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Before March, 2011, I was a photographic retoucher based in New York City.
2011年3月之前，我是攝影修片師，常駐紐約市。
We're pale, gray creatures.
我們蒼白無力、面如死灰。
We hide in dark, windowless rooms, and generally avoid sunlight.
我們總呆在漆黑一片、不見天日的屋子里，工作室沒有窗，主要是為了抵御陽光。
We make skinny models skinnier, perfect skin more perfect, and the impossible possible,
我們幫苗條的模特變得更苗條，把完美的肌膚修繕得更無懈可擊，把不可能的事變成了可能，
and we get criticized in the press all the time,
我們一直被媒體批判，
but some of us are actually talented artists
但是我們其實是才華橫溢的藝術家，
with years of experience and a real appreciation for images and photography.
經驗豐富，懂得欣賞圖片和照片。
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，正如全球其他人一樣，我在家里看到日本上演的悲劇。
Soon after, an organization I volunteer with,
不久之后，我參加做志愿者的一個組織
All Hands Volunteers, were on the ground, within days, working as part of the response efforts.
“攜手志愿者”團隊馬上就趕赴了現場，僅僅在幾天之內，在當地開展應急救援活動。
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：我們不能在家干等著。
so I decided to join them for three weeks.
因此我也決定加入他們的行列，做3周志愿救援活動。
On May the 13th, I made my way to the town of Ohfunato.
5月13日，我來到日本大船渡縣，
It's a small fishing town in Iwate Prefecture, about 50,000 people,
那是日本巖手縣的一個小漁村，人口大約只有5萬人，
one of the first that was hit by the wave.
是當時第一波受災的地方。
The waters here have been recorded at reaching over 24 meters in height, and traveled over two miles inland.
當時的海嘯洪峰最高時刻高達逾24米，沖擊到內陸足足有2英里的地方。
As you can imagine, the town had been devastated.
你可以想象，這個小鎮肯定備受摧殘。
We pulled debris from canals and ditches.
我們撥開運河和水溝里的瓦礫，
We cleaned schools. We de-mudded and gutted homes ready for renovation and rehabilitation.
我們幫助學校和那些被埋沒的房屋打掃、清理，以便重建、翻新。
We cleared tons and tons of stinking, rotting fish carcasses from the local fish processing plant.
我們清理了大量的發臭、腐爛的魚尸骨，那些魚都是當地工廠里加工、處理的魚。
We got dirty, and we loved it.
我們自己也變得又臟又臭，但是我們心里很舒坦。
For weeks, all the volunteers and locals alike had been finding similar things.
一連幾周，所有的志愿者和當地居民一樣，都找到了一些類似的東西。
They'd been finding photos and photo albums and cameras and SD cards.
他們不斷地發現照片、相冊、相機和SD儲存卡。
And everyone was doing the same.
每個人對此的反應和行動也如出一轍。
They were collecting them up, and handing them in to various places around the different towns for safekeeping.
他們把這些照片等東西收集起來，把它們送往各個鎮里進行保管。
Now, it wasn't until this point that I realized
直至現在，我才意識到，
that these photos were such a huge part of the personal loss these people had felt.
丟失了這些照片肯定是這些人失去的一塊重大部分。
As they had run from the wave, and for their lives,
當他們遭受海嘯襲擊之時，可想而知，必然四處奔波，尋求一線生機，
absolutely everything they had, everything had to be left behind.
自然把其他東西，他們的所有東西都拋諸腦后。
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幾天，我發現自己在幫該鎮的一個疏散中心，
I was helping clean the onsen, the communal onsen, the huge giant bathtubs.
幫助一個公社溫泉清掃社里的巨大浴盆。
This happened to also be a place in the town where the evacuation center was collecting the photos.
剛好當地的疏散中心正在收集人們丟失的照片，
This is where people were handing them in,
人們把收集到的照片送到那個公社溫泉，
and I was honored that day that they actually trusted me to help them start hand-cleaning them.
當時我十分有幸得到了他們的信任，讓我開始清洗、還原那些照片。
Now, it was emotional and it was inspiring,
那些時刻令人觸動，也非常有激勵意義，
and I've always heard about thinking outside the box,
我一直聽人們說：要有創意！
but it wasn't until I had actually gotten outside of my box that something happened.
直到那時清理那些照片，我才真的做到了所謂的“創新”。
As I looked through the photos, there were some were over a hundred years old,
當我翻看那些照片時，有些甚至有逾百年的歷史，
some still in the envelope from the processing lab,
有些仍被保存在加工實驗室的信封里，
I couldn't help but think as a retoucher
我不禁從一個修圖師的角度思考，
that I could fix that tear and mend that scratch,
或許我可以幫他們修復這些被撕破和被劃痕的照片，
and I knew hundreds of people who could do the same.
而且我也認識很多會修圖的人可以幫他們復原這些照片。
So that evening, I just reached out on Facebook
所以，當天傍晚，我就登陸臉譜網(Facebook)
and asked a few of them, and by morning
問了一些修圖師朋友，還沒到第二天早上，
the response had been so overwhelming and so positive, I knew we had to give it a go.
就有很多很多回復消息，說他們樂意幫忙，我知道我們應該行動起來，
So we started retouching photos.
于是我們就開始了修圖行動。
