Watching Storms is a composition of amateur storm footage taken mostly from Youtube. The five-minute looping video piece combines images of over 10 storms that took place in the United States in the past 20 years. With an eye for formal rhythms, types of shots, and pace, the storms weave and blend into each other, resisting delineation. This seamless, aestheticized treatment of the images presents an immediate tension with the devastation and destruction of the subject matter. The low, almost subliminal binaural tones (often used for relaxation and meditation) lull the viewer into the images and further conflict with their magnitude. We record the images because the power of the storm is somehow sublime; we watch because we want to see this power—we can't look away. Watching Storms both embodies and critiques this guilty pleasure. It is a metaphor for cultural distance.