As of Spring 2021, I have been in full “timelapse photography” mode, and loving (almost) every moment of it.
I am enjoying timelapses so much, in fact, that I have created “Timelapse City“, a new category in the main menu for La Vue Atypique dedicated exclusively to them!
Recording these timelapse videos consists of capturing between 1,000 and 3,000 images of the same scene in a period between an hour and two hours at four-second intervals. The camera that I have been using for this project is Alpharetta, my personal name for the Sony a6000 mirrorless camera that I purchased last year. She is not to be confused with Ananda, my trusty full-frame Sony a99 dSLR camera of several years.
In this particular endeavor, the end result of this time-consuming effort is a timelapse video of approximately one minute displaying all the activity that took place over the course of 90 minutes. Below is the video featuring boats sailing around Shilshole Bay in Seattle and the Puget Sound around mid-afternoon on Saturday, April 10th.
There are several aspects that I enjoy in this video, including the change in weather. It starts off sunny and eventually becomes cloudy with some brief spurts of precipitation. At the same time, you can see the number of boats decrease as the inclement weather approaches.
Through it all, there is one particular boat that appears defiant or oblivious to Mother Nature’s motives. The boat remains buoyed in the same location throughout the video until the end when it seems — to me, as the viewer — that all the other boats have fled the scene. Upon this observation, the buoyed boat departs as well. I found a bit of humor in this because, even though these are boats sailing around, their behavior is guided by human personalities. In other words, I equate the boats to people in a social setting.
Conclusively, I have given the timelapse video three different titles: “Party’s Over”, “Where Did Everyone Go?”, and “Could Have Told You So“.
The third title is borrowed from a popular single in Europe from the early 1990s by UK band Halo James. When I first recorded this scene for a timelapse, all the elements at play instantly reminded me of the melody and lyrics of this song. Since I couldn’t use that song as the background music for the timelapse, I used a different, instrumental tune that fit the humor and mood of the scene. Alternatively, I have posted Halo James’ music video below for reference. It remains a memorable song from my life’s soundtrack.
Without further ado, here is the timelapse. I hope you enjoy it! Much more to come this year.
Thanks for reading this article. If you enjoyed the timelapse video here, please visit my official website @ www.tia-international-photography.com for an indelible, visual experience.
Love that you’re getting back into motion work Tosin. So much to explore in this realm. I liked that anchored boat that took off at the end. 🙂
Hey Dave! Thanks for reading and leaving a comment. As you said, there’s PLENTY to explore in timelapse photography, and I am enthusiastic to invest the hours in producing a database of scenarios under this format. The timing of the anchored boat leaving the scene was perfect. At the time, I didn’t conceive that it would inevitably become the main subject of the activity. Please take care!
That one boat maintained its position! It’s funny seeing the others swing close to it only to move away as if the other boats thought they would try to withstand the weather and quickly thought twice about it haha. Very cool!
Salut, KD! Thanks for (always) stopping by and leaving a comment. I think timelapse photography is going to keep me challenged and stimulated for a very, very, very long time. I’m glad you noticed some aspects that I did not notice until you made your own observations. This is great! Cheers!