Wednesday 15 April 2015

Antarctica From Kelle Ljung



This movie was shot during our 20 days trip to Antarctica in December 2014 to January 2015. We decide to start from Ushuaia in Argentina and then go on towards to Port Williams in Chile, rounded Cape Horn and crossed the Drake Passage towards the Melchior Islands in Antarctica. However, we’ve spent sixteen days in the Antarctic and got to experience the most astonishing scenery and wildlife before we returned back to Ushuaia. The Filmed with GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition and DJI Phantom 2, edited with Final Cut Pro X. Music from Music Bed with rights.

Antarctica from Kalle Ljung on Vimeo.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

The Lonely Castle of Mada'in Saleh

Mada'in Saleh (also known as “Hegra”) actually is an ancient city of pre-Islamic period situated in northern Saudi Arabia, approximately 1400 km to the north of capital Riyadh.  In the barren desert landscape of northern Saudi Arabia, an ancient tomb half-carved from a single rock rises four stories tall from the arid plain. It lies in a strategic position on one of the most significant ancient trade routes, which were connected south of the Arabian Peninsula to the north, as well as to the great economic and cultural centers of Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt.

Therefore; the most spectacular among these ruins and the most iconic symbol of Mada’in Saleh “ Qasr al-Farid “lonely castle", the unfinished structure dates back to the first century A.D. during the rule of the Nabateans. Mada'in Saleh was the Nabatean kingdom's southernmost and second largest settlement after Petra, its capital in present-day Jordan. The ancient city dates back to the 2nd century B.C., when it was recognized as a strategic post on a key trading route that interlinked the north and south of the peninsula, as well as key cities around the Mediterranean.

Qasr al-Farid is one of 131 monumental tombs carved in the area lot of centuries ago. This is the most iconic symbol of Mada'in Saleh, the most spectacular facade, cut out of a solitary sandstone outcrop, permits us to see how the “Nabateans” chiseled their buildings from the top-down. Even though the tomb was never completed, and it has remained unusually well-preserved due to the arid climate.

The "lonely castle,"  and other surrounding monuments, have relished renewed fame after UNESCO proclaimed Mada'in Saleh a site of patrimony becoming Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage Site in 2008. It is considered one of the most central and oldest ancient cities in the country, as Mada'in Saleh is an archeologically vital site with royal ruins that are often compared with those of Petra, because it stands completely isolated from the others.

In spite of its fanciful name, Qasr al-Farid is only a tomb and it was carved out of a single rock sometime in the first century A.D., but its facade was never finished which makes the tomb an interesting study. The heavily chiselled surface of the lower third documents how these tombs were designed from the top down. Moreover; Qasr al-Farid is just one of ninety-odd such monumental tombs carved here during the heyday of the Nabataeans.

The Exotic Mushroom Tunnel Farm in New South Wales, Australia

Well, do you’ve any idea where is freshest Mushroom available? What do you think about exotic mushrooms are grown; probably your first answer will be in the forests, in basements, somewhere dark? But here we’d like to inform you at one place in New South Wales, Australia, where you can find freshest exotic mushrooms are grown in a tunnel. Li Sun Exotic Mushrooms has been a long part of Australia’s history. In the start of 19th century, the Great Southern Railway ran from Sydney to Picton. However resources such as marble, coal, sandstone, shale, timber and farm produce were carried to Sydney through this railway.

The Persons who’re also traveled through here and by the 2nd half of the 19th century; it became an troublesome mode of transportation for all. However in 1863, the railway has decided to extended southwards that included Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and Marulan.  Thus in 1869, the railway was successfully completed with a massive distance of 224 kilometers, from Sydney to Goulburn. This is a tunnel which was then needed to be made at the side Mount Gibralter, located between Mittagong and Bowral. However, it took two years to complete the excavation work.

Then in 1866, the single-line tunnel was completed, when the construction of double lines for the main Sydney to Melbourne line was completed in 1919, the original tunnel was abandoned. Therefore; in mid-1942 during the WWII, the unused tunnel was used as storage for explosives by the Royal Australian Air Force. Though after the war, stocks of explosives were slowly vacated from the tunnel. Then later in 1953, all stocks were cleared and the site was closed. In the post-war years, the abandoned tunnel became one of the first cultivated farms in Australia. In 1987, Dr. Noel Arrold took over the tunnel and produced new mushroom varieties for the Australian market. The cool, damp, and the dimly lit environment of the tunnel resemble well the mountainous of China, Japan, and Korea. Now, the tunnel grows some extensive varieties of exotic mushrooms such as

Chestnut: One of the oldest species of mushrooms cultivated from the Ancient Greeks. 

