台湾“出口”婚纱摄影

台湾“出口”婚纱摄影
Taiwan exports its wedding photographers

The sand at Shalun beach is rough, the waves are too small for surfing and the beach is bounded by rocky outcrops that restrict swimming.沙仑海滩上的沙子粗糙硌脚，海浪小得无法冲浪，海滩边上有许多露出地表的岩石，也不适合游泳。


But at dusk each day, minivans converge outside the beach in northern Taiwan, disgorging photographers, assistants and soon-to-be married couples dressed in tuxedos and bridal gowns.

但在每天的黄昏时分，小型载客车就会从四面八方汇聚到这个台湾北部的海滩外。车上下来的有摄影师、助理、以及穿着无尾礼服与婚纱的准新人。


Even on a slow day, there are usually about 20 couples at Shalun. Each couple stakes out their own patch of sand, making their photos look as if they had the beach to themselves.
即使是在生意清淡的一天，通常也会有大约20对新人来到沙仑。每对新人会划出属于他们的一块沙地，这样在照片上看起来就仿佛他们自己拥有整个沙滩。

Thanks to its diverse landscape and competitive pricing, Taiwan has over the past two decades developed into a destination for couples from Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian cities for these pre-wedding photo shoots.
由于多种多样的风景与具有竞争力的定价，台湾在过去二十年，已发展成为了香港、新加坡及其它亚洲城市准新人在婚礼前拍摄婚纱照的目的地。

Like many other industries, however, wedding photographers were hit hard by the global economic downturn, with most businesses losing as much as half their trade last year.

Michelle Chi is the director of Western Design, a wedding services company now based in Taipei but originally founded by her family in Brighton, England, as a bridal gown design shop.

She says sales of the shop's top-of-the-line T$320,000 (US$10,088) package, which includes use of a Vera Wang dress and a hand-made, leather-bound, wooden 18-inch photo frame to keep, fell from 10 customers in 2008 to just three last year.

“It started to stabilise about three to four months ago but business is not yet back to [pre-crisis] levels for most companies,” Ms Chi says.

The practice of separating the photo shoot from the wedding itself was born during Taiwan's economic boom in the 1970s and 1980s and spread to Hong Kong and mainland China, and later to the Chinese diaspora further afield.

During the industry's heyday in the mid-1990s, before digital cameras caught on, Taiwan was the world's biggest importer of Kodak film, according to Lee Yu-ying, an associate professor at Fengchia University.

“Chinese tradition dictated that couples had to be married not only on an auspicious day, but also at an auspicious hour. So photo-taking used to be squeezed into a very rushed ceremony,” says Prof Lee. “Eventually, photographers convinced their clients that they could have better and more comfortable service if photo-taking and the wedding could be separated.” Having the photos taken first also means that the couple can show them off to guests at the wedding.

She estimates annual industry revenue at about T$5.8bn. Most couples pay at least T$40,000 for a full day's shoot in different locations to produce a large-sized book with 30 or more full pages printed with the photos.

However, Ms Chi says photographers have had to look beyond Taiwan for growth because fewer people on the island are getting married and the population is ageing.

Many have looked to mainland China as their biggest potential market. Travel restrictions across the strait mean few mainlanders come to the island for their wedding photos but Taiwanese studios have opened branches in mainland cities and stationed their own photographers there.

“Much of the industry in China – the photography techniques, the services, and all that – were originally introduced by Taiwanese companies,” says Ms Chi.

Mai Tsan-wen, an industry veteran who runs a company called Julia, regularly rotates his photographers between Taiwan and his branch in Beijing.

However, he says Taiwanese businesses have struggled against cheaper local competitors, says Mr Mai.

“Twenty years ago Taiwan's wedding photographers were on top of the world. But now [mainland Chinese companies] have learnt the tricks of the trade,” he says. There are between 1,000-2,000 wedding photography companies in Beijing and Shanghai running on very slim profit margins, Mr Mai adds.

So Taiwanese companies such as Julia and Western Design, which has about 30 staff in Taipei, are now looking further afield. Julia is stationing photographers on the shores of the Aegean Sea, not to attract Greek couples but to lure wealthy Taiwanese and Asian newlyweds to take up a T$98,000 four-day package.

Western Design's Ms Chi also hopes to start offering the service at her family's Brighton store this year and perhaps expand to London.

“I've always felt that it is possible to bring pre-wedding photography to the west, even though people there are not very used to this concept,” she says.

