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The Big Cloud: Spectacular Photographs of Storm Clouds
Witness the power of nature.
More than 85 thrilling photographs: These beautiful photographs of stormfronts, tornados, lightning storms, and pitch-black skies engulf the viewer's imagination and never fail to impart the awe-inspiring power of our constantly shifting weather and climate. Seaman's work is a potent reminder that there is no art more dramatic, in scale or emotion, than that created by nature.
"I wasn't born a storm chaser. Like so many things in my life it came out of left field, without a warning or sign." Camille Seaman is a TED Senior Fellow whose TED Talk on her photographs of supercell storms has garnered more than 1,600,000 views. She has received a National Geographic Award, and her photographs appear in publications including Time , The New York Times , and Men's Journal .
"A cloud can be beautiful, terrible, or both — the embodiment of the sublime." The Big Cloud features an introduction by Alan Burdick, author and science editor for The New Yorker .
If you liked Melting Away: A Ten Year Journey through Our Endangered Polar Regions , you'll love The Big Cloud
More than 85 thrilling photographs: These beautiful photographs of stormfronts, tornados, lightning storms, and pitch-black skies engulf the viewer's imagination and never fail to impart the awe-inspiring power of our constantly shifting weather and climate. Seaman's work is a potent reminder that there is no art more dramatic, in scale or emotion, than that created by nature.
"I wasn't born a storm chaser. Like so many things in my life it came out of left field, without a warning or sign." Camille Seaman is a TED Senior Fellow whose TED Talk on her photographs of supercell storms has garnered more than 1,600,000 views. She has received a National Geographic Award, and her photographs appear in publications including Time , The New York Times , and Men's Journal .
"A cloud can be beautiful, terrible, or both — the embodiment of the sublime." The Big Cloud features an introduction by Alan Burdick, author and science editor for The New Yorker .
If you liked Melting Away: A Ten Year Journey through Our Endangered Polar Regions , you'll love The Big Cloud
172 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
2 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 30, 2018
I recently came across Camille Seaman's photographs and her book The Big Cloud, published last May by Princeton Architectural Press.
Storm photos often work best when seen as panoramas. It's hard to imagine something that big, that wide, forming and moving over land. Camille Seaman's photos catch the interplay of light, the mix of blues and browns within the storm formations.
Seaman's images do a wonderful job catching the interplay of light on surroundings. I like her style of putting darkness on one side of the image and there are some where the light is exquisite, but the book pages fight with the images, which drives me nuts. Many of the images run through the book's gutter and the binding stops me from seeing the picture as it was intended.
Seaman's images have a distinctly documentary feel (she makes clear in her introduction that her images are of weather patterns, not scenes of the disasters that these storms can leave in their wake).
The images are dated and appear chronologically, from 2008 through 2014 (I learned that storm chasers name storms by the date of appearance), which adds to the documentary feel of the book, though there being info about some pics but not others feels just a little haphazard.
Seaman's documentary feel of images is enhanced by several images of storm chasers in and beside vehicles, linking the images to the last section. Seaman writes about the long days of driving to potential storm sights, with hours spent wedged in a car eating food that isn't that great. So, Instagram-style photos are added to give the viewer a sense of what it's like traveling and waiting. It's a great idea but I wish it was done a bit differently with a few more pictures.
An introductory essay, written by Camille, explains how she got caught up in storm chasing. A second introduction, by Alan Burdick explains our artistic interest in and expression of cloud formations. A second, longer introduction by Camille provides more detail about storm chasing and her work's relationship with into her Native American heritage.
Overall, the images are impressive, with viewing made a challenge by the layout of the book. It's a strong collection, worth picking up, and has led me to Camille Seaman's earlier book about icebergs, titled "Melting Away." I'm looking forward to perusing that one, too.
Storm photos often work best when seen as panoramas. It's hard to imagine something that big, that wide, forming and moving over land. Camille Seaman's photos catch the interplay of light, the mix of blues and browns within the storm formations.
Seaman's images do a wonderful job catching the interplay of light on surroundings. I like her style of putting darkness on one side of the image and there are some where the light is exquisite, but the book pages fight with the images, which drives me nuts. Many of the images run through the book's gutter and the binding stops me from seeing the picture as it was intended.
Seaman's images have a distinctly documentary feel (she makes clear in her introduction that her images are of weather patterns, not scenes of the disasters that these storms can leave in their wake).
The images are dated and appear chronologically, from 2008 through 2014 (I learned that storm chasers name storms by the date of appearance), which adds to the documentary feel of the book, though there being info about some pics but not others feels just a little haphazard.
Seaman's documentary feel of images is enhanced by several images of storm chasers in and beside vehicles, linking the images to the last section. Seaman writes about the long days of driving to potential storm sights, with hours spent wedged in a car eating food that isn't that great. So, Instagram-style photos are added to give the viewer a sense of what it's like traveling and waiting. It's a great idea but I wish it was done a bit differently with a few more pictures.
An introductory essay, written by Camille, explains how she got caught up in storm chasing. A second introduction, by Alan Burdick explains our artistic interest in and expression of cloud formations. A second, longer introduction by Camille provides more detail about storm chasing and her work's relationship with into her Native American heritage.
Overall, the images are impressive, with viewing made a challenge by the layout of the book. It's a strong collection, worth picking up, and has led me to Camille Seaman's earlier book about icebergs, titled "Melting Away." I'm looking forward to perusing that one, too.
November 20, 2025
4.5
What stops this book from being perfect is two tangentially related problems. 1. It’s simply too small (and it’s already larger than average). I should have trouble opening it, that’s how large it should be; at least 3x its current size (which is just under an A4, turned sideways). 2. The internal formatting … I just wish the images didn’t run over the fold, it distorted them in a distracting way. And just like the ’smaller’ size of the book does them injustice, so did any distortion of them :/
What stops this book from being perfect is two tangentially related problems. 1. It’s simply too small (and it’s already larger than average). I should have trouble opening it, that’s how large it should be; at least 3x its current size (which is just under an A4, turned sideways). 2. The internal formatting … I just wish the images didn’t run over the fold, it distorted them in a distracting way. And just like the ’smaller’ size of the book does them injustice, so did any distortion of them :/
August 4, 2023
Don't deprive yourself of the opportunity to view Camille Seaman's images. Get the book from interlibrary loan.
The only thing I would change: print the book in an even larger format, so that no images have to be split across two pages.
The only thing I would change: print the book in an even larger format, so that no images have to be split across two pages.
July 26, 2018
"A cloud is a shade in motion."
August 11, 2018
This book has epic cloud pictures from the Midwest including lots from my home in South Dakota. I miss the grandeur of the skies on the prairie but don’t really miss the scariness of severe weather!
October 23, 2018
Fascinating photos.
November 7, 2018
Awesome storm cloud pics!
July 17, 2019
Breathtaking photographs and moments in a supercell's life, but it could have used a photo book editor's touch. Dropped down from an experience to a coffee table book because of it.
June 8, 2018
Amazing supercell photography!!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews