ABOUT THE SPEAKER
George Steinmetz - Aerial photographer
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
George Steinmetz | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2017

George Steinmetz: Photos of Africa, taken from a flying lawn chair

Filmed:
479,969 views

George Steinmetz's spectacular photos show Africa from the air, taken from the world's slowest, lightest aircraft. Join Steinmetz to discover the surprising historical, ecological and sociopolitical patterns that emerge when you go low and slow in a flying lawn chair.
- Aerial photographer
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.

00:12
I have to tell you,
0
835
1214
00:14
it's more than a little
intimidating being up here,
1
2073
2531
00:16
an old American guy
trying to tell Africans
2
4628
2254
00:18
something new about your own continent.
3
6906
2081
00:21
But sometimes, an outsider
can see things in a different way,
4
9855
3723
00:25
like from the air.
5
13602
1150
00:27
That's what I found by flying low and slow
all over the African continent
6
15855
4187
00:32
as I photographed
the spectacle of its diversity.
7
20066
2591
00:35
And I wasn't always an old guy.
8
23571
1848
00:37
(Laughter)
9
25738
2348
00:40
This is me in 1979,
10
28110
2549
00:42
a kid from California backpacking
his way through the Ituri Forest of Zaire.
11
30683
3745
00:47
I was on a yearlong hitchhiking trip.
12
35101
1763
00:48
I had just dropped out
of Stanford University,
13
36888
2144
00:51
and I went from Tunis
to Kisangani to Cairo
14
39056
2807
00:53
and learned how to live
on 10 dollars a day.
15
41887
2396
00:57
It was an amazing experience for me.
16
45109
1850
00:58
I spent about a week
in this Dinka cattle camp
17
46983
2627
01:01
on the banks of the Nile in South Sudan.
18
49634
1984
01:04
The Dinka taught me
how to tie papyrus into a shelter,
19
52179
2884
01:07
and also I observed
how they had adapted their way of life
20
55087
4429
01:11
around the migratory needs
of their beloved cattle.
21
59540
2435
01:14
It was a like a graduate course
in ecological ethnography,
22
62737
2977
01:17
and I got busy taking notes with a camera.
23
65738
2046
01:20
With no money for rides,
24
68735
1399
01:22
they often made the Mzungu
ride on the roof of the trucks,
25
70158
2961
01:25
or in this case, on the top of the train
going across South Sudan.
26
73143
3253
01:29
I felt like I was riding
on the back of an insect
27
77447
3183
01:32
going across the enormous
tapestry of Africa.
28
80654
2500
01:35
It was an incredible view from up there,
29
83178
2033
01:37
but I couldn't help but think,
30
85235
1486
01:38
wouldn't it be even more amazing
if I could fly over that landscape
31
86745
3175
01:41
like a bird?
32
89944
1272
01:43
Well, that notion stayed with me,
33
91924
1868
01:45
and 20 years later,
34
93816
1809
01:47
after becoming
a professional photographer,
35
95649
2025
01:49
I was able to talk National Geographic
36
97698
1912
01:51
into doing a big story
in the central Sahara,
37
99634
2167
01:53
and I came back with a new kind
of flying machine.
38
101825
2436
01:57
This is me piloting the world's lightest
and slowest aircraft.
39
105348
3297
02:00
(Laughter)
40
108669
1031
02:01
It's called a motorized paraglider.
41
109724
2221
02:03
It consists of a backpack motor
and a parachute-style wing,
42
111969
4119
02:08
and it flies at about 30 miles an hour.
43
116112
2421
02:10
With 10 liters of fuel,
I can fly for about two hours,
44
118557
3413
02:13
but what's really amazing about it
is it gives me an unobstructed view,
45
121994
3751
02:17
both horizontally and vertically,
46
125769
1741
02:19
like a flying lawn chair.
47
127534
1579
02:21
My hitchhiker's dream
of flying over Africa came true
48
129862
2478
02:24
when I spotted these two camel caravans
passing out in the middle of the Sahara.
49
132364
3932
02:28
The one in the foreground
is carrying salt out of the desert,
50
136320
2906
02:31
while the one in the background
is carrying fodder
51
139250
2396
02:33
for the animals heading back in.
52
141670
1586
02:35
I realized you couldn't take
this kind of picture
53
143280
2364
02:37
with a conventional aircraft.
54
145668
1445
02:39
An airplane moves too fast,
55
147137
1445
02:40
a helicopter would be too loud
with too much downdraft,
56
148606
2619
02:43
and it dawned on me that this crazy little
aircraft I was flying
57
151249
3404
02:46
would open up a new way of seeing
remote parts of the African landscape
58
154677
3341
02:50
in a way that had never
really been possible before.
59
158042
2724
02:52
Let me show you how it works.
60
160790
1982
04:35
(Applause)
61
263719
3922
04:39
Thanks.
62
267665
1165
04:40
(Applause)
63
268854
1944
04:43
This may seem a bit dangerous,
but I am not some kind of adventure dude.
64
271322
3389
