, Wei Ran wisely closed the photo album and picked up the extra photo album he bought.

However, after just turning a few pages, even Lu Xinda could tell that the two photo albums had nothing to do with each other.

Except for the first few photos in this photo album, the album is quite normal. The color photos at the back all record a person who looks to be in his 50s or [-]s. He has a bloated body and only his back and part of his face can be seen, but he is wearing stockings and women's underwear. An old man and a thin blond boy were busy cosplaying a photo of "a grasshopper on a stick".

"Is this also an artist?"

Suisui and Lu Xinda frowned and covered their mouths in unison. The two girls were obviously disgusted.

"No, this is not even a gangster." Wei Ran, who was also disgusted, closed the photo album with a snap, "This is a pervert that is a specialty of Britain."