George Steinmetz: Photos of Africa, taken from a flying lawn chair
乔治·斯坦梅茨: 从飞行草坪椅上摄取的非洲照片
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
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
intimidating being up here,
trying to tell Africans
试图告诉非洲人
can see things in a different way,
可以用不同的方式看待事物,
all over the African continent
低空低速飞行所发现的,
the spectacle of its diversity.
多样性的奇观。
his way through the Ituri Forest of Zaire.
正在穿过扎伊尔的伊图里森林。
为期一年的搭便车旅行。
of Stanford University,
to Kisangani to Cairo
on 10 dollars a day.
用 10 美元生活。
in this Dinka cattle camp
how to tie papyrus into a shelter,
如何把纸莎草纸绑在避难所里,
how they had adapted their way of life
如何适应了这样的生活方式,
of their beloved cattle.
牛的迁徙需求。
in ecological ethnography,
生态民族志研究生课程,
ride on the roof of the trucks,
going across South Sudan.
穿过南苏丹的列车的车顶。
on the back of an insect
tapestry of Africa.
if I could fly over that landscape
a professional photographer,
in the central Sahara,
新的飞行器。
of flying machine.
and slowest aircraft.
最轻,最慢的飞机。
and a parachute-style wing,
和一个降落伞式机翼组成,
I can fly for about two hours,
就可以飞行大概两小时,
is it gives me an unobstructed view,
它给了我一个自由的视野,
of flying over Africa came true
我搭便车飞越非洲的梦想成真了。
passing out in the middle of the Sahara.
is carrying salt out of the desert,
正在运盐离开沙漠,
is carrying fodder
this kind of picture
with too much downdraft,
产生了太多的下沉气流。
aircraft I was flying
我在驾驶的这架“小飞机”
remote parts of the African landscape
really been possible before.
but I am not some kind of adventure dude.
但我不是那种喜欢冒险的家伙。
and I only fly to take pictures.
飞行仅是为拍照。
is between 200 and 500 feet,
在 200 到 500 英尺之间,
three-dimensionally,
over the years in Africa,
来所做的很多拍摄
for exploration.
并不是为了探索。
只能维持在 3 公里范围内
20 minutes of battery life
is what's on a little screen.
看到它拍摄到的景象。
找到新的,奇怪的东西,
and find new things, find weird stuff,
on my left leg,
我左腿的高度表,
a mile above takeoff.
起飞地点上方一英里处。
is actually your friend,
实际上是你的朋友,
to figure out your problems.
来找出你的问题。
I figured this gave me more time
我觉得这只能给我更多的时间
I started taking pictures,
我开始拍照,
by a Harmattan wind
right hand corner of this picture,
是如何填满整个火山口的。
the entire crater with sand.
我发现了另一种火山。
I found a different kind of volcano.
exteriors stripped away,
被剥掉皮肤的地球。
with its living skin stripped away.
by an enormous freshwater aquifer.
一个巨大的地下蓄水层所支撑。
sometimes you can see it leaking out.
你可以看到有谁渗漏出来。
through those palm groves,
out of your footsteps.
it's saltier than seawater
比海水更咸,
a different kind of desert spring.
不同类型的沙漠春天。
泉水混合在一起,
with spring water
it turned into a spectacle of color.
for looking at agriculture.
在拍摄农业方面也很棒。
in southern Algeria,
阿尔及利亚南部拍摄的,
how to garden in a mobile dune field
如何利用浅层地下水
have adapted to the African landscape.
如何适应非洲的地域环境。
the shallow lake water up
with their long trunks,
如何在完全没有降雨
how to thrive in an environment
by the dense coastal fog
to understand what causes them.
crater lake in its summit at 3,700 meters.
有一个小火山口湖。
between Rwanda and Congo.
for the fabled mountain gorilla.
山地大猩猩保护区的中心。
the big money-maker in Rwanda,
卢旺达赚了许多钱,
conservation has become a huge success.
已经取得了巨大的成功。
rural population density in Africa,
人口密度最高的国家,
of the country I went to.
每个角落都看到了它。
that competition for land
that led to the tensions
a few years ago,
how much things had changed.
发生了惊人的变化。
爱着他们的牛,
with their cattle,
用冲锋枪代替了矛。
their spears for Kalashnikovs.
were even more spectacular
比我想象的更壮观,
but things had changed there too.
联合国食品车队
their papyrus shelters
他们的纸莎草帐篷。
have learned how to thrive
学会了如何在尼日尔河
of the Niger River.
and the water subsides,
in the fertile bottoms.
in the lower right corner,
撒哈拉沙漠主要贸易路线
for the major trade routes
their roofs and the village mosque.
和村庄的清真寺。
飞过了十几个这样的村庄,
villages like this along the Niger River,
有着不同的格局。
it had a different pattern.
一尊雕塑般的杰作,
a sculptural masterpiece,
and nothing can really compare
没有什么可以媲美
and cultural adaptations to them
环境和文化适应
into the earliest waves
的窗口进入殖民史上
沿海山脉上的昔兰尼,
mountains of Libya,
700 年建立的学习中心,
in 700 BC, as a learning center,
in what's now Algeria
for old Roman soldiers,
建造的退休社区,
the breadbasket for the Roman Empire.
我就感到很惊讶。
it was buried in sand,
的 700 年后,它已被尘土掩埋,
was wetter than it is today.
比今天更潮湿。
came barreling out of the Sahara
一场反常的暴风雨,
date palms in snow,
在雪中的枣椰树,
throwing snowballs at each other.
玩得很开心。
how are Africans going to adapt
非洲人怎么去适应
climate going forward?
and diverse as Africa,
充满活力和多样性的大陆,
that the only constant is change.
唯一不变的是变化。
are the ultimate improvisers,
即兴创造者,
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