'The Arctic Light,' Time-Lapse Video Captures Breathtaking Northern Phenomenon (HD VIDEO)
Terje Sørgjerd has done it again -- you'll never see light quite like this.
Just weeks after producing two incredible viral hits, "The Aurora" and "The Mountain" (the latter of which attracted over 26 million views), the 32-year-old Oslo, Norway native has created this clip, a fantastic time-lapse shot shortly before "midnight sun" near the Arctic Circle. It's the result of a grueling 12 day journey (it was shot between April 29 and May 10) that could have easily claimed the life of the filmmaker. He managed to fall in freezing Arctic water twice, and was even hospitalized after falling from a rock during the trip.
Incredibly, the footage is virtually unadultered. "The only post-production here is all done in raw adjustments, there is absolutely no HDR, composite or photoshop involved," Sørgjerd said in an interview with The Huffington Post.
The video, below, was shot using two different cameras in addition to a host of other equipment (you can see the full list of equipment he used below), and the data-set for the film itself totaled over 9TB. It took 2-3 week just to compile all the data, and according to Sørgjerd the resolution of the final product was 8 times that of 1080P Full HD.
WATCH:
The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.
The entire film was shot in Lofoten, Norway, an area that consists of 7 islands and no more than 24,000 inhabitants, and lies at about the same latitude as Greenland and Alaska. During the day, the temperature (in the spring) hits about 60 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but drops 20 to 40 degrees once the sun sets.
Sørgjerd has been a nature photographer since 2006, though his past three, highly successful projects have been little more than experiments. "The three last movies 'The Aurora,' 'The Mountain,' and 'The Arctic Light' have been experiments for me, seeing if it can provoke emotions and inspire people - a new way of thinking photography for me. The feedback has been phenomenal, in fact in less than a month I have received over 42,000 e-mails, many of which have a very personal character, and have touched me deeply," he said. "Unfortunately I have not been able to respond to all of them, but I appreciate them a lot. It also inspire me to keep at it and share more of these small nature pieces. As long as the main focus is on the natural phenomenas, and help raise some awareness - I am very happy."
The equipment used for this video:
- Two Canon 5D Mark II
- Canon 16-35mm/2.8 II
- Canon 17mm TS/E
- Canon 85mm 1.2
- Sigma 120-400mm
- The Stage-One dolly from www.dynamicperception.com
- Lee Graduated Neutral Density filters and a polarizer
- 4 Manfrotto tripods
The soundtrack for the clip was provided by Marika Takeuchi, a Boston composer and pianist.
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The Huffington Post Dean Praetorius First Posted: 06/01/11 10:35 AM ET Updated: 08/01/11 06:12 AM ET