It is a time for growth and rejuvenation, a state of semi-consciousness where we dream, imagine and put demons to rest. We spend a third of our lives asleep yet remember very little about it.
One photographer, fascinated by our nocturnal behaviour, made it his life's work to capture the way we slumber through a time-lapse photo series. Ted Spagna from New York passed away in 1989 at the age of 45. He took photographs of children, couples, singletons and groups moving, stretching and cuddling in bed.
睡眠有助於生長發育、養顏美容，在半意識的狀態中，我們盡情作夢、想像和休養。人的一生中，睡眠的時間就佔了三分之一之多，然而我們卻不太了解在睡眠期間究竟發生了什麼事。
一名已故攝影師－Ted Spagna，非常著迷於人類夜間睡眠時的行為，於是他用了定時圖像拍攝的手法，捕捉了一系列人們睡覺時的姿態。拍攝對象從小孩到情侶、單人到群體，任何伸展、親密摟抱動作等等一舉一動都被記錄了下來。
- Rejuvenation (n.) 返老還童；回春
- Semi-consciousness (n.) 半意識
- Nocturnal (adj.) 夜間發生的；夜間行動的 = nightly
The owl is a nocturnal bird. 貓頭鷹是夜間活動的鳥。
- Slumber (v.) 睡眠 = sleep
- Singleton (n.) 獨生子
- Cuddle (v.) 依偎；舒服地貼著身睡 = snuggle, nestle
The twins cuddled up to each other. 那對雙胞胎依偎著躺在一起。
His beautiful work is now released in a new book entitled Sleep, featuring all the 70 chronological grids of his various subjects.
Spagna was an influential teacher, filmmaker, and photographer who discovered and pioneered the art of sleep portraiture.
From 1975 - to 1989 his sleeping subjects included people ranging in age from newborns to 92-year-olds and a wide variety of animals in captivity. His voyeuristic venture into 'inner space' exposes the secrets of human sleep behaviour using time-lapse camera. The significance in his work lies in both its aesthetic and scientific implications. Until Spagna came along, sleep researchers never had this kind of visual information about their subjects.
Ted Spagna 是位在視覺藝術界極具影響力的老師、製片人、攝影師，也是拍攝睡眠人像藝術的先驅。現在他的作品已被集結成冊發行，定名為「Sleep」，裡頭包含高達70組拍攝對象，依序時間先後而排列。
從1975到1989年間，他拍攝的對象從新生兒到高齡92歲的老人都有，以及各種靜態的動物。他的「偷窺事業」揭開了人類睡眠行為的神秘面紗，而他的作品集兼具美學與科學的重要內涵，多虧了 Ted Spagna，睡眠研究者終於有了視覺影像的資訊，可供研究參考。
- Chronological (adj.) 依時間前後排列而記載的
- Grid (n.) 格子；方格圖案
- Portraiture (n.) 人像攝影
- Captivity (n.) 囚禁；束縛
These birds are raised in captivity. 這些鳥兒是籠中飼養的。
- Voyeuristic (adj.) 偷窺狂的
- Significance (n.) 重要性；含義 = meaning
- Aesthetic (adj.) 美學的 = artistic
The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory. 那位教授提出了新的美學理論。
- Implication (n.) 含義；暗示 ﹡by implication 含蓄地；暗示地
﹡He seemed by implication to acknowledge that fact. 他似乎含蓄地承認了那事實。
- Come along 進展；出現
The work was coming along quite well.
工作進展得很順利。
'I was surprised to see another self that existed in sleep that I didn’t know about,' he told the New York Times.
Taken at fixed intervals throughout the night using a bird's-eye view, and displayed in chronological order, the series of images look almost like a silent film.
Ted Spagna 也曾表示：「看到睡眠中的自己時，我非常驚訝！很像看到了另一個我，對那個我還感到有點陌生。」
以俯瞰的角度，定時拍攝長達一整夜，一系列的照片組合，就如默劇般栩栩如生。
- Interval (n.) 間隔；距離
The interval between the two posts measures thirty meters. 那兩根柱間的距離為三十米。
- Bird's-eye view (n.) 鳥瞰圖
完整新聞：http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2458783/Sleeping-beauties-photographer-uses-time-lapse-photography-capture-subjects-night-new-book.html#ixzz2hsHdnaCW
