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This is the first famous photograph of war.
这是第一张出名的战争照片。
It's called "The Valley of the Shadow of Death," and it was taken by British photographer Roger Fenton in 1855.
它名叫《死亡阴影之谷》，由英国摄影师罗杰·芬顿于1855年拍摄。
During the first war to be photographed: the Crimean War.
这张照片拍摄的是克里米亚战争的场景，这是第一次被拍照的战争。
A bloody and confusing three-year conflict fought between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, United Kingdom, France, and Sardinia.
此次战争是俄罗斯与奥斯曼帝国、英国、法国和撒丁岛联盟之间长达3年的血腥冲突。
The photo is part of a large collection taken by Fenton.
这只是芬顿拍的众多照片中的其中一张。
Who was sent to Crimea – a peninsula on the Black Sea in Eastern Europe – to bring the war to life through photography.
他被派往克里米亚：一个位于东欧黑海的半岛，通过摄影来赋予战争以灵性。
Most of the images depict camp life and portraits of soldiers.
大多数照片描绘的是军营生活和士兵样貌。
But this one is unique.
但这张照片是独一无二的。
Not because there's no one in it.
并不是因为里面没有人。
But because out of the hundreds of photos Fenton took while he was in Crimea ... it's the only one with a second version.
而是因为芬顿在克里米亚拍的几百张照片中，这是唯一一张有2个版本的。
The two photos are almost identical – they show the same devastated landscape, from the same tripod position, but with one key difference.
这2张照片几乎一模一样——它们展现的是同一片被摧毁的地貌，三脚架位置也是一样的，但有一个关键的区别。
The one that became famous shows cannonballs scattered on the road.
有名的那张中展示了散落在路上的炮弹。
And in the second photo, they're gone.
在第2张照片里，它们不见了。
Or, is this the second photo?
或者说，这是第2张照片吗？
Did Fenton clear the cannonballs from the road?
芬顿把炮弹从路上清走了吗？
Or did he put them there himself, as photo historians have alleged?
还是他自己把它们放在那里的，就像照片历史学家所说的那样？
Which photo shows the truth?
哪张照片展示的才是真相？
The fact that there's a pair, by the way, is mysterious in and of itself.
顺便说一句，这一组照片本身就很神秘。
This is Errol Morris, Oscar-winning documentary director and collector of ... unique taxidermy.
这是埃罗尔·莫里斯，他是奥斯卡获奖纪录片导演，也是收藏独特动物标本的收藏家。
It's my eyeball collection.
这是我收藏的眼球。
Who went down a rabbit hole of research, a trip across the world, and painstaking photo analysis, just to answer the question: Which one was taken first?
他陷入了研究的困惑当中，环游世界，艰苦地分析照片，只为了回答一个问题：哪一张是先拍的。
That became the mystery of this pair of photographs.
这就成了这组照片的谜团所在。
It tortured me.
它折磨着我。
Morris' journey to find the answer – which he chronicled in a three-part essay in the New York Times – started with an accusation.
莫里斯在《纽约时报》上发表了一篇分为3部分的文章，记录了莫里斯寻找答案的旅程，这段旅程从一项指控展开。
I first read about them in an essay by Susan Sontag.
我在苏珊·桑塔格的一篇文章中第一次读到了它们。
Sontag, an American writer and filmmaker, argued that the famous photo was manipulated by Fenton.
美国作家兼导演桑塔格认为，这张著名的照片是芬顿刻意为之。
That he photographed the scene as he found it, then "oversaw the scattering of cannonballs on the road" to stage the second image.
他拍下了他发现的场景，然后“在路上监视炮弹的散落”来展示第二张照片。
For simplicity, Morris refers to these photos as "ON" and "OFF".
为了简单起见，莫里斯把这2张照片称为“开”和“关”。
And so the argument is that "ON" is posed.
所以争论之处在于，“开”是否是凹的造型。
And he put them on the road in order to create a more dramatic image.
他把它们放在路上是为了创造一个更具戏剧性的画面。
But there should be some kind of evidence independent of conjectures about Fenton's psychology.
但应该还存在一些独立于对芬顿心理学推测的证据。
How from the photographs themselves and from contemporaneous accounts can I decide which is which?
我如何从照片本身和同时代的叙述中判断哪张是哪张？
Fenton, in a letter to his wife, says that he took "2 good pictures" in the Valley of the Shadow of Death that day.
芬顿在给妻子的信中说，那天他在死亡阴影之谷拍了“2张好照片”。
But there's no mention of which came first, or what happened in the span of time between the two exposures.
但没有提到哪张照片里的场景是先出现的，也没有提到在2次曝光之间发生了什么事。
Five interviews with photo historians and museum curators with expert knowledge on Fenton left Morris with contradictory conclusions about which photo makes more sense to have been taken first.
经过对照片历史学家以及熟知芬顿的博物馆馆长进行的5次采访，莫里斯得出了一个矛盾的结论：先拍哪张照片是更有意义的。
And whether or not Fenton wanted to add drama to the scene.
以及芬顿是否想给这一场景增添戏剧性。
Well, maybe he did. Maybe he didn't.
嗯，也许是他干的，也许不是。
That doesn't tell me which photograph was taken first.
这不能告诉我哪张照片是先拍的。
Which comes first, "ON" or "OFF", "OFF" or "ON"?
哪个场景是先出现的，“开”还是“关”，“关”还是“开”？
The answer would have to come from somewhere within the photos themselves.
答案必须来自照片本身的某个地方。
Well, I tried everything.
嗯，我什么方法都试过了。