04:46
I'm a photographer who flies,
and I only fly to take pictures.
65
274735
2986
04:49
My favorite altitude
is between 200 and 500 feet,
66
277745
3362
04:53
where I can see the world
three-dimensionally,
67
281131
2143
04:55
but also at a human scale.
68
283298
1533
04:58
I find that a lot of what I'd done
over the years in Africa,
69
286529
3420
05:01
you could try to do with a drone,
70
289973
2335
05:04
but drones aren't really made
for exploration.
71
292332
2306
05:06
They only fly for about
20 minutes of battery life
72
294662
2412
05:09
and about three kilometers of range,
73
297098
1774
05:10
and all you get to see
is what's on a little screen.
74
298896
2707
05:13
But I like to explore.
75
301627
1151
05:14
I want to go over the horizon
and find new things, find weird stuff,
76
302802
5253
05:20
like this volcanic caldera in Niger.
77
308079
2206
05:23
If you look at the altimeter
on my left leg,
78
311532
2312
05:25
you'll see that I'm about
a mile above takeoff.
79
313868
2512
05:28
Flying that high really freaked me out,
80
316404
2135
05:30
but if you talk to a pro pilot,
81
318563
1677
05:32
they'll tell you that altitude
is actually your friend,
82
320264
2632
05:34
because the higher you are,
83
322920
1415
05:36
the more time you have
to figure out your problems.
84
324359
2382
05:38
(Laughter)
85
326765
2056
05:40
As a rank amateur,
I figured this gave me more time
86
328845
2394
05:43
to scream on the way back down.
87
331263
1551
05:44
(Laughter)
88
332838
1230
05:46
To calm myself down,
I started taking pictures,
89
334092
2317
05:48
and as I did, it became rational again,
90
336433
2001
05:50
and I was getting buffeted
by a Harmattan wind
91
338458
2234
05:52
which was coming out of the upper
right hand corner of this picture,
92
340716
3214
05:55
and I started to notice how it had filled
the entire crater with sand.
93
343954
3322
05:59
When I got to the north of Chad,
I found a different kind of volcano.
94
347300
3294
06:02
These had had their entire
exteriors stripped away,
95
350618
2396
06:05
and all that was left was the old core,
96
353038
1908
06:06
and in the middle of the Sahara,
97
354970
1723
06:08
I felt like I was seeing the earth
with its living skin stripped away.
98
356717
3579
06:12
Much of the Sahara is underlain
by an enormous freshwater aquifer.
99
360795
3646
06:16
When you go to the basin,
sometimes you can see it leaking out.
100
364465
2999
06:19
If you were to walk
through those palm groves,
101
367488
2699
06:22
you could drink fresh water
out of your footsteps.
102
370211
2404
06:24
But that green lake water?
103
372639
1373
06:26
Due to extreme evaporation,
it's saltier than seawater
104
374036
2794
06:28
and virtually lifeless.
105
376854
1150
06:30
In Niger, I was amazed to see
106
378628
1469
06:32
how the locals learned how to exploit
a different kind of desert spring.
107
380121
3426
06:35
Here, they mix the salty mud
with spring water
108
383571
2308
06:37
and spread it out in shallow ponds,
109
385903
1699
06:39
and as it evaporated,
it turned into a spectacle of color.
110
387626
2816
06:43
My rig is also amazing
for looking at agriculture.
111
391583
3284
06:46
This picture was taken
in southern Algeria,
112
394891
2565
06:49
where the locals have learned
how to garden in a mobile dune field
113
397480
3120
06:52
by tapping into shallow groundwater.
114
400624
1784
06:55
I also loved looking at how animals
have adapted to the African landscape.
115
403142
3897
06:59
This picture was taken in Lake Amboseli,
116
407063
1976
07:01
just across the border from here in Kenya.
117
409063
2001
07:03
The elephants have carved
the shallow lake water up
118
411088
2382
07:05
into a network of little pathways,
119
413494
2204
07:07
and they're spaced just enough apart
120
415722
1755
07:09
that only elephants,
with their long trunks,
121
417501
2108
07:11
can tap into the most succulent grasses.
122
419633
1931
07:13
In Namibia, the zebra have learned
how to thrive in an environment
123
421588
3190
07:16
that gets no rainfall at all.
124
424802
1461
07:18
These grasses are irrigated
by the dense coastal fog
125
426287
2865
07:21
that blankets the area every morning.
126
429176
1785
07:23
And those bald patches out there?
127
431281
1897
07:25
They call them fairy circles,
128
433202
1420
07:26
and scientists still struggle
to understand what causes them.
129
434646
2881
07:29
This is Mount Visoke, with a small
crater lake in its summit at 3,700 meters.
130
437971
4310
07:34
It forms the roof of the Great Rift Valley
131
442305
2001
07:36
and also the border
between Rwanda and Congo.
132
444330
2959
07:39
It's also the center of the reserve
for the fabled mountain gorilla.
133
447313
3532
07:42
They're actually
the big money-maker in Rwanda,
134
450869
2350
07:45
