Photographer Captures Cityscape Fire on 1st Timelapse Attempt

Cityscape Photography  •  Photography News  •  Time-lapse Photography

As far as great photographs so, sometimes it seems that it’s as much up to luck and fate as it is up to us. While shooting a timelapse in Montreal, Quebec, photographer Evan Kitaljevich quite accidentally captured the astonishing moment that a fire erupted in the middle of the downtown core:

Stunned as the flames erupted in front of his lens, Kitaljevich finished the timelapse and rushed to the scene, fulfilling the story from the closing of the day over the peaceful river waters, to the sudden and explosive rocking of the city, and the subsequent rush and rumble of firefighters and first responders hurrying over cobblestone avenues, fighting to contain the frightening situation as smoke billows through the streets. Short and sweet, but hard to sum up in words, this video is an exciting and beautiful portrait of disaster and reaction in Canada’s second-largest metropolis.

Shot on a GorillaPod with a Nikon D300 with a Sigma 10-20mm wide-angle lens, this was Kitaljevich’s first try at timelapse photography. This lucky occurrence (for him—not not so lucky for Old Montreal) has gotten him worldwide recognition, reaching the front page of top social media sites and even being picked up by NBC News. All things considered, not a bad first attempt!