I’m so glad you (may or may not have) asked at some point.
“Emerald City Infinity” (or “ECI”, as I term it endearingly) is my first timelapse video series centered on the Emerald City itself, a.k.a. Seattle, Washington, USA. By the way, if you’ve ever been curious about why Seattle is known as the Emerald City, check out this article.
Many photographers initially start with capturing subject matters that they find interesting. Over time, they continue to excel in their subject matters which can lead to other endeavors that underscore their experiences in photography. For TIA, I think delving into timelapse photography was a byproduct of the cityscape photography that I (still) love to do — and hope to do for the rest of my life.
However, there’s something about timelapse photography that escalates the creativity and presentation of cityscape photography to an exhilarating, breathtaking, and titillating level. Though timelapse photography requires an extraordinary amount of patience, the end result can be phenomenal — especially when you use it to tell a story, or chapters to a story.
That’s how ECI came into existence!
Since March 2021, I have accumulated timelapse footage of hundreds of scenes around Seattle. If you’re familiar with timelapses, then you know they entail a significant amount of planning in advance.
Obtaining timelapse footage involves:
- Preconception of the specific scene to capture.
- Travel to the preconceived or ideal scene.
- Equipment setup (camera and tripod).
- Calculating the settings for exposure.
- Setting the timer for exposures (I typically capture one photo every four seconds, or 15 photos every minute), and
- Planting myself near my ideal spot for anywhere between a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 2.5 hours. (I highly recommended that you bring reading material when you embark on a timelapse photography mission).
All the while, I need to ensure that my camera (in this instance: Alpert, my Sony Alpha 7 IV) is fully charged with sufficient battery power (with multiple spare batteries handy) to capture all the events taking place from the spot where Alpert is perched atop my Manfrotto tripod (which, oddly enough, I still haven’t given a personalized moniker after 15 years).
All the above exclusively covers the footage on location — but there’s more. (There always is).
After my timelapse session on location concludes, I will need to review and/or post-process anywhere between 450 to 3,000 images before stitching them to create what is, essentially, a short film featuring activity not unlike the wonders of animation. Ultimately, the viewer will see anywhere between 30 and 60 images per second in sequence in the final video. Needless to say, the end result is (in Oprah Winfrey’s voice): “AAAAH-MAAAAAAZING!“
Alas, for the sake of maintaining my beloved blog, I’m trying to improve my ability to be brief, which means an evasion to regaling in too many details which will cause the reader (a.k.a. you) to lose interest altogether in my prose, regardless of the subject being discussed.
Therefore, I will conclude with sharing three of my favorite episodes from “Emerald City Infinity”. Launched on August 9, 2024, I have released a new episode of ECI every Friday without fail — just because I love producing this series that much!
Currently, at the time of publishing this article, there are three seasons of ECI to enjoy, each with 10 to 12 episodes, and each under three minutes long (minus the 2025 New Year’s episode that clocks in at 3 minutes 6 seconds — but completely worth your viewership)!
You can find these episodes on YouTube, Vimeo, and on my official website. I think YouTube “shadow-banned” my account since last August. I have no idea why, and I do not care because YouTube is yet another social media platform that has functionality that turns me off in ways similar to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and all the other rot. YouTube’s interface, nevertheless, is great for sharing videos but don’t let any of the stats deceive you. Most of my subscribers are not real people and most of the views of my ECI episodes are…(drum roll)…MINE! Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the content and will leave it up to you if you think it’s worthy of sharing with your friends and family.
ENJOY!
