George Steinmetz: Photos of Africa, taken from a flying lawn chair
ジョージ・スタインメッツ: アフリカの写真を 空飛ぶデッキチェアから撮る
Best known for his exploration photography, George Steinmetz has a restless curiosity for the unknown: remote deserts, obscure cultures and the mysteries of science and technology. Full bio
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intimidating being up here,
言わざるを得ません
trying to tell Africans
アフリカ人にアフリカ大陸での
違う見方ができます
can see things in a different way,
all over the African continent
ゆっくりとした低空飛行で
the spectacle of its diversity.
撮影してわかったことです
his way through the Ituri Forest of Zaire.
旅するカリフォルニアっ子です
of Stanford University,
to Kisangani to Cairo
カイロまで行き
on 10 dollars a day.
in this Dinka cattle camp
キャンプで過ごしました
住処を作る方法を教わり
how to tie papyrus into a shelter,
how they had adapted their way of life
遊牧を必要とする 大切な畜牛を中心に
of their beloved cattle.
つぶさに観察しました
in ecological ethnography,
ride on the roof of the trucks,
going across South Sudan.
貨物列車の屋根に乗って移動します
on the back of an insect
アフリカという広大なタペストリーを
tapestry of Africa.
驚くべきものでしたが
if I could fly over that landscape
この景観は さらにもっと
a professional photographer,
in the central Sahara,
空飛ぶマシンで戻ってきました
of flying machine.
and slowest aircraft.
航空機を操縦中の私です
and a parachute-style wing,
パラシュート式の翼があり
I can fly for about two hours,
およそ2時間飛べます
is it gives me an unobstructed view,
空飛ぶデッキチェアのように
of flying over Africa came true
アフリカ上空飛行が叶ったのは
passing out in the middle of the Sahara.
2隊のラクダのキャラバンを見た時でした
is carrying salt out of the desert,
砂漠から塩を運び出す隊で
is carrying fodder
ラクダの飼料を運んで
this kind of picture
with too much downdraft,
うるさいし
aircraft I was flying
風変わりな飛行装置なら
remote parts of the African landscape
以前は不可能だった方法で
really been possible before.
思いつきました
but I am not some kind of adventure dude.
私は冒険野郎ではなく
and I only fly to take pictures.
飛行の目的は写真撮影のためだけです
is between 200 and 500 feet,
three-dimensionally,
立体的にしかも身体尺度で
over the years in Africa,
やってきたことの多くは
皆さんにも試せるでしょうが
for exploration.
探検用には作られていません
20 minutes of battery life
is what's on a little screen.
小さな画面上に映るものだけです
and find new things, find weird stuff,
新しいもの 奇妙なものを発見することです
on my left leg,
a mile above takeoff.
上空だとわかります
本当にビクビクしました
is actually your friend,
to figure out your problems.
解決の時間がとれますから
I figured this gave me more time
墜落する間 叫ぶ時間が
I started taking pictures,
私は 撮影を開始し
by a Harmattan wind
ハルマッタンに巻き込まれました
right hand corner of this picture,
右上の角から吹き込んでいて
the entire crater with sand.
埋まっていったかがわかってきました
I found a different kind of volcano.
違う種類の火山を見つけました
exteriors stripped away,
with its living skin stripped away.
見ているような心地がしました
by an enormous freshwater aquifer.
巨大な帯水層があります
sometimes you can see it leaking out.
帯水層の水が漏れて出ているのが見えます
through those palm groves,
out of your footsteps.
飲むことが出来るでしょう
海水より塩分濃度が高く
it's saltier than seawater
a different kind of desert spring.
どうやって学ぶかを見て驚きました
with spring water
湧き水を混ぜて
it turned into a spectacle of color.
色彩のショーになります
for looking at agriculture.
素晴らしいです
in southern Algeria,
アルジェリアの南部です
how to garden in a mobile dune field
浅層地下水を活用し 移動砂丘の中で
見るのも 私は大好きです
have adapted to the African landscape.
撮影されました
the shallow lake water up
切り分けるように進んで
with their long trunks,
最も水分を含む草を
how to thrive in an environment
雨の全く降らない環境で
by the dense coastal fog
海岸からの濃い霧から
to understand what causes them.
解明されていません
crater lake in its summit at 3,700 meters.
小さな火口湖があります
between Rwanda and Congo.
for the fabled mountain gorilla.
保護区の中心でもあります
the big money-maker in Rwanda,
conservation has become a huge success.
保護活動が大きな成功を収めています
rural population density in Africa,
アフリカで一番高く
of the country I went to.
それがわかりました
that competition for land
土地争いが
that led to the tensions
緊張関係を生じ
a few years ago,
how much things had changed.
with their cattle,
牛を大事にしていましたが
their spears for Kalashnikovs.
変わっていました
were even more spectacular
想像以上に 壮観でしたが
but things had changed there too.
大きく変化していました
新しい現実に順応しており
their papyrus shelters
覆っている防水シートは
have learned how to thrive
ニジェール川の脈打つリズムの中で
of the Niger River.
and the water subsides,
in the fertile bottoms.
in the lower right corner,
for the major trade routes
残った稲わらを採り込んで
their roofs and the village mosque.
自宅の屋根や村のモスクを補強します
villages like this along the Niger River,
10ほどの村の上空を飛んだはずです
it had a different pattern.
パターンが異なり
a sculptural masterpiece,
まるで彫刻の名作のように
and nothing can really compare
実に類まれなのは
and cultural adaptations to them
文化的適応の多様さは
into the earliest waves
mountains of Libya,
キュレネで
in 700 BC, as a learning center,
ギリシャ人が作りました
in what's now Algeria
今のアルジェリアに
for old Roman soldiers,
退役コミュニティとして建設されました
the breadbasket for the Roman Empire.
ローマ帝国の穀倉だったんですね
it was buried in sand,
700年後に 砂に埋もれましたが
was wetter than it is today.
今より湿潤でした
came barreling out of the Sahara
猛スピードで来て
date palms in snow,
思いもよりませんでしたが
throwing snowballs at each other.
雪合戦を大いに楽しみました
how are Africans going to adapt
この先どうやって
climate going forward?
適応していくのかと思いました
and diverse as Africa,
多様性あふれる大陸では
that the only constant is change.
変化だと思えます
are the ultimate improvisers,
究極の即興家であり
見つけるのだと
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
George Steinmetz - Aerial photographerBest known for his exploration photography, George Steinmetz has a restless curiosity for the unknown: remote deserts, obscure cultures and the mysteries of science and technology.
Why you should listen
Since 1986, George Steinmetz has completed more than 40 major photo essays for National Geographic and 25 stories for GEO magazine in Germany, exploring the most remote stretches of Arabia's Empty Quarter to the unknown tree people of Irian Jaya. His expeditions to the Sahara and Gobi deserts have been featured in separate "National Geographic Explorer" programs. In 2006 he was awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation to document the work of scientists in the Dry Valleys and volcanoes of Antarctica.
Steinmetz began his career in photography after hitchhiking through Africa for 28 months. He then spent fifteen years photographing all of the world’s extreme deserts while piloting a motorized paraglider. This experimental aircraft enables him to capture unique images of the world, inaccessible by traditional aircraft and most other modes of transportation. He has authored four books, and his current project is documenting the challenge of meeting humanity’s rapidly expanding demand for food.
George Steinmetz | Speaker | TED.com