Nameko: A very popular mushroom in Japanese cuisine, the name describes a sticky substance on the cap of the mushrooms which adds to the flavor.

Enoki: A traditional Japanese mushroom grown in bunches with long thin stems.

King Brown: A superior mushroom by comparison due to its long shelf life. It offers a superior flavour and texture when compared to other species of Oyster mushrooms.

Oyster: Mushrooms are fluted, oyster shell shaped varieties found on rotting tree stumps and fallen trees. They are common throughout North America.

Shiitake: First cultivated in China about AD1100 and later introduced into Japan also known as Black Forest Mushroom.

Shimejii: A Japanese mushroom that grows from fallen oak, beech or elm trees, there are many varieties but only one is cultivated in Australia at the moment

Swiss brown: One of the most widely cultivated mushrooms; they are the strongest, richest and most robust of the white and brown mushrooms.

Woodear Mushrooms: An essential ingredient in Asian cooking, this mushroom provides a texture contrast and is ideal in soups.

In recent times, new methods of cultivations of mushrooms have been industrialized which require more specialized environmental controls so these mushrooms are grown in climate controlled cropping rooms.

If you’re interested to view the tunnel itself, you can book tours that are conducted three to four times in a year. Just visit Li Sun Exotic Mushrooms Tunnel’s website for further details.

South Island New Zealand

We have been adventuring around the South Island in New Zealand and we absolutely love this place. Hopefully with our video postcard, you will too. Glaciers look really nice - too bad we didn't get to see them. Stunning, inspiring, magical and just plain awesome! So much to love - editing, compositions, colouring, music selection, movement. Just fantastic.

For more about our experience in New Zealand visit:
bitt-n.com
Music: Dwell by Tony Anderson, The Music Bed.

Postcard from New Zealand from Bitt-n.com on Vimeo.

Glimpse of Southern Norway by Morten Berg



In this time-lapse video, you’ll see scenes from the beautiful nature in Southern Norway. The spectacular fjord landscape in Geiranger is in the video as well as scenes from Jotunheimen, Rondane and Hjørundfjorden. You’ll also see Northern light/Aurora Borealis in the end of the video. Before every journey, I always try to pre-visualize the sequences as much as possible. In spite of this, it is often tough to capture sequences that really shine. Several times a lot of clouds and/or strong wind have tumbledown sequences I had planned in advance. In this unique project however, the luck has definitely been on my side. Moreover two water reflection sequences (0:15-0:36) i.e., turned out very nice in my view. The enchanted interaction between the mist and mirror surfaced- therefore, water at sunrise was a moment that will stay in my memory always. During my 4 years of time-lapse photography across Southern Norway, I have never witnessed a lake so calm and in such light. A gentle breeze and the magic would have been destroyed. Lucky for me, it didn't, I was at the right place at the right time.

The Milky Way sequence between 3:16-3:26 also astonished me. I thought I had shot a rather foreseeable time-lapse sequence of the Milky Way over high peaks in Jotunheimen. When I started to edit the sequence in post-production, I observed that the color in the atmosphere changed during the sequence- from the usual dark blue to green. I knew that it couldn’t be the aurora as I was shooting towards the south. I did a slight research, and I learned that the phenomenon was called Airglow- which is a faint emission of light caused by numerous processes in the earth’s upper atmosphere. I'm always looking for changes in nature when I shoot time-lapse, so this was definitely a surprise. This is my third time-lapse project from the gorgeous landscapes in Southern Norway, an area which has captivated me since my childhood. The utmost challenge though filming this project was finding perfect moments at the right place. On one instance, I had to spend a week just to capture the perfect moment in time. Unnecessary to say, this approach turned out to be rather time consuming, so this project was filmed over the course of 14 months. Thank you for watching my video. I hope you like it-share if you like

Music licensed from musicbed.com/
Artist: Tony Anderson: Song Title:further-up-further-in
Follow me for updates and still /behind the scenes images
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Glimpse of Southern Norway from Morten Berg on Vimeo.

