美国国家公共电台 NPR Looking At Photographer George Rodriguez

Looking At Photographer George Rodriguez

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Photographer George Rodriguez chronicled Los Angeles for nearly six decades from Hollywood to the Chicano movement to hip-hop and beyond. As NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports, his work is now being celebrated¹ in a new book and his first gallery retrospective.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAMERA SHUTTER² CLICKING)

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE³: George Rodriguez takes pictures everywhere he goes.

GEORGE RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. People don't recognize me without my camera. I like to kind of document everything that's going on.

DEL BARCO: With his camera and a fly-on-the-wall approach, Rodriguez has documented many worlds. Cultural historian Josh Kun edited the book "Double Vision: The Photography Of George Rodriguez."

JOSH KUN: The duality that emerged was his commitment to Chicano culture and Chicano social justice movements and his equal commitment to documenting the worlds of Los Angeles celebrity⁴ and fame.

DEL BARCO: The 80-year-old Rodriguez grew up downtown near his dad's shoe repair shop on Skid⁵ Row. He picked up photography as a high school student in South Central LA, and he was still a teenager when he landed a job at Columbia Pictures in 1960.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

RODRIGUEZ: The photographers that I was developing film for would get credentials⁶ to go to, like, film premieres - you know, "Lawrence Of Arabia," "Breakfast At Tiffany's." But they wouldn't go because it'd be kind of beneath them to go because they were shooting these stars in their studios. Somebody like that can't show up behind a rope on the red carpet. But I could.

DEL BARCO: With borrowed credentials, Rodriguez went to splashy film premieres and awards shows. He took candid⁷ shots of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.

RODRIGUEZ: My favorite thing is just taking pictures and people aren't aware. And you can get some incredible stuff.

DEL BARCO: As the '60s rolled along, Rodriguez decided⁸ to document what was happening on the other side of town. During his lunch breaks, Rodriguez went to East LA, where high school students were walking out of their schools to protest discrimination. He captured images of Chicano demonstrators and police with batons⁹.

RODRIGUEZ: Police departments had a field day. You know, the kids in the walkouts were just youngsters. They were, like, 14, 15 years old. They're not violent. They're not trying to hurt anybody. They're just trying to make a statement. But they're treated like criminals.

DEL BARCO: Rodriguez chronicled Vietnam War protests in East LA, then traveled north to Delano to document farmworkers suffering miserable¹⁰ conditions.

RODRIGUEZ: They're picking grapes, and they die in the fields. It still happens. The fight for rights for farmworkers still goes on and on.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Unintelligible).

DEL BARCO: For years, Rodriguez photographed protests, boycotts¹¹ and hunger strikes by the United Farm Workers led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who says they were grateful Rodriquez's images inspired public support.

DOLORES HUERTA: George was kind of part of the movement himself. He is Latino. He understood the culture. He understood the reasons why we did some of these things - the march to Sacramento, the strike, Cesar's fasting. He was presente, as we say, present in terms of being a justice fighter himself to end the discrimination. And - although we know that he maybe had a schizophrenic life because (laughter) here he was photographing beautiful women in Hollywood and movie stars, and then he would come back to his world.

DEL BARCO: That world included boxers¹², baseball players and Michael Jackson.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE JACKSON 5 SONG, "I WANT YOU BACK")

DEL BARCO: A Rodriguez photo is on the back of the first Jackson 5 album cover. He photographed Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. In his portraits of N.W.A., the rappers look defiantly¹³ at his camera.

RODRIGUEZ: I just love these guys. As it turned out, I realized that Dr. Dre went to my high school, Fremont High School, in South Central. Easy gave me four cassettes, and it just blew me away. It was "Straight Outta Compton." I loved it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON")

N.W.A.: (Rapping) Word to the mother, yeah, straight out of Compton, Compton, Compton, Compton.

DEL BARCO: It's still George Rodriquez's favorite and only rap cassette. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 shutter   

n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置

参考例句：

• The camera has a shutter speed of one-sixtieth of a second.这架照像机的快门速度达六十分之一秒。
• The shutter rattled in the wind.百叶窗在风中发出嘎嘎声。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

5 skid   

v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨

参考例句：

• He braked suddenly,causing the front wheels to skid.他突然剎车，使得前轮打了滑。
• The police examined the skid marks to see how fast the car had been travelling.警察检查了车轮滑行痕迹，以判断汽车当时开得有多快。

6 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

7 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网

10 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

11 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

12 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 defiantly   

adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地

参考例句：

• Braving snow and frost, the plum trees blossomed defiantly. 红梅傲雪凌霜开。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。 来自《简明英汉词典》