ASTURIAS EMOTION 4K TIMELAPSE – THE FOUR SEASONS
#asturias #timelapse #photography #fotografia
Asturias Emotion - The 4 Seasons is a timelapse project initiated in late 2020 by photographers David Alvarez Velicia and Juan I. Cuadrado with the aim of showcasing the beauty of the Spanish region of Asturias, exploring its stunning corners throughout the different seasons of the year.
This timelapse project has been much more complex than we initially expected, likely due to our eagerness to capture the best moments in the most beautiful places of Asturias. This is why the time spent on its production, has extended to three years. During this time, we've experienced cold, heat, sleep (a lot of sleep!), we've gotten wet, lost our way, our backs have hurt from carrying equipment, and we've had to handcraft part of our gear. In summary: we've enjoyed it!
In total, we've taken more than 500,000 photographs for the project, of which around 30,000 are part of the final result, and we've spent more than 5,000 hours in the field work. It's been a hard effort, but very rewarding.
Our goal has been to create a video of the highest possible quality that does justice to the beauty of Asturias, and we hope to have achieved it. We've also tried to incorporate innovative or less commonly used techniques in the world of timelapse, such as the use of fisheye lenses, the inclusion of nadir shots, and the application of cinematic techniques like the dolly zoom. For the latter, we designed and built a mechanism that shifts the camera's position on the slider, preventing the front part from being visible.
We also built a macro photography studio for the cover scenes of spring and autumn, consisting of a rotating table, a dual lighting system for plant growth and photography, an irrigation system, and more. Everything automated and controlled with an Arduino.
Many scenes have required very meticulous planning, such as the moonrise behind the 'Elogio del Horizonte' sculpture in Gijón. In this case, being located 2.6 km away from the sculpture, we had to calculate our position with a margin of error of just three meters to ensure the moon was perfectly centered at the right height. In other cases, preparation has been crucial: several days examining the terrain and seeking the best compositions, repeating the scene numerous times until we achieved the right lighting and circumstances. Some scenes we've repeated more than ten times.
We've also paid special attention to sound, with the composition and recording of a soundtrack adapted to each season and the inclusion of voiceovers and environmental effects.
The project follows a dual narrative structure: on one hand, the changing of the seasons, and on the other, within each season, the natural progression of a daily cycle, starting with sunrise and ending with nighttime. This added an extra layer of complexity as it required capturing scenes at specific moments of the day that are more challenging to obtain.
