TED | 24 hours on Earth — in one image | Stephen Wilkes – Stephen Wilkes

Nature reveals itself to us in unique ways, if we stop and look at the world through a window of time.


Over the last decade, I’ve observed endangered species and habitats around the world, using a photographic technique that captures the passage of time, literally from day to night, all within a single image. It has allowed me to witness the fleeting moments between wildlife and the natural habitat as time changes over the course of a single day.

00:40
In the Serengeti, during a five-week drought, I discovered a watering hole and watched, for 26 hours, diverse and competitive wildlife calmly share our planet’s most precious resource: water.

00:56
On Lake Bogoria in Kenya, I photographed the great migration of flamingos. This happens normally during the peak of dry season, but climate change has created evening thunderstorms, turning normally dry hills green and creating freshwater streams in which the flamingos joyously bathe.

01:16
Our planet is changing before our eyes. But to witness that change is also to witness the remarkable relationships between all of nature, to see the infinite beauty of it, to learn how much bigger than us it is and why it is worth fighting for.

01:34
In 2019, the Greenland ice sheet was experiencing its largest melt in recorded history: 200 billion tons of ice liquified into the ocean. When glacial ice melts, caving icebergs release sediments and particles into the seawater, initiating our ocean’s food chain. Plankton feed on the sediment, krill eat plankton, and the humpback whales feed on the krill. This photograph is the result of witnessing with my camera a 36-hour feast by humpback whales.

02:07
We assume that the greatest threat of glacial melt will be sea level rise, which will certainly have major impacts on coastlines and populations around the world. But within this image, we discover that perhaps the greatest threat from glacial melt might be our ocean’s ability to feed itself. Without ice, the ocean food chain may break.


Creating this photograph opened my consciousness. I hope through your willingness to look and see, it may open yours.

自然以一種奇特的方式 向我們展示它自己, 如果我們停下來, 透過一扇時間之窗看這個世界。

00:17
在過去的十年間, 我使用一種可以捕捉到 時間流逝的攝影技術, 觀察全世界瀕臨絕種的物種和棲息地, 從白天到夜晚, 全都呈現在同一張照片裡。 它讓我看到, 野生生物和自然棲息地 在一天內時間變化的進程中, 轉眼即逝的瞬間,

00:40
在塞倫蓋提生態區為期五週的乾旱裡。 我發現了一個水坑, 並且觀察了 26 個小時, 這些各式各樣的 具有競爭性的野生生物, 安逸地共享著我們 地球上最珍貴的資源: 水。

00:56
在肯亞的柏哥利亞湖裡, 我拍攝到了紅鶴鳥大遷移。 這些經常出現在旱季的高峰期, 但是氣候變遷會帶來夜晚的雷雨, 使通常乾燥的山丘變綠, 以及形成淡水小溪, 紅鶴在其中欣喜地沐浴。

01:16
我們的地球就在我們面前變化著。 然而觀察這些變化, 也是在觀察自然間非凡的關係。 並欣賞這不可思議的美, 去感受我們人類的渺小, 以及我們為什麼要保護我們的地球。

01:34
在 2019 年,格陵蘭冰原經歷了, 它史無前例的最大量融冰。 2000 億噸冰變成水,注入到海洋中。 當冰川融化時, 崩落的冰山將沉積物和顆粒 帶到海水中, 開啟新的食物鏈; 浮游生物以沉積物為食, 磷蝦以浮游生物為食, 座頭鯨以磷蝦為食。 這張照片就是用我的 相機進行觀察的結果——`- 座頭鯨 36 小時的盛宴。

02:07
我們假設冰川融化的最大威脅, 將是海平面的上升, 這肯定會大大地影響著海岸線, 以及全世界的人口。 但是在這張圖片裡, 我們發現,也許冰川融化的最大威脅 會是我們海洋自給自足的能力。 沒有了冰, 海洋的食物鏈也許就會斷裂。

02:29
創造這張照片讓我的意識有所覺醒。 如果你願意睜開眼仔細看, 這張照片也會讓你有所領悟。

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