Camille Seaman: Photos from a storm chaser

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Camille Seaman: Photos from a storm chaser

小さいことは気にすんなッ、主題と主張をつかもう！

「嵐を追跡」といってもアイドルグループの追っかけの話ではありません（笑）。水は地球上で循環しているのですから、いま空の上に浮いている雲も、これから私が飲む水道水や私が食べる野菜になるかもしれませんし、或いはかつて私の中の水分だったのかもしれません。

【話題】自然と人間のつながり

【時間】 3分26秒
【だいたいこんな感じ】
１．アメリカ・インディアンとして
　祖父から自然と人間のつながりについて教わった。すべてものはつながっている。空の向こうの雲は人間の一部であり、雲から降ってくる雨が大地に恵みをもたらす。

２．嵐を追いかけて
　娘のツルの一声で嵐を追いかけるようになった。直径80㎞、上空2000メートル近くまで及ぶスーパーセル（巨大積乱雲）、グレープフルーツ大の雹（ヒョウ）を降らせる。嵐を追いかけていると、全身で嵐を感じることができる。

３．宇宙の始まりを感じる
　巨大積乱雲の真下にいると、宇宙の始まりのような感覚を味わうことができる。

【語彙】

Shinnecock Indian ：シャインコック・インディアン

perspire ：汗をかく

super cell ：巨大で強力な積乱雲のこと

hail ：雹（ヒョウ）

ominous ：不吉な

tactile ：五感に訴える

swirl ：渦

undulate ：うねる

lava ：溶岩

mammatus cloud ：乳房雲

privilege ：特権、栄誉

【transcripts】

Everything is interconnected. As a Shinnecock Indian, I was raised to know this. We are a small fishing tribe situated on the southeastern tip of Long Island near the town of Southampton in New York.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather took me to sit outside in the sun on a hot summer day. There were no clouds in the sky. And after a while I began to perspire. And he pointed up to the sky, and he said, "Look, do you see that? That's part of you up there. That's your water that helps to make the cloud that becomes the rain that feeds the plants that feeds the animals."

In my continued exploration of subjects in nature that have the ability to illustrate the interconnection of all life, I started storm chasing in 2008 after my daughter said, "Mom, you should do that."

And so three days later, driving very fast, I found myself stalking a single type of giant cloud called the super cell, capable of producing grapefruit-size hail and spectacular tornadoes, although only two percent actually do. These clouds can grow so big, up to 50 miles wide and reach up to 65,000 feet into the atmosphere. They can grow so big, blocking all daylight, making it very dark and ominous standing under them.

Storm chasing is a very tactile experience. There's a warm, moist wind blowing at your back and the smell of the earth, the wheat, the grass, the charged particles. And then there are the colors in the clouds of hail forming, the greens and the turquoise blues. I've learned to respect the lightning. My hair used to be straight.

I'm just kidding.

What really excites me about these storms is their movement, the way they swirl and spin and undulate, with their lava lamp-like mammatus clouds. They become lovely monsters.

When I'm photographing them, I cannot help but remember my grandfather's lesson. As I stand under them, I see not just a cloud, but understand that what I have the privilege to witness is the same forces, the same process in a small-scale version that helped to create our galaxy, our solar system, our sun and even this very planet.

All my relations. Thank you.

カミール・シーマン「カメラで嵐を追跡する」