War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 650 Two Group Photos in the Darkroom
On the second day after arriving in Kirov, Wei Ran left the hotel where he was staying early, and drove a rented van to the entrance of Leva's camera shop.

This time, Ji Ma didn't come with him. Although there was still nearly a week before Ji Ma's class, he was left behind by Gorman to capture the young man.

While waiting patiently, Leva left the camera shop with his strong, pig-like Caucasian dog, and walked upstream along the river bank.

Wei Ran was not in a hurry to get out of the car, he simply put down the back of the seat and patiently waited until the other party came back from walking the dog, and then opened the door to say hello.

"Have you been waiting for a long time?" Leva asked with a smile.

"Just arrived..." Wei Ran lied nonchalantly, and followed the other party into the shop.

I didn't see it for just one night, but the shelves on both sides of the store were much empty, and replaced by an old-fashioned wooden suitcase placed next to the counter.

"Move it to your car"

After sending the Caucasus into the inner room, Leva handed Wei Ran the camera that Wei Ran sent for repair yesterday, "Do you like to take pictures of people or scenery?"

"It's mainly people." Wei Ran picked up the heavy wooden suitcase and said ambiguously as he walked out, "I will also take some pictures of the scenery."

"Black and white film?"

"right"

Hearing this, Leva directly picked up a canvas satchel on the counter, walked out and said, "You will be in charge of my meals for the whole day today, and you can only buy film for practice from me. Correspondingly, I will Teach you some tricks. Fair trade, right?"

“It's really fair”

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already pushed the wooden box into the trunk of the van, picked up a leather backpack and handed it to Leva, "This is a gift for you."

"What?" Leva asked curiously, but he was not in a hurry to take it, but turned around and walked into the shop again.

"A camera, of course, with matching lenses."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, Leva had put down the tripod he had just picked up, curiously took the camera bag and put it on the counter, unzipped the zipper and took out a nearly brand new champagne-colored camera with a wooden handle.

"This is Fuji TX-1"

Leva recognized the model of this camera at a glance, "Or it can also be called Hasselblad Xpan, Victor, how much did you pay for it?"

"About 600,000 rubles. This is a collector's inventory. According to him, it has only been used once after buying it, and most of the rest of the time it is placed in the cabinet."

At the same time that Wei Ran responded, he sent the tripod that the other party had just put down into the car. Since Mr. Dalia agreed to let him come to Leva to learn how to use the old camera, he bought this expensive camera from the Internet Ready to take as a gift.

"This is a good machine for taking pictures of landscapes." Leva fumbled to find out the battery and put it on. "Are you going to give it to me?"

"As long as you are willing to accept it, it is yours."

Wei Ran said indifferently, no matter what, this old guy is considered a friend of Teacher Dalia, so this gift is not expensive in his opinion.

"I have never received such an expensive gift"

Leva muttered to himself, took out two extra lenses from his bag and admired them, "I've wanted to get such a wide-format camera for a long time, Victor, you really know how to choose gifts .”

"Keep it if you like it." Wei Ran said with a smile, "I'm not interested in taking pictures of scenery."

"Wait until I load it with a box of movie rolls"

As Leva said, he took out a plastic box from the counter, took out two film rolls from it miserly, put one of them into the camera, and changed another lens conveniently.

Waiting for the one-armed old man to put the camera on his neck, the two got into the car one by one.

"Where are we going next?" Wei Ran started the car while asking.

"Go to the train station. It's a nice view and you can see all kinds of people."

Leva raised his finger and pointed in the direction, "You can drive along this road, let's go there to take pictures."

Naturally, Wei Ran had no objection, simply stepped on the accelerator, and drove the car along the cracked road.

I don’t know if that expensive gift played a role. Throughout the morning, Leva not only carefully guided Wei Ran to try out the dozens of old-fashioned cameras in the wooden suitcase, but also talked about how to compose pictures , How to express the character's temperament, and even the knowledge of what type of photos are more suitable for different cameras and different frame ratios.

