Kevin Erskine is not your average storm chaser. While a new generation of thrill seekers barrel down gravel roads in vans equipped with digital imaging equipment and the latest satellite technology, Erskine relies primarily on intuition and his large format film camera to document the fury that unfolds in the sky. His images come straight from the camera to the pages of his latest monograph Supercell. He doesn't spend hours polishing and retouching them on the computer, so these photographs function as art and as a strict documentation of meteorological phenomena.


Erskine transports his viewer to the realm of the sublime. We see turbulent skies rolling over the plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Texas. The tiny towns, grain silos and windmills that litter the rural countryside are dwarfed by enormous "mothership" cloud formations. Fueled by atmospheric convection, giant squall lines swirl and rotate over the furrowed fields of tornado alley. Erskine shows us brilliant blues and greens on the underbelly of monster storms, while towering cumulus clouds glow orange and pink as they bask in evening sunlight. At times, the pictures resemble abstract paintings, punctured only by the presence of a narrow strip of farmland in the foreground. One of the last images in the book depicts the shattered suburban landscape of Greensburg, Kansas ravaged by a tornado in 2007. This image serves as a poignant reminder of the devastating power of nature, and as a counterpoint to the abject beauty present in each of Erskine's images.


Environmental writer and historian Richard Hamblyn compares Erskine's photographs to the expressive landscape paintings of William Turner. In the introduction to Supercell, Hamblyn provides a history of storm chasing. He traces the American tradition back to weather tracking efforts made by Ben Franklin. Redmond O'Hanlon contributes a poetic text that simultaneously celebrates and criticizes Erskine's artistic practice, warning those that dare to tempt the deadly wrath of nature.

Supercell is a beautiful oversized book bound in linen. Its 190 pages are filled with amazing panoramic images reproduced in brilliant color. This book will appeal to weather geeks and those that appreciate documentary landscape photography. I am pleased to have this book on my bookshelf and I am sure you will enjoy it as well. —Daniel W. Coburn