Cutting Edge Timelapse that Spans the Globe

Photography Tips  •  Time-lapse Photography

In terms of quality and range of subject matter, Reid Gower’s most recent work, Natural Phenomena, is one of the best timelapse videos we’ve seen in quite some time. You may recognize Gower’s name from the wildly popular Sagan Series, which automatically garners the filmmaker accolades, but even putting that aside, for being his very first attempt at a timelapse, well, we’re still kinda blown away. Don’t just take our word for it, this is one you won’t want to miss:

Hopefully, you had the time to watch the full five minute video. While the stills from the video still look great, to see these set in motion is captivating. It’s not clear what the exact frame count was for this specific video, but similar timelapse videos were put together using hundreds of thousands of still photographs.

There’s a lot to offer in Natural Phenomena. Scenes range from star photography to city life to desolate mountainous terrain. Then viewers are surprised when the aerial shots that appear to be taken from space, such as the one below, grace their screen.

At first thought, one might think this was footage taken from the ISS like other timelapsers have used. But, you’d be mistaken. Reid Gower was part of an expedition to Alaska which released a GoPro HD Hero2 to soar 120,000 feet above ground using high altitude balloons. The HD cameras were encapsulated in DIY housings made from a cooler. Hand warmers were placed in the coolers to prevent lens fog, and the team used GPS tracking to locate the balloons and recover these amazing photos.

“I only decided to shoot timelapse on a whim when I saw I had a great travel schedule this past summer. So I had no experience or direction, just having fun and hoping I could weave something entertaining together.”

All of the photos were shot on a Canon 5D Mark II, a Nikon D3, and, of course, the GoPro HD Hero 2. I think we can all agree that for being a mere “whim”, Gower knocked this one out of the ballpark.