Even during lunch time, this old guy who has infinite enthusiasm for taking pictures but is extremely stingy when pressing the shutter, did not forget to let Wei Ran experience the need to make pictures indoors and outdoors, as well as in the sun and shade. workaround.

With the careful explanation in the morning, in the afternoon, Wei Ran became more and more adept at comprehending by analogy.

In the afternoon, one of the two took pictures of the passengers walking in or out of the train station, and the other was obsessed with taking pictures of the surrounding scenery.The only difference is that one is young and doesn't hesitate to press the shutter, and the one who is old cherishes the limited negatives even more.

Until Leva used the camera Wei Ran sent him to take pictures of the Kirov Railway Station shrouded in the setting sun.He just ended his whole day of shooting, "Okay, it's time for us to go back, and then we will develop all the photos taken today."

"Is it going to be washed out today?" Wei Ran was stunned, he didn't expect that there would be such a thing.

"Pressing the shutter is at best half the job"

Kirov got into the van involuntarily, "Of course, today you can only print out the ones you took with that Countess and your dual-reflex camera, and the rest of the film in the cameras is not used up yet. , so don’t rush to wash it out.”

Hearing this, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief, and drove back to Leva's photo studio.Under the leadership of this old guy, he also came to the second floor of this camera store for the first time.

Compared with the downstairs storefront, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room and even the garage, the second floor has a lot less fireworks.

In a living room about the size of the storefront downstairs, the only furniture is a large table and a single bed.

The surrounding walls are covered with photo frames of various sizes. Some of the photos in these photo frames are people, some are landscapes, but most of them are the little girl named Yana whom I met yesterday, and the most likely It was Leva photographed by Yana.

In Leva's lens, Yana is innocent and lovely.However, in the photos suspected to be taken by Yana, the one-armed old man is playing a variety of images, ranging from a grimace with a cat's beard to a pirate wearing a black eye patch and a fake hand with iron hooks. .

"All of these were taken by Yana?" Wei Ran asked with great interest.

"right"

Leva pointed to a photo frame and said proudly, "That was the first photo Yana took of me. She was only four years old at that time. Since then, she has come here to accompany me every week. Zhou also took at least two photos of me."

Looking in the direction of the other's finger, Wei Ran couldn't help but burst out laughing. This photo was obviously blurry due to overexposure due to poor focus, but even so, it was barely recognizable that the photo was of Lie who was leading the Caucasus. watt.

"This one was taken by her last week"

Leva took Wei Ran to another direction, pointed to the photo frame that was also hanging on the wall and said, "She will definitely be an excellent photographer in the future!"

"This little guy is really talented"

Wei Ran then praised, this photo captures the silhouette of Leva fishing by the river, the splash of the salmon lifted by the fishing line, the crystal saliva dripping from the corner of the squatting Caucasian mouth and the slightly open mouth, As well as the smile on Leva's face dyed golden by the setting sun, they are all frozen in this immature photo.

"I'm going to take this photo in the name of Yana to participate in a photography competition. I guess she will get a good result."

"Unless the judges are blind"

Wei Ran echoed sincerely, and asked curiously as he followed the other party into one of the rooms, "What do Yana's parents do?"

"They are all employees of the Lepse Electric Locomotive Works"

Leva turned on the light in the room, and said while pulling the heavy black shade curtain, "Okay, you can develop the photos yourself, you don't need my help?"

"No, I can do it myself"

Wei Ran responded, but did not act in a hurry, but looked at the photos and maps hanging on the walls on both sides of the room.

"Street Fighting in Grozny"

Leva glanced at the map hanging on the wall, and explained in a flat tone, "That's where I lost my arm."

"Brigade 131?"

Wei Ran asked, pointing to the photo next to the map. In this photo, 11 soldiers wearing Afghani cards were smiling and holding various weapons in their arms.More than half of the soldiers had cigarettes in their mouths.

And behind them as the background is a BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle. On the side of this infantry combat vehicle, the unique logo of the 131st Brigade is painted with white paint-a large square frame is surrounded by a small square frame in the lower left corner .

