A picture of smog particles under the microscope taken by Zhang Chao
It has been two years since China Daily last interviewed 31-year-old Zhang Chao. The Beijing-based micrograph enthusiast still wears the same hair style, even the same coat. But one thing is very different: He's become a celebrity in cyberspace almost overnight, after his pictures, which depict what the rampant smog in Beijing looks like under his microscope, spread like a virus on China's major micro-blogging site Sina Weibo, since he posted them last Friday. Now the media is hounding him for interviews. "Why do I become famous when I took pictures of the smog?" he asks with a wry smile. "I have taken numerous pictures of beautiful nature whenever I have spare time, but there are no more than 10 interview requests for me every year before. Now, I have to answer dozens of phone calls from media every day. "But I only gained 2,000 more followers over the weekend. I guess the micro blog is not as popular as before," he says, jokingly. On Monday morning, a camera crew from a TV station based in southern Hunan province even took a flight to Beijing just to record how Zhang takes pictures of the Beijing's most-talked about feature: the floating enemies in the air. The process is not complicated: He puts microscope slides on his windowsill and collects the samples covered by fallen dust after 10 hours. Zhang's apartment is on the eighth floor, which he says is perfect for capturing the densest levels of smog. As a Beijing native, Zhang explains his original purpose is to "deconstruct" Beijing's smog and unveil its shroud of mystery. "People have higher and higher standards for the environment," he says. "When I was a child, I was annoyed by the frequent sandstorms, so I feel Beijing's air seems much better now all in all because there are hardly any sandstorms in recent years. Now, we've noticed PM2.5, which has long been neglected." Although he graduated as a science major from Beijing Normal University, Zhang says it is difficult for him to give an exact definition of what smog is in Beijing. "It's too complicated, and its ingredients keep changing." Under his scope, which magnifies the sample 1,000 times, the smog is found to contain minerals, fragments of animal fur and insects, seeds and burnt dust. But many are compounds, he says, which are more difficult to identify. "I wanted to know if there are many pollen grains in the early spring's smog, and my guess turns out to be right," Zhang says, noting there are on average 10 pollen grains found on each slide. "Though the number is low compared with other ingredients of smog, it may partially explain why smog makes us feel uncomfortable because many people are allergic to pollen." Zhang realizes that he may have disappointed the public because he can't show the inner construction of PM2.5, today's most notorious element in smog. It is beyond the capacity of his microscope and camera to explore such tiny grains. Working as a freelancer and editor for an astronomy magazine affiliated with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, his regular job is to stare at the starry firmament and write popular-science articles. However, he is proud to have stirred equal interest by observing the micro world. "You cannot imagine how splendid the micro world is until you fall in love picturing bugs in the garden, different kinds of sand grains, or some tiny corners in our daily lives. "My favorite is to shoot snowflakes. I would love to compile my snowflake pictures to publish a book. But you know how much warmer Beijing was in the past winter - I should have traveled to northeastern China to get more pictures." By Wang Kaihao (China Daily) |
中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)兩年之前曾經(jīng)采訪過31歲的攝影師張超。如今,這個(gè)北京顯微攝影的狂熱愛好者依然留著同樣的發(fā)型,甚至穿著同樣的衣服。 但有一件事和以前有了很大的不同。自從他在3月25日把拍攝到的顯微鏡下的北京霧霾照片發(fā)到網(wǎng)上后,這些照片就在新浪微博上瘋傳。他也在一夜之間成為了網(wǎng)絡(luò)名人?,F(xiàn)在,許多媒體在追著他進(jìn)行訪問。 “為什么我拍了霧霾照片就變得有名了?”他笑著問道。“之前我一有空閑時(shí)間就去拍攝美麗的自然風(fēng)景,已經(jīng)拍了許多張照片,但每年接到的采訪不足10次?,F(xiàn)在,我每天都得回復(fù)數(shù)十次媒體的電話?!?/p> “不過整個(gè)周末,我的粉絲只增加了2000多人,看來微博不如之前流行了。”他開玩笑地說。 在4月1日,湖南省南部的一家電視臺(tái)甚至派了一位攝影師,專程飛到北京拍攝他如何對(duì)這些漂浮在空氣中的健康敵人,北京常被提及的特征——霧霾進(jìn)行拍照。 整個(gè)過程并不復(fù)雜。他把顯微鏡載片放在他的窗臺(tái)上,收集10個(gè)小時(shí)后的落灰樣品。 張超的房子在8層,他認(rèn)為在這個(gè)位置可以很好地收集到最嚴(yán)重的霧霾樣品。 作為一個(gè)北京人,張超說他的初衷是“解構(gòu)”霧霾并揭開霧霾的神秘面紗。 張超說:“人們對(duì)環(huán)境標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的要求越來越高了。在我小的時(shí)候,最煩的是經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的沙塵暴。現(xiàn)在北京的空氣質(zhì)量看起來好了很多,因?yàn)樯硥m暴在近幾年很少出現(xiàn)了。如今,我們又開始關(guān)注被長(zhǎng)期忽略的PM2.5?!?/p> 雖然張超畢業(yè)于北京師范大學(xué)科學(xué)類專業(yè),但他也很難解釋清楚北京霧霾到底包含什么成分。他說:“霧霾成分太復(fù)雜了,而且一直處于變化之中?!?/p> 在他的顯微鏡下,霧霾顆粒樣本放大了1000倍,可以看到霧霾中包含了礦物質(zhì)、動(dòng)物皮毛和昆蟲的碎片、種子和燃燒后的粉塵等物質(zhì)。但張超指出,還有很多是復(fù)合物,很難辨別是什么物質(zhì)。 張超說:“我想知道在早春的霧霾中是不是有花粉顆粒,我的猜測(cè)應(yīng)驗(yàn)了。平均每個(gè)載片上有10個(gè)花粉顆粒?!?/p> “雖然與霧霾中的其他成分相比,花粉所占比例較低,但這也部分地解釋了為什么霧霾讓我們感覺不舒服,因?yàn)楹芏嗳藢?duì)花粉過敏。” 張超意識(shí)到他可能會(huì)讓公眾失望,因?yàn)樗麤]能展示出PM2.5的內(nèi)部結(jié)構(gòu)。PM2.5才是霧霾成分中最臭名昭著的。但由于PM2.5顆粒過小,他的顯微鏡和相機(jī)無(wú)法顯示和拍照。 張超是自由職業(yè)者和《中國(guó)國(guó)家天文》雜志編輯。這家雜志由中國(guó)科學(xué)院國(guó)家天文臺(tái)主辦。他的日常工作就是盯著天空,然后寫一些科普文章。不過,他對(duì)微觀世界也有著同樣的興趣。 “你無(wú)法想象微觀世界是多么精彩,除非你愛上拍攝花園里的蟲子、不同類型的沙子和一些我們?nèi)粘I畹慕锹??!?/p> “我最喜歡給雪花拍照。我希望將我拍攝的雪花照片出版一本書。但你也知道去年北京多么暖和,我本應(yīng)到中國(guó)的東北多拍一些照片?!?/p> (記者王愷昊 譯者 ewhyou 編輯 丹妮) |