Istanbul - City Of Contrasts

he video was made in april 2014.
The photos were taken in six days.
Footage available in 4K (Ultra HD)
Contact: Amir Kulaglic - akfilms.net

Equipment:

Canon 5D Mark III
Canon EF 70-200mm 1:4.0 L IS USM
Canon EF 100mm 1:2.8 USM Macro
Canon EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM
Canon EF 24-105mm 1:4.0 L IS USM
Emotimo TB3
Pocketslider

Editing:

Lightroom
LRTimelapse 3.3
Adobe Premiere Pro CC and After Effects
We are thankful to Nuru Ziya Suites in Istanbul for staying in their apartments.
Everyone who wants to visit the amazing city Istanbul should stay in the urban styled apartments from Nuru Ziya nuruziya.com/ . You will feel very comfortable because of the great location and the kind personal.
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Das Video wurde im April 2014 in Istanbul gemacht.
Die Fotos wurden im Rahmen von 6 Tagen aufgenommen.
Zubehör:
Canon 5D Mark III
Canon EF 70-200mm 1:4.0 L IS USM
Canon EF 100mm 1:2.8 USM Macro
Canon EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM
Canon EF 24-105mm 1:4.0 L IS USM
Emotimo TB3
Pocketslider

Bearbeitung:
Lightroom
LRTimelapse
Adobe Premiere Pro CC and After Effects


Istanbul - City Of Contrasts from amyrXA on Vimeo.

Kazakhstan, Almaty



This Movie is dedicated to the city where I was born and live. The real inspiration for the creation of this video was works of Tom Lowe and Artem Pryadko (zweizwei). Therefore in 2012, I decide to shot the video by the end of year, and editing process took an extra month of time. I’ve taken more than 55,000 photos, however the movie consist only the best shots, some shots were not included. So i’m highly grateful to all who helped me in some way during the shooting process. Moreover, a big special thanks to my parents for their understanding and patience.

I used the following equipment:
Canon 60d, Canon 1100d, Tokina 11-16, Canon 50 1.8, Canon 18-55 (2х), Jupiter 37А 3,5 / 135mm.
LCW Neutral Density NDx500, LCW Fader ND MK II (ND2-ND400), Kenko PRO1 Circular PL.
1m Igius rail with Dynamic perception MX2 Motion Controller.
Photographer: Pavel Tenyakov.
Assistants: Vladimir Volkov, Elijah Tenyakov.
Music: Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize
Please watch in FULLSCREEN and HD for the best quality. Enjoy!
© Pavel Tenyakov
Licensing/press please contact: tenyakov@fromru.com


Almaty project from Pavel Tenyakov on Vimeo.

Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque: A Masterpiece of Islamic Architecture



The ornate Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is so remarkable, as more than 400,000 devout believers make the pilgrimage to Abu Dhabi to pray during the annual festival “Eid”. It is more fascinated to British Photographer Julian John by the incredible interiors of the biggest mosque in the Middle East. Teaching assistant Julian, originally from Brighton, Sussex,  now living abroad, Julian John visits the intricately designed prayer halls as often as possible to capture photos of what he believes to be “the jewel in the United Arab Emirates” crown. He says; I’m living in the UAE capital for the last four years, is planning an exhibition of his epic photographs. I truly believe, this mosque is the Jewel in the United Arab Emirates' crown. It has been easily described as an exclusive masterpiece of Islamic architecture and is truly a modern wonder of the world. It is majestic and serene and the attention to detail is breathtaking with craftsmen from all around the world instrumental in making it so spectacular.

The mosque stunning courtyard, which features the largest marble mosaic in the world at 180,000 square feet, snapped the impressive exterior. The four 350-feet tall minarets, which can be seen across the Abu Dhabi skyline, are lit up in dramatic style against the cloudy skies in one of the photographer's incredible shots. Julian, who uses a Nikon D800 camera with Nikon 24-70mm and the Tamron 70-200mm lenses, was deeply inspired to take up his interest four years ago when he first moved to the Middle East. He has since set up a photography class at the international school where he works. There’re number of great aspects to the Grand Mosque from spectacular interiors to domes and minarets and fountains to the lovely pillars with inlaid flowers. There’re lots of photographic opportunities that you’re almost spoiled for choice. As long as I live in Abu Dhabi, and definitely I’ll always visit the Grand Mosque and continue to photograph it. The magnificent towering structure took almost ten years to build with over 30,000 workers starting work on the site in 1996. It was not completed until seven years after the millennium in 2007. The largest mosque in the Middle East, the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is as stunning on the inside as the outside. Source: Dailymail