But most importantly, the one holding the SVD sniper rifle on the right side of the photo seems to be Leva in his youth.

"Yes, Brigade 131."

Leva responded dryly, took out various potions for developing photos from the cabinet, and then took out the film from the camera that Wei Ran gave him and put it on the table, "I will leave it to you, I will prepare for dinner."

Before the words fell, the old guy opened the door and left, obviously not intending to discuss this topic in depth.

Glancing in the direction of the door, Wei Ran turned his gaze back to the wall, and looked at the second group photo above.

In this group photo, Leva is still wearing a set of Afghan cards, but there is no weapon on his body.

And on his left, a few meters away, there was a man who had lost his legs and was sitting in a wheelchair with numb eyes.

There was no infantry chariot behind these two people, but around them and in the middle of them, there were two rows of nine chairs neatly arranged.

After comparing the two group photos, Wei Ran secretly sighed, whether it was Leva or the soldier in the wheelchair, they all appeared in the last group photo.

But the nine chairs in the second group photo imply that among the 11 people who took the photo together, only two of them survived.

"Among those 11 people, there might be teacher Dalia's husband." Wei Ran sighed secretly, turned around and started developing the photos.

When he walked out of the dark room again, the sky outside the window was completely dark. After hearing the harsh "squeak" sound when the door opened, Leva downstairs immediately called out, "Come down for dinner." Come on, come and have a drink with me!"

"immediately!"

Wei Ran took a last look at the maps and photos hanging on the wall of the darkroom, and then walked back to the first floor.

"Wait for me in the restaurant first"

Leva pointed to the room with lights on and said, "I'll go to the cellar to get a bottle of wine, and I'll have a drink with me later."

"Do you need me to help you?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

Leva pointed to the stairwell where the Caucasus was tied and joked, "The entrance to the cellar is just under its blanket, and you can get in just by lifting it."

"Forget it, I'll go to the restaurant and wait for you." Wei Ran simply turned his head and walked towards the restaurant.

Leva smiled complacently, and drove the strong and ugly Caucasian aside, lifted the blanket and the wooden boards underneath, stepped on the ladder and slowly drilled into the cellar, while the Caucasian sat on the buttocks. He walked to the side of the cellar entrance, like a dutiful guard, looking vigilantly at Wei Ran who was peeking through the door of the restaurant.

After a while, Leva brought up a small basket full of it, and the Caucasian who was familiar with the way put it aside with the basket in his mouth, and then bit the belt in Leva's hand, pulling him out with ease. .

"I just realized that Caucasus is so smart." Wei Ran, who was hiding in the restaurant, slightly increased his volume.

"They have big heads and certainly not small brains, so isn't it normal for them to be so smart?"

While responding, Leva didn't forget to touch the furry dog's head, and then closed the door of the cellar.By the time he bent down to pick up the basket, the caucasian had already sprawled on the blanket.

"I also raised one, it's only this big." Wei Ran gestured for the size with his hand, and then took the basket from the opponent's hand.

"It was the same size when I bought it back"

Leva smiled, took out a bottle of Roman's dusty vodka from the basket in Wei Ran's hand, wiped it with a towel and handed it to Wei Ran.

Taking advantage of Wei Ran's effort to unscrew the bottle cap, he also took out a small stainless steel pot covered with frost from the freezer section of the refrigerator. Inside this small pot was a stainless steel ingot the size of a bar of soap.

After taking the wine bottle that Wei Ran had just unscrewed, Lieva filled the cold jug, then put the empty bottle away, and pointed to the cans in the basket.

Is this old thing taking me for a can opener?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, unscrewed a can of pickled cucumbers, a can of tomatoes, a can of foie gras and a can of sardines one after another, and finally opened a tin can, put the piece of fat that was the size of a remote control inside The pork was taken out and sliced ​​into thin slices with a knife poked on the table.

And after such a short time, Leva had already filled the glasses of the two with vodka with the small cold stainless steel pot, and drank a glass first.

Apart from the five cans that the old guy prepared for dinner, the rest was roasted and sliced ​​Da Lieba, and a large pot of red wine with passion. Vegetable soup.

