追逐夢想:有愛金毛犬的幸福生活

Candice Sedighan has a passion for two things: her golden retriever, Champ, and photography. Over the last few years she’s been able to successfully bring the two together.

坎迪斯熱愛兩件事物：一是她的黃金獵犬，二是攝影。過去的幾年來，她成功地將這兩件事物融合到了一起。

“I wanted to take photos and show people things they’ve never seen before,” the 20-year-old photographer and college student tells The Weekly Flickr.

“我想要拍攝一些人們從來沒有見過的東西，” 這位還在讀大學的20歲攝影師在Flickr週刊採訪時說。

“I really like to capture the true essence with dogs, which is that they’re always so happy,” she says. “The time Champ and I spend together, he’s just always beaming with happiness and you can really see that through my photos.”

“我真的很想用攝影捕捉到狗狗的本性，那就是：他們總是很快樂的。”她說道。“查姆普和我在一起的時候它總是很快樂的，從我的這些照片裏你真的就能體會到。”

Candice got Champ as a gift from her Dad in the winter of 2002. He was just 9 weeks old at the time and, as she describes him, he was a “’Marley and Me’ type of puppy”.

2002年的冬天，坎迪斯的爸爸給了她查姆普作爲禮物。那個時候它只有九周大，她描述說當時查姆普就像電影《馬利和我》裏面那隻狗狗一樣。

“He destroyed probably everything in his sight!” Candice admits. “He ate a lot of rugs, thousands of dollars of damage. He had a lot of excess energy and I tried to channel that into training instead.”

“他基本上看到什麼毀什麼！”坎迪斯承認。“它總是喜歡咬地毯，被它弄壞東西值上千美元。它精力過剩，所以我想讓它用這些多餘的精力做做寵物訓練。”

She began taking pictures of Champ when she was 13 years old. At first it was to create personal memories, but after getting positive comments, she decided to join Flickr.

13歲的時候，坎迪斯開始給查姆普攝影。一開始只是爲了記錄下一些值得回憶的瞬間，後來在收到了一些正面評價後，她決定加入Flickr。

Candice joined a group called “52 Weeks for Dogs” where members take pictures of their dogs once a week for an entire year. The group gave her the encouragement she needed to pursue her photography, allowing her to develop her unique style.

坎迪斯加入了一個叫“狗狗的52周”的小組，小組成員每週都會給狗狗攝一次影，一共持續一整年。小組裏的人鼓勵她繼續追求她的攝影生涯，也讓她找到了自己獨特的攝影風格。

“Champ and I really are like a team when we do our ‘52 Weeks for Dogs’ project,” says Candice. “He really works very hard to do the poses I’m asking him to do.”

“查姆普和我在拍攝‘狗狗的52周’項目時真的像一個團隊一樣，”坎迪斯說。“它很努力地擺出我讓它擺的pose。”

More importantly, she saw Champ was responsive to her photo shoots and recognized an opportunity to take her craft to the next level.

更重要的是，她發現查姆普對她的攝影有所迴應，意識到她有機會讓攝影達到一個新的層次。

“My favorite photo of Champ is the one with the butterfly on his nose,” Candice explains. “I know a lot of people just automatically assume maybe that I photoshopped the butterfly in, but I actually went over to a butterfly farm and bought butterflies.”

“我最喜歡的一張照片是一直蝴蝶停在查姆普的鼻子上，”坎迪斯說。“我知道很多人默認蝴蝶是我PS上去的，不過我實際上真的去蝴蝶養殖場買了蝴蝶。”

Her years of training Champ proved to be a success as he patiently sat with a live butterfly on his nose. The pictures turned out beyond any of her expectations.

她對查姆普長年的訓練有了結果，查姆普讓蝴蝶停在它的鼻子上，非常耐心。照片的效果超乎她的想象。

Candice says she gets her inspiration from “everyday life.”

坎迪斯說來的靈感源自於生活。

“Sometimes I’ll go to the store and find a really nice prop that I want to use,” she says. “Or I’ll find a nice location and I think, ‘Wow, I really want to use this in a picture’ or ‘this would look really awesome in a picture.’”

“有時候我去商店時會發現一些很不錯的道具，”她說。“或者我走到一個很讚的地方，然後我就會想，‘哇，我真的很想在這裏攝影’，或者想，‘這個地方在照片裏看起來一定很不錯。’”

Candice has taken close to 20,000 pictures of Champ over the last 7 years. During this time she’s won about $5,000 in contests, including three for Hallmark. She now has three cards available nationwide; one birthday card and two Mother’s day cards.

7年中，坎迪斯已經拍攝了將近兩萬張攝影作品。在這期間她在攝影比賽中共贏得了約5000美元的獎金，還有三個是Hallmark賀卡公司設立的獎項。現在她的狗狗照片已經有3張被印在賀卡上在全國發行：一張是生日賀卡，還有兩張是母親節賀卡。

In the midst of all the success, Candice values the special bond between her and Champ above everything else. He has been a source of comfort for her, especially during the most difficult times.

雖然獲取瞭如此多的成功，坎迪斯仍然認爲她和查姆普之間的情誼比什麼都重要。它一直能讓她感到慰藉，幫她度過最艱難的時光。

In the Summer of 2012, Candice’s father passed away very unexpectedly. “My Dad was definitely supportive of my photography,” she says. “He always told me how creative I was and bought me my first DSLR.”

2012年的夏天，坎迪斯的父親突然去世。“我的父親非常支持我的攝影事業，”她說。“他一直會對我說我非常有創意，他還給我買了我的第一部單反。”

Photography has become a great outlet for Candice after losing her father.

父親去世之後，攝影成了坎迪斯情感的宣泄口。

“Since my Dad was the one who picked Champ out and named him, so in a way it makes him even more special to me,” she says. “It makes me feel like my Dad will always be here with me.”

“查姆普是我爸爸選的，它的名字我也是爸爸取的，所以從某種意義上查姆普對我來說就更加特別了。”她說，“這讓我覺得我爸爸還在我身邊。”

What’s next for Candice? She dreams of coming out with a calendar featuring Champ, but she definitely plans to pursue photography.

坎迪斯下一步的打算是什麼？她希望能夠推出一套查姆普的日曆，另外她打算堅定地追求她的攝影事業。

“I really like to take happy photos,” she says, “And I hope when people see it, they see it as more than just a dog picture. I hope they’ll see it as art.”

“我喜歡拍讓人感到愉快的照片，”她說道，“我希望人們在看到這些照片時，看到的不僅僅是一張狗狗的照片。我喜歡他們能看到其中包含的藝術。”