Arizona Time Lapse

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

I am lucky enough to have a cousin living in Tucson, Arizona, and luckier still to have had the opportunity to visit her and her husband during trips to America in 2010 and again in 2012. On both visits I got to see some of the magnificent scenery around Tucson, as well as other parts of the state; namely Sedona and surrounding areas, The Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley (although Utah rightly lays claim to the heart of Monument Valley).

When I saw the video embedded below on Vimeo recently, I was impressed with it enough to include it here. At a little over two minutes in length, this time lapse video titled My Arizona, was created by Drew Geraci of District 7 Media with the assistance of Andrew Breese and Jason Fudge. While it doesn't appear to show the Grand Canyon or Monument Valley, it does provide a very brief overview of some of some of what you can expect to see in Arizona if you make the journey there.

Using a variety of digital cameras the footage was recorded over the course of three days in which the photographs covers some 500 miles. In the process they say, they “…trekked down 3000 foot ravines, exploring hidden water falls, open landscape and the clear night sky.”

"My Arizona" from Drew Geraci (District 7 Media) on Vimeo.

Tech:
x2 Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 II
Canon 24-105mm f/4

Dynamic Perception Stage Zero

Music by: Gregg Lehrman
Assistance by: Andrew Breese and Jason Fudge

Monday Movies – Manhattan to Tokyo

A couple of movies combining motion and time lapse footage of Manhattan, and that other great metropolis, Tokyo. These are both from the Blue Eden page on Vimeo.

I haven’t been able to find out much about the people or person behind Blue Eden. The YouTube page was only set up at the beginning of December 2011, and the first Twitter post only went ‘live’ on January 4, 2012, so Blue Eden is definitely the new kid on the block . However, the quality of the three films produced so far, leave no doubt that the ‘kid’ may be new, but s/he certainly knows how to make a good first impression.

The information below is taken from that provided on Blue Eden’s Vimeo page.

Manhattan
A city that glows long after the light has faded. It seems people are always moving in and out of New York in pursuit of dreams. The city comes alive at night, as if unsatisfied to simply sleep. Many of us will leave one day, perhaps when we finally awaken, but those blurry lights continue to inspire long after.

I filmed this over one week in the winter. Scenes include Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Times Square, Grand Central, Wall Street, Met Museum, American Museum of Natural History, and the 9/11 Memorial.

Music: "Circuits" by The American Dollar.

New York "Afterglow" from Blue Eden on Vimeo.

Kyoto
I first visited Tokyo nearly 10 years ago and was swept away by its futuristic society steeped in ancient culture. The beautiful mix of new and old still entrance me today. We hoped to capture that beauty and filmed for 2 weeks in Tokyo and its surrounding areas. As we visited during the New Year, we were lucky to attend the "dezuiri" sumo ring-entering ceremony, which you'll see in the opening shot. We also captured "yumi hajime" (first archery practice of the year) as well as "hatsumode" (first shrine visit of the year) at Asakusa.

Other shots include Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi Hills, Meiji Shrine, Rainbow Bridge at Odaiba, Tokyo Tower, Tsukiji fish market, Yokohama, Mount Fuji, Lake Kawaguchi, and Nikko world-heritage shrines. Music by Stephen Anderson.

Kyoto "Rising Dawn" from Blue Eden on Vimeo.

More Information
Blue Eden on Vimeo… 
Blue Eden on Facebook… 
Blue Eden on Twitter…

Also check out Blue Eden’s other Japan film, Kyoto HD "Rising Dawn" Technical information about the making of each video is available on Blue Eden’s Vimeo page. Finally, thanks to Blog Top Sites for bringing this to our attention.

Monday Movie: HDR Skies

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French photographer Tanguy Louvigny created the time-lapse film embedded below of Normandy and Brittany using High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging techniques. As you can see from the screen grab above, the footage – and the countryside – looks absolutely stunning, and Louvigny has generously made the above image, and half-a-dozen others, available for download as wallpapers for your computer desktop.

Films like this sometimes make me wonder if there is any point travelling to see the regions depicted in these homemade films for myself. After all, one would have to sit – in some instances – for hours to observe the same scenes. On the other hand, watching videos like the one here can lead to a growing sense of frustration knowing that life is too short, and no matter how much money you have, you will never have enough time to see all the beautiful places on this small blue planet.

Ultimately, more than anything else, these videos stir the wanderlust in me, and regardless of money or time, I am left counting down the months, weeks and days until my next journey.

For more information regarding how Louvigny creates his films, and the gear he uses, go to his website and Vimeo page.

Thanks to Open Culture for the heads up on this video and Louvigny’s delightful film.

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Hdr skies from Tanguy Louvigny on Vimeo.

Make sure you view the video at full size to see the footage at its best.

Time Lapse View of Earth From Space

This video has been getting a lot of attention since it was released by NASA during November. The five minute time lapse film consists of "...sequences of photographs taken with a low-light camera by the crew of expeditions 28 and 29 onboard the International Space Station." The images where shot from August to October, 2011, at an altitude of around 350 km.

Watching the film, I was amazed at the number of storms that seem to be taking place at any one time, somewhere on the planet – as indicated by the numerous lightning flashes that you see throughout the flyovers.

Among the highlights of the film are images of the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis;  a view of the Northwest coast of United States and Central South America; Central Africa and the Middle East; Islands in the Philippine Sea; the Mideast at Night; the Mediterranean Sea, and Eastern Europe.

This film really makes me appreciate the fragile planet we all share and inhabit. From a height of 350 kilometres the world truly is a beautiful place, a fact we can easily – and all too often do – lose sight of as we crawl around down here at surface level. Let me tell you, dear reader, if you think we humans are going to find a better place elsewhere in the universe – you are kidding yourself. This is it. This really is as good as it gets, and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can focus on protecting the planet, and doing everything possible to ensure it, and we, survive for many future generations.

Make sure you set the video to full screen mode, then sit back and enjoy…

EARTH from Michael König on Vimeo.