Jack McCausland
Jack McCausland
Photography, Graphic Design, Media
LIFE
For first first 3 minutes of time-lapse linked with the topic, ‘life’, I have a few ideas I am going to go with. I want most of this life work to be of plants, growing, germinating, and flowering. I really want to show the amazing nature of what happens when a plant is growing, but what we can’t normally see, due to it being over a long period of time. So my aim for this, is to bring these happenings of what plants go through a couple of days, into a matter of seconds, extra close up…
For this project, as I knew I needed to get really close up, I bought my self a macro lens. This enabled me to get right up to a 1:1 magnification, which is perfect for what I wanted. I also bought another tripod, as I knew that a sturdy, metal, high quality tripod can make all the difference when shooting something over a long period of time. The equipment I used, was two Nikon bodies (D5100 and D7200) each having 2 batteries and a battery pack (this enabled me to shoot for a long period of time without having to move the camera to change batteries). I equipped my D5100 with 64gb card and my D7200 with one 64 and one 16gb card, to ensure I don’t run out of space in the middle of a shoot. In most occasions, I will use the 50 mm f/1.8 on the D5100, and the 90 mm Macro f/2.8 1:1 on my D7200. I will focus as close as I can with the macro (30cm from the sensor), this means that I can get extremely close up with the macro, and a wider shot with the 50 mm from the same subject. Because this was over a long period of time, I couldn’t supply the power for a light box of any sort, and also, I needed to use sunlight in order for my plants to change / grow, so I relied on reflectors to keep the light nice and even. In some cases, when I needed to get really close with the macro lens, and the tripod was too big, I propped it up on something to keep it at the right angle, where a tripod wouldn’t be able to reach (photographs will explain this better)
Most of these shots were not done in the studio, but on a windowsill somewhere, as natural light was more efficient, as I was working with plants (point number 1), over a long period of time (point number 2).
I have started two time lapses already, some over night and some during the day. Some just for one day, some for more. I will be providing several video clips within the 3 minutes required which will all need to be done at different times.
I have been experimenting with camera angles as I’ve been setting up the tripod, as it’s something which can be based on a rough idea, but can only be finely tuned on locations, when ready to shoot. The one angle I knew I wanted in my first timelaps video, was a low, macro shot of the seeds germinating, as this would provide a really nice depth of field, and also again, but straight above the seeds, so they germinate and grow into focus. I think this will be really cool, and can’t wait to do it.
Once I’m done, I’ll put them each into individual folders, and at a time, ‘import’ them into Adobe PremierPro as an ‘image sequence’ and then develop my editing and arranging then. I won’t be using any filters, but will edit my video clips at the end, with colour adjustments and curves.
Proposal
While researching life as a topic, hundreds of ideas came rushing through my mind, as how I could show life in many different ways through a series of timeslapses.
Life
Age
Purity
Growth
Development
Difference
Before I went into depth with research into the topic - life - I started off by looking at different ways 'life' can be looked at. For this, I looked towards a theasorus for synonyms and other meanins of life, of which I could possible portray in my timeslaps.
This is a mind map I did which I draw and wrote things which I link with the topic 'life'. Some of these sketches, I might end up using in my final time laps, such as the city buildings, the plant, and something linked with the word 'travel'.
VIVIAN MAIER
I then looked toward some artists, photographers, and designs which work through subjects which might be seen as 'life'.
A photographer I know called Vivian Maier is an amazing, inspiering street photographer based in New York, 1951. I think street photography is the most effective way of producing a photograph which tell something about someone's life, and their life style. That's the fantastic thing about street photography, the humarous, raw side of someone's image and personality.
Although the majority of my timelaps work within this topic or life will be based around plants and their growth, I am planning on going out in the town and capturing some slow shuttered, blured, images to put together as a timelapse.
as I really like the rough film look, I might turn the clips into black and white, and present them in a way which might seem quite old. My subject may varey depending on what I come across, but my plan is that it is mainly people and trafic. Some sort of movement, something happening, something showing life.
The, BBC...?
Now although this isn't quite what I was expecting to reserch, as artist or someone who looks into life, but when I put the two words together; timelaps, and life; I instantly have David Attenborough's voice running through my head, with timelapses of plants growing and moving just as if they were human. Who ever was involved in making these videos really captured the life of plants - which we don't normally see - in one clip. The way they move, they way they act, I think is something alien like, and I thought they simply got taller when given water and light! These series of timelapses I watched as a kid really inspired me. To capture something over a series of days, weeks, or months, which we wouldn't have been able to see other wise, is - I think - increadibly impressive!
These clips (shown below) really to prove how amazing the capability of timelaps can be, and how useful it is for us as researches, photographers and documenters. In my timelaps although I won't be able to capture anything along the lines of these - due to time and place - but this really inspired me to photograph something completely different, in a timelaps formatt, and see it change, develop, and work.