STACK June 2016 Issue 140

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For Belgium photographer Matthew
Vandeputte, nothing gives him as big a thrill
as watching a monster storm roll in across
Sydney – the place he believes is one of the best
places in the world to truly capture the spectacle
of a storm.
He describes how incredible it feels to be
in the midst of a clear day when clouds start
creeping across the landscape like a wall.
That’s when he grabs his camera and races to
one of his favourite vantage points. According
to Matthew, Sydney is like a Mecca for storm
chasers.
Specialising in time lapse photography is not
something Vandeputte set out to accomplish.
He moved to Sydney from Belgium in 2013 and
started ‘playing around’ with time lapse; creating
a niche for himself.
“Basically I shot a lot of photos and created
videos and one of the most interesting subjects
is storms. I’m always shooting weather. It’s
fascinating to see the light change and storms
are visually so incredible if you speed them up.
Luckily, Sydney has such extreme weather. It can
be a perfectly sunny day and right before your
eyes the clouds roll in and you have to run for
cover. Then minutes later it might be sunny again.
I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else in
the world,” Vandeputte said.
One of Vandeputte’s favourite time lapse videos
was shot in Sydney’s eastern suburbs – at Dover
Heights, near Bondi. He set up in a park that
overlooks the city.
“There had been five stormy days in a row and
I knew the storm was coming over the Western
side of the city. I knew the park would be an ideal
spot. So I was there setting up my gear, waiting
and looking at weather radars. Then, two hours
later, I saw a very intense cloud coming across
and it developed into a beast of a storm. It looked
like it was literally eating the city.”
He got as much footage as he could, knowing
the storms move at a very fast pace. He shot for
several minutes as his girlfriend ran back towards
the car as lightning started to strike.
“It was on the edge of being dangerous but I
couldn’t move until I had got all the vision I could.
I wasn’t going to waste it for anything!”
Vandeputte describes pushing himself for as
long as he could before dashing home to look at
the footage and feeling ecstatic when he saw the
spectacular vision he had shot.
“I remember feeling amazed. Absolutely
ecstatic. It looked like something out of a movie.”
He posted his footage on Youtube and, so far, it
has had 54,000 views.
“Photography is all about showing people
things that they think they know. But when
you speed up time, it makes it so much more
interesting. We are lucky being in Sydney
because of the layout of the city and the variety
of spots you can shoot from.
According to Vandeputte, Sydney storms are
very unique because they move so quickly, they
are so visually impressive and, often, simply
breathtaking.
“Thanks to social media and people sharing
footage of storms and general wild Sydney
weather, people are beginning to realise how
magnificent they are and also the skill involved in
shooting them. Not a lot of people shoot storms
in a way that is pre-conceptualised vision – for
example, shooting from a different range of
angles. It’s my hobby but I love shooting and
having a subject and a city where it is so easy to
shoot.”
Vandeputte has shot storms in many countries
including Spain, Thailand, New Zealand,
Belgium and the US. He said his time lapse
videos can be seen on several documentaries
and advertisements. He described watching
television one night and then seeing vision of a
storm on an ad, realising it looked familiar – and
then realising it was his own footage.
“There are definitely more than a handful
of photographers specialising in time lapse
photography and storms – more like two handfuls
of people. Once you’re aware of time lapse
videos you will start seeing them everywhere.
It’s a way of looking at life through a different
angle. Instead of a day moving slowly in real
time, you speed up your life and see how busy
we all are. It’s another way of seeing your life
flash before your eyes.
Matt Vandeputte:
thestormchaser
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