你有想過不花費一分一毫去旅遊嗎? 這個一個有關年輕而獨立的女生故事。憑籍著對攝影的喜愛及熱情，她穿梭世界各地去工作，最後有機會與最頂尖的攝影師合作，其中一幅作品更登上了意大利版《Vogue》的頁面。這次Hf有幸與這位女生進行訪問。一起認識她── Seongeun Ahn。

Would you dare to travel without a penny? Here is the story of a young, independent lady who followed her passion for photography and worked around her way around the world, ending up in collaborating with top-notch photographers with one of the photos hitting the main page of Vogue Italia. Hf sat down with this lady, Seongeun Ahn, for a chat.

我領悟到當大家看著鏡頭時，「光環」便會在照片裡活現出來。

– Seongeun Ahn

Hf: HOKK fabrica | S: Seonguen

Hf: 最近在忙些什麼？請描述一下你的日常生活。
What do you do now? Please describe your daily life these days.

S：我正在一間小型的廣告公司工作。雖然加入短短三個月，但已參與了幾次會議，更負責了一份關於過百萬元生意的計劃書。在這裡，我有種置身於戰場的感覺，因我的工作充滿著許多挑戰及責任。如此繁忙的工作，令我從未享受過一人獨處的晚上。起初，我偏愛一些能讓自己有空餘時間的工作，但後來發現堅守這種想法是不成熟的。無論如何，這份工作令我學會了很多，而我的合約亦會在一個月內完結。所以我將會重回 「baek-soo」 （白手）的狀態，「白手」在韓文是指沒有工作的人。
I work a small advertising agency now. I’m only three months into the company but I attend meetings and write a million dollar worth proposals. I feel like I’m in a battlefield where I have a lot of responsibilities and duties. It’s so busy here that I never have an evening all to myself. I would prefer a life where I could have the evening to myself, but I figured it would be too immature of me to be tenacious on that concept. Anyways, I am learning a lot, and I my contract ends in a month. Well, I go back to ‘baek-soo’, which means a jobless person in Korean.

Hf: 聽說你為興趣而當模特兒。可否告訴大家你是如何入行的? 除此之外，你還有其他興趣嗎?
I heard that you do modeling as a hobby. Could you explain how you got into that industry and do you have any other hobbies?

S：為了得到別人的注目，於是我開始學習在鏡頭前擺出不同姿勢，到現在為止已經做了6年。記得讓我興奮的第一次，就是有網站刊登了一張我的照片，更有高達530萬的點擊率。
I wanted to draw attention. So I started posing in front of cameras, and it’s been six years. I first felt exhilarated by modeling when an internet post that featured photos of myself in the clothes I made hit 5.3 million views.

自此之後我便一直當模特兒，而且我想我已經學會了如何去愛自己。起初，我覺得自己很醜。但當面對鏡頭的次數愈多時，我發現了其實每個人都擁有著一個獨特的「光環」。我領悟到當大家看著鏡頭時，「光環」便會在照片裡活現出來。從那時起，我便不由自主地在鏡頭前擺出不同的姿勢。
I’ve been standing in front of cameras ever since, and I think I’ve actually learned how to love myself. At first, I thought I was ugly, but as I stood more and more in front of lenses, I discovered that everyone has a unique “aura” that could come from anywhere. I had an epiphany in which I realized photos come alive by the subject’s aura, the way they look at the lens, etc. From that moment on, I couldn’t stop posing in front of cameras.

Hf: 聽聞你在沒有任何金錢及計劃的情況下，到了世界各地旅遊。有什麼特別原因要這樣做嗎嗎？你又是怎樣去到的？
I heard that you made your way around the world without money and with no plans. Do you have a special reason why? How did it go?

S：自19歲開始，我經已完全地經濟獨立，亦再沒有依賴父母。雖然有幾份兼職在身，但自己不時渴望有新的體驗，有時寧願少點休息時間，也想與朋友們多點聚會，接觸新事物。幾年後，我開始對這一切感到疲憊，希望擁有一個假期。於是，我整理好行李，並獎勵自己到布吉旅行。當回到現實時，我發現此處沒有一個永恆的天堂給我逃跑。
Seongeun: I have been fully independent from my parents ever since I was 19 years old. I’ve had several part-time jobs and yet I was thriving for new experiences so I reduced sleep and rather went out to meet friends and experience new stuff. After a couple of years of this, I got tired and wanted a vacation. I just packed my bags and went on a self-rewarding trip to Phuket, but upon returning back to reality, I realized that there was no eternal paradise to a place where I ran off.