"Do you usually eat this?" Wei Ran dug out a piece of foie gras and spread it on the slice of bread, then picked up two sardines and a pickled cucumber and put it on top, and then took a hard bite.

“Usually I seldom cook”

Leva picked up the cup and touched Wei Ran, drank it with a breath, and then sniffed the pickles on the plate, and then said with satisfaction, "I usually go to the bakery next door to eat, But I can't entertain friends at other people's houses, can I?"

"It makes sense"

Wei Ran put down his glass and heaved a sigh of relief, took another bite of the bread slice in his hand, then poured wine for the two of them and said vaguely, "Is there any good restaurant in Kirov? I'll invite you from tomorrow you."

"Then it's settled"

Lieva had already picked up the cup while speaking, "It's rare to meet a young man like you, and I won't be polite to you."

"You should be lucky to meet a Chinese talent."

Wei Ran clinked a glass with the other party again, and after drinking it down, he joked, "Food is as attractive to Chinese people as medals are to Brezhnev."

"That's not the same, it's okay for you Chinese people's food to accidentally fall on the ground"

Leva also drank the vodka in the glass in one gulp, "But if Brezhnev's medal falls on the ground, not only will there be an earthquake in Moscow, even the penguins in Antarctica will fall."

"I can't help it, he has too many medals and they are too heavy." Wei Ran spread his hands in a serious manner, followed by the old and the young in the restaurant and laughed tacitly.

Using timeless Soviet jokes to eliminate the last trace of unfamiliarity at the dinner table, the two also extended farther and farther on the topic of cameras and taking pictures.

"Leva, you must have been a war correspondent before, right?"

Wei Ran, who had already drunk a few glasses of wine, threw a piece of greasy fat pig's head into his mouth, and asked with his tongue out, "I saw the group photo of the two in the darkroom."

"I'm not a reporter"

Leva, who was also a little too drunk, shook his mutilated right arm, "I was a sniper when I still had a palm on this arm."

"Are you a sniper?" Wei Ran hiccupped, "I thought those two group photos were taken by you."

"The person who took the first group photo has died in Grozny"

Leva took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Seeing this, Wei Ran randomly took out one from the cigarette pack handed over by the other party and put it in his mouth. Then he took out a kerosene lighter and tried several times before he successfully lit the flame. , staggeringly leaned in front of Leva.

As the light blue smoke drifted and enveloped the fluorescent tube above his head, Leva sighed and said, "The person who took the second group photo is also dead, and his heart is dead."

Wei Ran was stunned, took a deep puff on the cigarette, resisted the dizziness caused by alcohol and nicotine and asked, "That street fight was terrible, right?"

"Same as Stalingrad"

Leva looked at the cigarette in his hand and said with blurred eyes, "I have never fought Stalingrad, but I am sure that Grozny is absolutely as miserable as Stalingrad."

"Tomorrow. Do you want to go hunting tomorrow?"

Wei Ran hiccupped and asked, "Should we be able to hunt deer this season? We can compare."

"You want to compare hunting with me?" Leva raised his eyebrows, "Didn't I just say that I used to be a sniper?"

"Wouldn't it be more fulfilling to beat the sniper?"

Wei Ran shook his head, and said provocatively, "I lost, and I will cook and treat you to Chinese cuisine. I won, hiccup! Give me a copy of those two group photos."

"Are you sure you're not drunk?" Leva asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's okay to talk when you're drunk." Wei Ran poured another glass of wine while speaking, "Don't dare to compare?"

"What dare not"

Leva filled the glass happily, and touched Wei Ran again, but before the glass of wine was drunk, Wei Ran, who was sitting opposite him, turned his head up to the sky because of the excessive movement of his neck to pour the wine. The one with the chair fell on the dirty carpet, but the cigarette in his hand, which had only taken two puffs, had already been completely wetted by the condensed water droplets on the wine glass in advance, which saved the camera shop from being set on fire. hidden dangers.

　Two in one
　　
　
(End of this chapter)