不过，与许多其它行业一样，婚纱摄影受到了全球经济衰退的沉重打击——去年，大部分公司失去了多达一半的业务。

纪懿倢(Michelle Chi)是西敏艺术婚礼策划有限公司(Western Design)负责人。这家婚礼服务公司的总部现在设在台北，但它刚开始是一家婚纱设计公司，由纪懿倢的家族在英国布赖顿(Brighton)创建。

纪懿倢表示，公司最顶级服务套餐的销售，从2008年的10套下降到了去年的仅仅3套。这套服务售价32万新台币（合10088美元），其中包括一套王薇薇(Vera Wang)婚纱，和一个皮革包边的18英寸手工木制相框。

纪懿倢表示：“大约三四个月前业务开始稳定，但大部分公司的业务尚未恢复到（危机前）水平。”

将婚纱照与婚礼分离的做法，诞生于上世纪七八十年代台湾经济繁荣时期，随后流传到了香港、大陆，再后来又传播给了散居在更遥远地区的华侨。

据逢甲大学(Fengchia University)副教授李玉瑛(Lee Yu-ying)表示，在上世纪90年代该行业鼎盛时期，数码相机尚未开始流行时，台湾是世界上最大的柯达(Kodak)胶卷进口地区。

李 玉瑛表示：“中国的传统要求新人不仅必须要在吉日，而且还要在吉时结成夫妻。所以，拍照过去常常被压缩成一个非常匆忙的仪式。后来，摄影师终于说服他们的 客户相信，如果把拍照与婚礼分开，他们能享受到更好、更舒适的服务。”先拍结婚照，新婚夫妇还可以在婚礼上向他们的客人展示照片。

她估计，该行业的全年收入总额大约为58亿新台币。大部分新人至少要花费4万新台币，在不同的地点拍上一整天，然后制作一本30页或更厚的大号相册，整页都印有照片。

不过，纪懿倢表示，由于台湾结婚人数逐渐减少、人口日益老龄化，婚纱摄影店不得不走出台湾寻求增长。

许多摄影店已经将大陆作为它们最大的潜在市场。海峡两岸的旅游限制意味着，能来台湾岛拍摄婚纱照的大陆人很少，但台湾婚纱摄影店已在大陆城市开设了分支机构，并且在那里安置了自己的摄影师。

纪懿倢表示：“大陆婚纱摄影业的大部分东西——摄影技巧、服务等等——起初都是由台湾公司引进的。”

麦灿文(Mai Tsan-wen)是婚纱摄影业资深人士，经营有一家名为茱丽亚(Julia)的公司。他的摄影师在台湾与北京分公司之间定期进行轮换。

不过，麦灿文表示，台湾公司很难与当地报价更低廉的竞争对手进行竞争。

他说：“20年前，台湾婚纱摄影店世界第一。但如今，（大陆公司）已经掌握了这门生意的诀窍。”他补充表示，京沪在营业的婚纱摄影公司约有一两千家，利润率非常低。

所以，茱丽亚与西敏艺术这样的台湾公司如今将目光投向了更遥远的地方。西敏在台北拥有大约30名员工。茱丽亚已开始在爱琴海海岸派驻摄影师，但不是为了吸引希腊的新婚夫妇，而是为了吸引台湾与亚洲其它地区富有的新人购买9.8万新台币的四日服务套餐。

西敏的纪懿倢还希望今年在其家族的布赖顿店提供婚纱摄影服务，或许还会扩张至伦敦。

她表示：“我总是觉得，将婚礼前拍摄婚纱照的做法引入西方是有可能的，尽管那里的人不是非常习惯这一观念。”

译者/何黎

outcrop
n.
A portion of bedrock or other stratum protruding through the soil level.

intr.v., -cropped, -crop·ping, -crops. (out-krŏp')
To protrude above the soil, as rock formations.

[OUT + CROP, to appear on the surface.]

dis·gorge (dĭs-gôrj')

v., -gorged, -gorg·ing, -gorg·es. v.tr.

1. To bring up and expel from the throat or stomach; vomit.
2. To discharge violently; spew.
3. To surrender (stolen goods or money, for example) unwillingly.

v.intr.
To discharge or pour forth contents.

[Middle English disgorgen, from Old French desgorger : des-, dis- + gorger, to pack (from gorge, throat; see gorge).]

disgorgement dis·gorge'ment n.


stake out

Keep an area or person under police surveillance; also, assign someone to conduct such a surveillance. For example, They staked out the house, or He was staked out in the alley, watching for drug dealers. [c. 1940]