#nature and man

i put this playlist together yesterday [2015.05.18] though will likely update it as i create more. the individual time-lapse videos are in chronological order by the date shot, starting with the first ones i made back in early 2009 [shortly after i first discovered the little planet look, figured out how to do the whole technique, and then naturally thought it’d be awesome to do a time-lapse video with this technique as no one had done so yet]

this technique has gotten tremendously easier since i got a ricoh theta camera last year. it no longer takes many days just to stitch and process the images, nor the need to carry many pounds of heavy equipment that has to be precisely aligned [which also required a large, heavy case to be carried in and a heavy duty tripod to be mounted on]. now, a small camera that fits in my pocket, my iPhone, and something to mount the camera on [which can also fit in my pocket] is all that’s needed, and the most difficult part of the image processing is done automatically! the only downfall is that the image quality is a bit less than using my custom rig, though it still yields good results and allows for shots that could not have been done with the other gear, such as the aerial shot where the camera was hanging from the kite line as i walked for miles on the beach [or a driving shot that i have yet to process, which reminds me there are also a few other 360×180 little planet time-lapses i’ve shot that i have not yet created as of the time i’m writing this].

due to the way the youtube embed works with playlists that have different aspect ratio videos, some clips may be cropped a little bit. use this link to see the entire playlist directly on youtube: [old external link not shown]

my sister and I went to Fort De Soto for my birthday..

a view from the camera 25 feet in the air.. funny the attention it draws.. looks like I’ll have to arrive early so I can level the stand better next time! [it was a little windy hence the jerkiness in the rotation, though it does give an interesting effect.. note the camera strap near the beginning!]  

trying out the gopro chest mount on a bike ride..

Perseverance. If at first you don’t succeed, you try again. [and again, and again, and again, and as many times as you must — if need be] Challenges, lessons, doubts, secondaries can arise. Embrace them, for they are merely a part of the journey. Sometimes they make for a much more intersting story! :) Keep on going, and you will get to where you want to be.

Here’s my first successful flight in kite aerial photography. Yes, the camera angle is a little off as the picavet wasn’t hanging properly, yet I consider it a success. I like the shot below [one random one out of the 2400+ as I was looking for a few samples to edit the colors with] — and I didn’t expect the truck/camper to be in the shot at all! Expect the unexpected, and embrace what you do discover! Life is brilliant that way! It truly is amazing! Let life shine brightly and you’ll enjoy it that much more!

It’s funny, sometimes you [almost] have to forget where you’re going in order to get there! My friend Saren called last night [I type this the morning after the flight as the time-lapse files are still processing] unexpectedly and we both [seem to have] had experiences of that happening recently! It becomes part of your every day experience and it’s fun to watch!

in / near the Holey Land Wildlife Management Area and Stormwater Treatment Areas (a few miles west of U.S. Hwy 27, between Lake Okeechobee and Alligator Alley)  

 

 

mostly shot at john chestnut park, fred howard park, and sand key park [with a couple shots on the road in/near ‘the country’]

i didn’t think too much about these (or at all) when i shot them, and just threw all of the clips on a timeline with the same basic filter settings.. though this does have a nice, peaceful feel to it.. this could be my best work yet :)

a second successful flight with the camera.. [battery wasn’t charged so this one’s short, and the wind was pulling really hard so i only let out somewhere around half the line i’d guess — on the time-lapse yesterday, i let out the whole 500 feet of line minus what i needed to anchor it down]

[this one’s at a different spot as the night before i tried to help pull a guy’s truck out of the sand/water – his back end was in the bay! i got to try 4 low on my truck, though the rope we found wasn’t strong enough so he had a tow truck pull him out with a cable]

shortly after breakfast, getting ready to leave North Peninsula State Park and head toward Atlanta..

 

this took a little longer to launch and after the first flight i saw the camera was off when it landed, so had to relaunch to create the time-lapse movie, though I had another successful flight with 1000 feet of line.. I estimate the maximum altitude was close to 900 feet above ground a few times when the winds lifted the kite higher.. you can see Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island in the distance, and hints of the Bayside Bridge […]

my sister and I went to John Chestnut Park to fly kites.. the old kite we found sitting in the garage didn’t work too well, though I was able to get some nice shots over the trees with my levitation delta kite.. it’s amazing to look at the world from new perspectives. from above, the trees coming out of the earth start to look like they are all one large living organism. [the tops of the trees look like like […]

gopro hd hero2