The change of seasons is such a self-evident phenomenon that we take it for granted yet we struggle to catch it in the act. Look outside - the nature seems so static compared to the hectic lives we must live. At best we might notice a sudden heatwave or an unexpected freeze, a violent storm or a particularly vibrant sunset. But in fact nature is everything but still – it’s in constant motion changing and morphing, we just function on different timescales. Maybe that’s the reason we sometimes struggle to grasp bigger shifts such as climate change?
The obsession with trying to bring those timescales closer for me started with time-lapses where with relatively simple techniques I could speed up hours and translate them to human-perceptible seconds. I was fascinated by the results, but soon after found myself wondering - what’s next? At the dawn of drone photography I briefly played around with aerial time-lapses, but the results were somewhat lacking. That is until the spring 2019 when I asked a simple question - what if I could somehow speed up the change of seasons and at the same time showcase the nuanced beauty of Latvia which just happens to be blessed by proper four seasons? And do it in the most dynamic way possible to pay homage to the fluid nature of the nature (what a mouthful!).
About 30 locations all around Latvia where chosen - from the iconic bends of river Daugava and the lake district of Latgale to the ancient valley of Gauja National park to bogs of Ķemeri National park, the rocky beaches and rolling hills of Vidzeme, pine forests of Kurzeme and agricultural lands of Zemgale. Unsure how much of it would end up in the final piece (in fact - more than a half of material didn’t make the cut), I kept driving thousands of kilometers, returning to the same locations over and over again. Amidst all the logistics and technicalities thoughts about the meaning of it all kept creeping in. The value and fragility of NOW, the coming of better times and the passing of bad ones, the inevitable cyclicity of it all yet at the same time the uniqueness of each cycle. In this case nature being a mere catalyst for the thought-train. The train that doesn’t have the first, nor the last car. Same as this video having no definite beginning or end.
The project was filmed using a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone controlled by a third-party app called Litchi. The idea was simple: arrive at a location (or more often than not camp there), launch the drone, compose a shot, record the starting GPS location, height and heading, fly to the final location, record the same values in addition to the desired speed and what video mode was used (HQ or full FOV), save it all as a mission to repeat next time, lay back and let the robots do their work. And this is where simple part ends.
Find out more about the technicalities of this long term project on the project's website: landscapesofchange.com
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lvl.4
Second Officer
Core User of DJI
Captain
When can we expect the final part to be released? Great great work, really impressive.