and on this side of the border,
conservation has become a huge success.
135
453243
3443
07:49
Rwanda has the highest
rural population density in Africa,
136
457487
3778
07:53
and I saw it in almost every corner
of the country I went to.
137
461289
3252
07:56
I've heard it said
that competition for land
138
464565
2643
07:59
was one of the things
that led to the tensions
139
467232
2144
08:01
that caused the genocide of the 1990s.
140
469400
1998
08:04
I went back to South Sudan
a few years ago,
141
472699
2357
08:07
and it was amazing to see
how much things had changed.
142
475080
2555
08:09
The Dinka were still in love
with their cattle,
143
477659
2220
08:11
but they had turned in
their spears for Kalashnikovs.
144
479903
2503
08:14
The cattle camps from above
were even more spectacular
145
482430
2729
08:17
than I could have imagined,
but things had changed there too.
146
485183
2864
08:20
You see those little blue dots down there?
147
488071
2095
08:22
The Dinka had adapted to the new reality,
148
490190
2047
08:24
and now they covered
their papyrus shelters
149
492261
2024
08:26
with the tarps from UN food convoys.
150
494309
1769
08:28
In Mali, the Bozo people
have learned how to thrive
151
496683
3080
08:31
in the pulsating rhythms
of the Niger River.
152
499787
2180
08:33
As the rainy season ends
and the water subsides,
153
501991
2487
08:36
they plant their rice
in the fertile bottoms.
154
504502
2138
08:38
And that village
in the lower right corner,
155
506664
2000
08:40
that's Gao, one of the jumping off points
for the major trade routes
156
508688
3191
08:43
across the Sahara.
157
511903
1452
08:45
At the end of the harvest,
158
513379
1326
08:46
the Bozo take the leftover rice straw
159
514729
2159
08:48
and they mix it with mud to reinforce
their roofs and the village mosque.
160
516912
3619
08:52
I must have flown over a dozen
villages like this along the Niger River,
161
520555
3388
08:55
and each one was unique,
it had a different pattern.
162
523967
2506
08:58
and each mosque was like
a sculptural masterpiece,
163
526497
2342
09:00
and no two were alike.
164
528863
1278
09:02
I've flown all over the world,
and nothing can really compare
165
530869
2859
09:05
to the cultural diversity of Africa.
166
533752
1716
09:07
You see it in every country,
167
535492
1460
09:09
from Morocco
168
537379
1150
09:11
to Ethiopia,
169
539871
1500
09:14
to South Africa,
170
542590
1150
09:17
to Mozambique,
171
545226
1500
09:19
to South Sudan,
172
547987
1500
09:23
to Mali.
173
551361
1703
09:25
The array of environments
and cultural adaptations to them
174
553088
3493
09:28
is really extraordinary,
175
556605
1253
09:29
and the history is pretty cool too.
176
557882
1817
09:32
From the air, I have a unique window
into the earliest waves
177
560259
2811
09:35
of colonial history.
178
563094
1151
09:36
This is Cyrene on the coastal
mountains of Libya,
179
564269
2316
09:38
that was founded by the Greeks,
in 700 BC, as a learning center,
180
566609
3000
09:41
and Timgad, which was founded
in what's now Algeria
181
569633
2660
09:44
by the Romans in 100 AD.
182
572317
1421
09:45
This was built as a retirement community
for old Roman soldiers,
183
573762
3658
09:49
and it amazed me to think
184
577444
2000
09:51
that North Africa was once
the breadbasket for the Roman Empire.
185
579468
3031
09:54
But 700 years after Timgad was built,
it was buried in sand,
186
582897
3381
09:58
and even then, the African climate
was wetter than it is today.
187
586302
3579
10:02
The African climate continues to change,
188
590709
2022
10:04
and you see it everywhere,
189
592755
1557
10:06
like here in the Gorges de Ziz,
190
594336
1810
10:08
where a freak rainstorm
came barreling out of the Sahara
191
596170
2856
10:11
and blanketed the mountains in snow.
192
599050
1738
10:13
I never thought I would see
date palms in snow,
193
601669
3381
10:17
but the kids that day had a great time
throwing snowballs at each other.
194
605074
3592
10:21
But it made me wonder,
how are Africans going to adapt
195
609536
2571
10:24
to this rapidly changing
climate going forward?
196
612131
2758
10:26
In a continent as dynamic
and diverse as Africa,
197
614913
2477
10:29
sometimes it seems
that the only constant is change.
198
617414
2594
10:32
But one thing I've learned
199
620625
1251
10:33
is that Africans
are the ultimate improvisers,
200
621900
2144
10:36
always adapting and finding a way forward.
201
624068
2168
10:38
Thank you.
202
626763
1151
10:39
(Applause)
203
627938
3270

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
George Steinmetz - Aerial photographer
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.

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.

More profile about the speaker
George Steinmetz | Speaker | TED.com