GTP MEMBERS Photo-Blog: Slices and Lapses of Time

[photonrider]

Got any time lapse sequences?

Not just long exposures, but also slices of Time recorded as it passed through a particular point in space; could be a flower blooming open in a vase shown in a sequence of photos, or a bullet passing through a water-filled balloon (we're not talking slo-mo here but an actual sequence of events) - that would be nice to see.

Maybe you track the growth of a tulip this spring as it shoots out of the earth, and you take a photo of it every week for five weeks, as it sprouts from tender shoot to full-blown blossom - those pics would be nice.
Or a bird as it builds and completes its nest.
Maybe you already have a sequence that shows bare land sprout a construction set, and in weeks or maybe a few months a skyscraper appeared as you kept record of the skyline.

These are the changes recorded that would fit - the constant change that Time writes on everything.

One caveat - the photos must be yours - and not of another's work - so that yeah, we can stay on topic (GTPlanet Members' Photo-Blog and all that. )

Stories accompanying the photos are always welcome - hey, some of us do read the articles.

To begin with - here is my Photo Story of a spontaneous occurrence that Time spun for me:
Long story short - as a general contractor I have to repair and repaint vacated homes to be readied for renting. A former tenant had left behind (amongst the discarded flotsam and jetsam) a half-withered Ficus elastica (commonly known as a rubber tree.) I took pity on this, had it transported to my office, threw it in a corner that had sufficient light, and doused the bone-dry earth in the pot with several bottles of spring water.

A few days later I notice this (I took a shot before I even realised what I was doing:

And a close-up:

A sudden rush of 'shrooms!
A night later I caught this:

Imagine my surprise the next morning to see this:

That was a fast life, I thought, sprout, bloom, wilt, end of story. Or rather I thought that was the end of the story. Not with Time around. Time stamped its will upon the scene. I was stunned the next day by a runaway multiply-and-be-fruitful situation:

A closer look at these things made me realise that I should get rid of them space-probes before they took over my whole office and all the earth in the other plants around.

A quick google with the right words found me an explanation of this spontaneous combustion:

http://houseplantscare.blogspot.ca/2010/09/yellow-houseplant-mushroom.html

So I had it repotted with fresh soil and had the yellow aliens and their soil fumigated and destroyed. As a fun guy I'm okay but not with sprouts like these.

I gave the pot off later to another tenant. I haven't see her since.

______________________________________

Looking forward to seeing y'all posting some sequences like this, too. 👍

 

[TB]

I set up the construction camera and configured the software to grab a shot every 10 minutes then compiled them together into a video.



That counts, right?

Edit: rewatching it, my latest version (that isn't uploaded to Vimeo) is much better.

 

[photonrider]

I set up the construction camera and configured the software to grab a shot every 10 minutes then compiled them together into a video

That counts, right?

Could I ever refuse you?
It's a photo-blog, but you raise a valid point - I don't think we should count self-made videos out - we may miss out on a lot of stuff. Interesting video, not only for the action as it build up, but for the techniques you are using to capture the ongoing development. I would also extract some stills from it - a group of 7 that splits the action in significant bites from start to end would be great to contrast in a single glance - but that, of course, means some work.
Construction development is a sure bet for time-lapse photography; I'm hoping to see more.
And then let's not count out some other events - people aging (this might be photos taken over years), machinery rusting away, the sequence of a sunset or moon-rise, a deserted parking lot slowly falling into ruin, the demolishing of a condemned building, the sinking of a ship - as one slowly drifts away on a lifeboat frantically taking pictures . . ..
One has to be fairly brave to pull off that last one.

I have many sequences myself, but no rush . . . must give others a chance to show off their work too.

 

[photonrider]

Well, @TB, it seems like just you and me in here - but, hey, all it takes is two for company. Three might be a crowd.

Here's my next 'Time Lapse' essay - with pics of course:

This tree, providing shade and a landmark for decades had also begun to be a nuisance to the tenants of the apartment block. As the Asst. Property Manager of the site, (at the time of this incident,) the crap was shovelled uphill till it got to me.
Crap is fertilizer . . . so I thought I'd let it settle for awhile before it was kicked 'upstairs' - but the screaming got worse. The tree was invading balconies and bringing in chipmunks in search of nuts.

Finally armed with sufficient crap I hustled the problem off to HQ and before long the order was shuffled down: "Cut the bloody tree."

This is not as easy to do as say; trees over here in Ontario are fiercely protected; one doesn't just say, "Yawn . . . that tree is boring now, I cannot lie. Cut it down."
One way to get a hefty fine or be thrown into the clinker quick.

Well, after some dickering with the authorities, the permits were granted - the tree was also eroding the foundation of the building and was too close to the balconies, in fact inviting home invasion.

So a call to my tree-cutting buddies, and they arrived in shorts and shades armed with a chain saw and several Timmies. My whining about safety equipment was brushed aside with a laugh - this wasn't a 300 foot cedar, it was just a street tree, a sapling to them.
Right, a sixty-foot tall sapling.
They make me out to be a pussy.
I got out of their way like a cat that was kicked and hung around swishing my vestigial stump and licking my paws, frowning, as they roped it up and flung a ladder on it. It was my ass on the line if anything went wrong.

Off came the crown:

And not long after the upper body:

This brought out the two tenants, who complained the most, to check on the new reality they were powerfully manifesting. This was looking good. Decades of reality quickly chopped down.
How many couples exchanged their first kiss under that tree? If they return with their children, would the children ever believe a tree was ever there?

Coffee and smokes done, the rest of the carcass was swiftly decimated into logs, and the small branches and leaves quickly turned onsite into mulch.

And there we go - many years since this happened, and if you walk by now you would never believe a tree stood there tall and strong for many, many years - that sight just a memory now - and only just as tenuous. Reality recycled into synaptic events.

No one realised that little sapling at the corner of the building would one day make such an impact when it grew too big for where it was.
If they did they might have uprooted it in time - prevention is a lot better than cure.
All's well that ends well, however, and (except for the few that knew that tree well) it might have never existed at all.