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Before March, 2011, I was a photographic retoucher based in New York City.
2011年3月之前，我是摄影修片师，常驻纽约市。
We're pale, gray creatures.
我们苍白无力、面如死灰。
We hide in dark, windowless rooms, and generally avoid sunlight.
我们总呆在漆黑一片、不见天日的屋子里，工作室没有窗，主要是为了抵御阳光。
We make skinny models skinnier, perfect skin more perfect, and the impossible possible,
我们帮苗条的模特变得更苗条，把完美的肌肤修缮得更无懈可击，把不可能的事变成了可能，
and we get criticized in the press all the time,
我们一直被媒体批判，
but some of us are actually talented artists
但是我们其实是才华横溢的艺术家，
with years of experience and a real appreciation for images and photography.
经验丰富，懂得欣赏图片和照片。
On March 11, 2011, I watched from home, as the rest of the world did, as the tragic events unfolded in Japan.
2011年3月11日，正如全球其他人一样，我在家里看到日本上演的悲剧。
Soon after, an organization I volunteer with,
不久之后，我参加做志愿者的一个组织
All Hands Volunteers, were on the ground, within days, working as part of the response efforts.
“携手志愿者”团队马上就赶赴了现场，仅仅在几天之内，在当地开展应急救援活动。
I, along with hundreds of other volunteers, knew we couldn't just sit at home,
我和其他百余名志愿者都深知：我们不能在家干等着。
so I decided to join them for three weeks.
因此我也决定加入他们的行列，做3周志愿救援活动。
On May the 13th, I made my way to the town of Ohfunato.
5月13日，我来到日本大船渡县，
It's a small fishing town in Iwate Prefecture, about 50,000 people,
那是日本岩手县的一个小渔村，人口大约只有5万人，
one of the first that was hit by the wave.
是当时第一波受灾的地方。
The waters here have been recorded at reaching over 24 meters in height, and traveled over two miles inland.
当时的海啸洪峰最高时刻高达逾24米，冲击到内陆足足有2英里的地方。
As you can imagine, the town had been devastated.
你可以想象，这个小镇肯定备受摧残。
We pulled debris from canals and ditches.
我们拨开运河和水沟里的瓦砾，
We cleaned schools. We de-mudded and gutted homes ready for renovation and rehabilitation.
我们帮助学校和那些被埋没的房屋打扫、清理，以便重建、翻新。
We cleared tons and tons of stinking, rotting fish carcasses from the local fish processing plant.
我们清理了大量的发臭、腐烂的鱼尸骨，那些鱼都是当地工厂里加工、处理的鱼。
We got dirty, and we loved it.
我们自己也变得又脏又臭，但是我们心里很舒坦。
For weeks, all the volunteers and locals alike had been finding similar things.
一连几周，所有的志愿者和当地居民一样，都找到了一些类似的东西。
They'd been finding photos and photo albums and cameras and SD cards.
他们不断地发现照片、相册、相机和SD储存卡。
And everyone was doing the same.
每个人对此的反应和行动也如出一辙。
They were collecting them up, and handing them in to various places around the different towns for safekeeping.
他们把这些照片等东西收集起来，把它们送往各个镇里进行保管。
Now, it wasn't until this point that I realized
直至现在，我才意识到，
that these photos were such a huge part of the personal loss these people had felt.
丢失了这些照片肯定是这些人失去的一块重大部分。
As they had run from the wave, and for their lives,
当他们遭受海啸袭击之时，可想而知，必然四处奔波，寻求一线生机，
absolutely everything they had, everything had to be left behind.
自然把其他东西，他们的所有东西都抛诸脑后。
At the end of my first week there, I found myself helping out in an evacuation center in the town.
我呆在日本的第一周的最后几天，我发现自己在帮该镇的一个疏散中心，
I was helping clean the onsen, the communal onsen, the huge giant bathtubs.
帮助一个公社温泉清扫社里的巨大浴盆。
This happened to also be a place in the town where the evacuation center was collecting the photos.
刚好当地的疏散中心正在收集人们丢失的照片，
This is where people were handing them in,
人们把收集到的照片送到那个公社温泉，
and I was honored that day that they actually trusted me to help them start hand-cleaning them.
当时我十分有幸得到了他们的信任，让我开始清洗、还原那些照片。
Now, it was emotional and it was inspiring,
那些时刻令人触动，也非常有激励意义，
and I've always heard about thinking outside the box,
我一直听人们说：要有创意！
but it wasn't until I had actually gotten outside of my box that something happened.
直到那时清理那些照片，我才真的做到了所谓的“创新”。
As I looked through the photos, there were some were over a hundred years old,
当我翻看那些照片时，有些甚至有逾百年的历史，
some still in the envelope from the processing lab,
有些仍被保存在加工实验室的信封里，
I couldn't help but think as a retoucher
我不禁从一个修图师的角度思考，
that I could fix that tear and mend that scratch,
或许我可以帮他们修复这些被撕破和被划痕的照片，
and I knew hundreds of people who could do the same.
而且我也认识很多会修图的人可以帮他们复原这些照片。
So that evening, I just reached out on Facebook
所以，当天傍晚，我就登陆脸谱网(Facebook)
and asked a few of them, and by morning
问了一些修图师朋友，还没到第二天早上，
the response had been so overwhelming and so positive, I knew we had to give it a go.
就有很多很多回复消息，说他们乐意帮忙，我知道我们应该行动起来，
So we started retouching photos.
于是我们就开始了修图行动。
