George Steinmetz: Photos of Africa, taken from a flying lawn chair
喬治史坦梅茲: 從飛行躺椅上拍攝的非洲照片
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
竟然想在這裡告訴非洲人
can see things in a different way,
能用不同的角度來看事物,
all over the African continent
了解到了這一點。
the spectacle of its diversity.
his way through the Ituri Forest of Zaire.
背著背包穿越薩伊的伊圖里森林。
of Stanford University,
to Kisangani to Cairo
on 10 dollars a day.
in this Dinka cattle camp
待了大約一週,
how to tie papyrus into a shelter,
how they had adapted their way of life
他們心愛小牛的遷移需求,
of their beloved cattle.
in ecological ethnography,
一堂生態人種學課程,
ride on the roof of the trucks,
going across South Sudan.
南蘇丹的火車頂上。
on the back of an insect
tapestry of Africa.
if I could fly over that landscape
會不會更不可思議?
a professional photographer,
in the central Sahara,
of flying machine.
and slowest aircraft.
且最慢的飛行機的模樣。
and a parachute-style wing,
以及像降落傘的機翼,
I can fly for about two hours,
我就可以飛大約兩小時,
is it gives me an unobstructed view,
它讓我的視野完全沒有障礙阻擋,
在撒哈拉沙漠中部行進時,
of flying over Africa came true
passing out in the middle of the Sahara.
飛越非洲的夢想成真了。
is carrying salt out of the desert,
is carrying fodder
this kind of picture
無法拍攝這種照片。
with too much downdraft,
aircraft I was flying
駕駛的這台瘋狂小飛行器
remote parts of the African landscape
來看非洲地景的偏遠部分,
really been possible before.
but I am not some kind of adventure dude.
但我並不是冒險型的人。
and I only fly to take pictures.
我只為了拍照而飛。
is between 200 and 500 feet,
約是 60 到 150 公尺,
three-dimensionally,
over the years in Africa,
我在非洲所做的很多事,
for exploration.
20 minutes of battery life
它們只能飛二十分鐘,
is what's on a little screen.
and find new things, find weird stuff,
發現新事物,發現奇特的東西,
on my left leg,
a mile above takeoff.
比起飛點高 1.6 公里的高度。
is actually your friend,
高度其實是你的朋友,
to figure out your problems.
我認為這會給我更多時間
I figured this gave me more time
I started taking pictures,
by a Harmattan wind
right hand corner of this picture,
the entire crater with sand.
將沙子帶到火山口中。
我發現了一種不同的火山。
I found a different kind of volcano.
exteriors stripped away,
with its living skin stripped away.
地球的皮被活剝了。
by an enormous freshwater aquifer.
巨大淡水地下蓄水層支撐。
sometimes you can see it leaking out.
有時可以看見水漏出來。
through those palm groves,
out of your footsteps.
it's saltier than seawater
它比海水還要多鹽份,
a different kind of desert spring.
各種類的沙漠泉水。
with spring water
it turned into a spectacle of color.
for looking at agriculture.
in southern Algeria,
how to garden in a mobile dune field
沙丘原野中從事園藝,
have adapted to the African landscape.
如何去適應非洲的地景。
the shallow lake water up
with their long trunks,
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.
頂峰上有個火山口湖。
between Rwanda and Congo.
for the fabled mountain gorilla.
大猩猩的保護區中心。
the big money-maker in Rwanda,
conservation has become a huge success.
rural population density in Africa,
of the country I went to.
哪個角落,幾乎都會看到。
that competition for land
that led to the tensions
a few years ago,
how much things had changed.
很讓我吃驚。
with their cattle,
their spears for Kalashnikovs.
換成卡拉希尼科夫槍。
were even more spectacular
but things had changed there too.
但那裡也變了。
their papyrus shelters
have learned how to thrive
of the Niger River.
and the water subsides,
in the fertile bottoms.
in the lower right corner,
for the major trade routes
主要貿易路線的出發點之一。
their roofs and the village mosque.
他們的屋頂和村落的清真寺。
villages like this along the Niger River,
像這樣的尼日河延岸村落,
it had a different pattern.
a sculptural masterpiece,
and nothing can really compare
and cultural adaptations to them
對環境所做出的文化適應
into the earliest waves
可以看見最早的殖民歷史浪潮。
在利比亞的海岸山脈上,
mountains of Libya,
in 700 BC, as a learning center,
做為學習中心用,
in what's now Algeria
現在是阿爾及利亞,
for old Roman soldiers,
老羅馬士兵的退休社區,
the breadbasket for the Roman Empire.
it was buried in sand,
就被掩埋在沙中,
was wetter than it is today.
came barreling out of the Sahara
快速掃過撒哈拉沙漠,
date palms in snow,
我會看到雪中的棗椰樹,
throwing snowballs at each other.
開心地向彼此丟雪球。
how are Africans going to adapt
非洲人要如何適應
climate going forward?
and diverse as Africa,
that the only constant is change.
就是一切在變。
are the ultimate improvisers,
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