Flying in a motorized paraglider over one of the most diverse continents in the world, George Steinmetz captures the stunning beauty of Africa's landscapes and people. His pictures show not only the spectacular patterns of the land, but also the potential and hope that the continent encompasses.
Steinmetz made his first trip to Africa while in college, and spent two and a half years hitch-hiking across the continent.
"I didn't have a goal to change Africa. I just wanted to marinate in it," he said.
A self-taught photographer, Steinmetz has traveled through more than 30 countries in Africa photographing its diverse wildlife, landscape and culture. For the past decade much of his work has involved flying a ultralight aircraft to photograph remote landscapes. His foot-launched aircraft consists of a backpack motor and paraglider-style wing. It is the world's lightest and slowest motorized aircraft and allows a unique and more intimate style of aerial photography.
His photographs have appeared numerous times in National Geographic magazine and in the German edition of GEO.
Published: June 1, 2011
I liked this video that highlights the work of photographer George Steinmatz, but mostly was impressed with the video he shoots. When he lets the camera run a little video, it really speaks. He says some poignant things, and the moments I like work well because of the combination of audio and video. I like seeing his shots of the butterflies at :49 seconds in and then the aerial shots from his motorized paraglider at 1:40 really show you what he is doing. I like his low shots over the ground with his shadows and then the ones over the dunes as it must be incredibly complicated to not crash and take these beautiful images. Wow. Seeing the footage of him doing this is the most powerful. Small cameras are what make photography and video like this possible. The video he has at 3:20 and then the following photos with the subtle moves are lovely. I like seeing the photography stand on it's own with the commentary. Especially when we see the photos from 4:10-4:30 as they make an impact as he shows a real variety of environments; the beauty, the destruction, the changes occurring. His commentary is insightful when we see the photo of the woman climbing into a dwelling. I want a copy of this one. I love the composition as we see him documenting the very different ways that people here are living in contrast to one another. The patterns, the colors, the beauty. I like this area from 5:15-5:40.
6:21 starts off an area that is cool as we see the video mixed with a photo of a modern city-where is that? Don't care so much for the music as it doesn't seem so important to me here. It's the video that I want to see more of......
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