我為上一次逃離現實的經歷而後悔，因為這令我萌生了再次離開的念頭。在不求旅程中體驗什麼的前提下，我選擇再次離開，並直接到了法國。當時，我住在某位法國朋友的家裡，並發現許多歐洲攝影師都把作品上載於「Vingle」的應用程序裡。於是，我寄了電郵給他們，並希望有合作的機會。這一切便是如此展開的。當收到攝影師的回覆指令時，我便會到那個目的地。一直以來，我多數都是以「沙發旅遊」的方式解決留宿問題，所以在兩個月內用了1000元歐羅，更走遍了多達五個歐洲國家。
Since I regretted running away from reality, I wanted to flee again. I wanted to just put myself in the situation again and didn’t really hope to earn anything from the trip, so I left, with one contact point in France. As I was staying at my friend’s place in France, I stumbled upon some portfolios of European photographers on this app called ‘Vingle’ and I just cold-called them by sending out emails that I wanted to work with them. So this is how it all began. I traveled to another location when I got the OK sign from the next photographer. I got to choose my destinations where the photographers were based at. I used couchsurfing for accommodation, and in total, I traveled around five countries in Europe for 1,000 Euros in two months.

Hf: 此行最難忘的經歷是什麼？
What was the most memorable moment from this trip?

S：最後一個與我合作的攝影師Helen Warner，是在貝爾法斯特的，一個位於愛爾蘭最北面的地方。當時正住在柏林的我，心裡希望她能為自己拍照，因為其照片風格真的相當令人著迷。不過，由於Helen居住的地方很偏遠，所以我想這一切是沒有可能的。但經過深思熟慮後，若這次不踏出這一步，將來我很有可能會後悔，所以便決定展開了這段旅程。最終我用了48小時，並乘搭7種交通工具才到達。
Seongeun: Helen Warner, the last photographer I worked with, was based at Belfast, which is at the northernmost top of Ireland. I was staying in Berlin at that time, and I really wanted to get photos taken by her because I found her photos fascinating. I almost thought it was impossible to make it happen since she lived in such a far place, but I just thought that I would regret later if I didn’t do it then, so I started my journey over seven modes of transportation in 48 hours.

當到達的一刻，我才留意到貝爾法斯特的風景，原來與她的相片色調如此相似。這次拍攝有著一個相當古怪的過程。當時，我先要把自己全身塗白，身體更佈滿了紙張。在黑海的背景之下，我開始轉圈跳舞。最終，照片命名為「The dance of Heron」（蒼鷺的舞蹈），被意大利版《Vogue》選為「Photo of the Day」。對於攝影師來說，這一切是不易實現的。儘管經歷了可怕的拍攝過程，但我永遠也不會忘記這份讚賞及名譽。
When I finally arrived there, I realized Belfast was so similar to her hues in her photos. Taking the photos was an eccentric process, since I painted my whole body in white and danced around in circles dressed in whole paper to the backdrop of a black sea. The photo, titled ‘The Dance of Heron], ended up being selected as ‘Photo of the Day’ by Vogue Italia. Although it was not easy to reach the photographer and despite the gruesome process, I was rewarded with great fame I would never forget.

In Her Words: 生活簡單與否，我們可以決定

S：有一本名叫《The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared》（百歲老人蹺家去）的書。故事中的老人帶著三種生活必需品遊走世界：食物，休息的地方及酒精。我只是覺得，若大家只集中追求人生的必需品，那生活當然就能簡單。但身處在這個複雜的社會裡，大家都傾向認為獲得更多東西就是最重要的，但實際上其實不然。不過，我也希望大家都能反思什麼東西對自己來說是最重要的，按著自己意願去活，而不是顧慮別人怎樣想。
There’s a book called The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared. This old man wandered around the world with three necessities: food to eat, place to sleep, and alcohol. I just think that life would be so much simpler if we could focus on a couple essential things we can’t live without. We just tend to think that having more is important in this complex society. It might not be that way, though. I wish we could all live towards what we think is important and instead of what others think.

Photos courtesy of Seongeun Ahn

INTERVIEW & TEXT: JISU J
CHINESE TRANSLATION:MABEL W