Capturing the Changing Sky

I didn’t take a lot of videos before because I always preferred photographs—single moments captured and preserved in simple images. Recently, however, the kids introduced me to time-lapse photography, and I decided to try it and I absolutely love it! As soon as I wake up, I place my phone on a stand facing the eastern sky and begin recording. While it quietly captures the sunrise, I continue with my morning activities. Two or three hours later, I stop the recording just before I leave. After work, I head to the west-facing balcony, set everything up again, and allow my phone to capture the sunset.

It may sound like a lot of work, but the setup takes a few seconds so it barely adds to my to-do list. Sometimes, I forget my phone is still recording and already enroute to work only to realize and go back upstairs to retrieve it. One evening, I forgot the sunset recording entirely and went to bed. The next morning, when I could not find the stand for my sunrise shoot, I realized that I had recorded eight hours of darkness and my neighbor’s porch light. 

Some of these clips are far from perfect, but they represent my starting point. From here, I can only improve. Some are actually not time lapses but short videos of an amazing sunrise that needs to be part of the compilation. Some were very shaky due to high winds. But ultimately, they all matter, they contribute in their tiny little ways to the complete picture. 

A friend asked what I would do with a compilation after a week, a month, or five years. Would I really continue for that long? Only time will tell. Maybe I will do this for a few months, until I feel I have seen every face of the sky there is to see — or the sky becomes boring and I move on to something else. I do not really know where these time-lapses will lead, all I know is that it keeps me creating. I am creating, and that is what matters. Creativity has no final destination. One idea branches into another, opening doors I did not know were there. Like the song playing in the background, “Sky Is the Limit” by Anno Domini - for now, I am grounded on the earth but looking skyward and I am reminded that the sky is the limit.

https://youtu.be/rvU5OdnuR1o