INTERVIEW: Krystle Wright chases storms on new episode of ‘Photographer’
Photo: Photographer’s “Heart Explosions” episode centers on Krystle Wright. Photo courtesy of National Geographic / Michael Crommett. Provided by official press site with permission.
The new National Geographic series Photographer has been showcasing truly impactful stories of visual storytellers who see the world through a photographic lens. So far the show has followed Paul Nicklen, Cristina Mittermeier, Anand Varma, Dan Winters and Campbell Addy. The next two episodes center on Krystle Wright and Muhammed Muheisen, respectively.
Photographer, from award-winning filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, is centered on adventure and how these storytellers find beauty, destruction, power and poetry within the natural environment. Wright’s episode, called “Heart Explosions,” is particularly dramatic as the camera follows her from her home in Australia to the United States looking for tornadoes to document. Her images of tornadoes over the years have been revealing and awe-inspiring, and now the camera is turned on her to better understand her journey, her obstacles and her inspiration.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Wright about her assignments over the years and what audience members can expect on the new episode of Photographer, which airs tonight, April 1, at 8 p.m. on Nat Geo. Viewers can also stream the entire series on Hulu and Disney+.
On how she became attached to the series …
“It’s a bit of a funny story, so I was approached by one of the producers very early on. I remember I took off on a road trip to Tazmania, and at some point during the calls, he’s like, ‘To be honest, Krystle, we’re not sure if we’re going to have you in season one. Perhaps if the show is a success, we can maybe think about you for season two.’ And so at that point, I just thought, you know, in this world of content creation, there’s no guarantee. Even if it is a rating success, you just don’t know if the higher powers at a company are going to approve a season two, so I thought, all right, I need to sell myself in hard. So I basically just said, ‘I’ll give you tornadoes.’ The next thing I knew, I got a call going, ‘All right, you’re in season one.’”
On making sure she found adequate tornadoes to document …
“I guess as a freelancer you learn how to be competitive or just fight for your position, and so we were incredibly lucky. The week that we went storm-chasing, the day that we landed, there wasn’t much going on. But the next day, so the first proper full day of chasing, we landed this amazing tornado in Wharton, Texas. And I chase with Nick Moir, who has been my mentor with storm-chasing, and for him, he’s like, ‘This is in my top 5 tornadoes in the past 20 years of chasing.’ And so we were insanely lucky because both Nick and I we stayed on for an extra week of chasing after the crew left, and in that second week, we just got nothing. So talk about luck, being in the right place at the right time.”
On the mystery of tornadoes and the allure of the swirling winds …
“We still don’t fully understand how tornadoes are created. We have theories; however, in the last couple seasons, they’ve only just proved a theory in how they believe tornadoes are actually formed. When you see the diagrams, it completely blows your mind, but I think that is the super-cool thing about nature. The other day I was reading about how we discovered a deep-sea species for the first time ever and just bringing awareness of why we shouldn’t be drilling in some of these places, so I think it is important that there is a curiosity and awe and wonder about the environment around us. The thing with storm-chasing is that we are in a climate that is changing, and things are becoming more extreme. So for me with storm-chasing, I think that it is vital to keep chasing and to keep documenting to understand how these things are changing.”
On the important role of photographers to better understand tornadoes …
“Particularly with storm-chasing, it is super-important for us to document and visually capture, whether it’s motion or stills. … For example, there was a really sad situation many years ago with the 2013 El Reno tornado. This thing was a F5, absolutely huge, and unfortunately a few lives were lost that day. … [We need to] understand what happened that day and what went wrong and why we weren’t ready for how that tornado’s path did change. Sometimes I think what people may not see is that the photos can actually contribute to science and help build that data.”
On letting the work speak for itself …
“Deep down, for me what matters most is that my work speaks itself. I suppose through my career that being a female who works in the adventure space, I am considered quite a niche. I mean, in the span of my career, I’ve noticed a big change, that there’s a lot more women coming into this space, which is awesome to see. Many years ago, when a major brand got behind me, they warned me that to be in this position you’re going to have to learn how to be on the other side of the camera, which was quite daunting, because oof did I have a few rookie mistakes along the way and learning how to speak and trying to articulate more about the meaning behind my work. As a freelancer, you do have to diversify and find other ways at a different income for me that I can work toward. At the end of the day, what’s important to me is to create the work that I find meaningful, and if I find it meaningful then typically I feel like it does have a chance to resonate with others. But you just never know with art.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Photographer continues with an episode called “Heart Explosions,” which is centered on tornadoes and Krystle Wright. The episode airs tonight, April 1, at 8 p.m. on National Geographic. All episodes are streaming on Hulu and Disney+. Click here for more information.
