Nate Bolt’s flight time-lapse compresses a San Francisco-to-Paris journey into a changing window view. Night, aurora and the aircraft wing give the sequence a clear sense of travelling while the camera stays in one small space.
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The wing gives the window view continuity
Clouds and sky change around a familiar outline, making the passage of time easier to follow. Reflections and window framing also become part of the photographic conditions.
The 2,459-image flight sequence
The film’s title describes 2,459 photographs condensed into about two minutes. That makes it a record of selected moments along the journey, rather than a continuous real-time view. The production note also included a joke about rendering take-off and landing scenes on a computer; it is not evidence that those images were computer-generated. On a present-day flight, follow the crew’s instructions for photography and device use.
Explore more: aurora photographed from a mountain camp; another unusual night-sky viewpoint.
Related reading: Aurora From the Ground and From Space.
Video: SF to Paris in Two Minutes (published by Nate Bolt).
A long journey from one compact viewpoint
The aircraft wing provides continuity as the sky changes from one phase of the flight to another. Its familiar shape helps the viewer recognise the change around it, while the window limits the available composition. That constraint gives the film a distinctive unity: the journey is seen from a small personal viewpoint even as the distance covered becomes enormous.
Nate Bolt’s camera setup and the aurora scenes
Bolt’s account lists a Canon 5D Mark II, a time-lapse controller, a 16–35 mm zoom and some iPhone images. The mixture is useful context for the finished piece, which need not be the product of a single uninterrupted camera setup. The aurora adds another layer of interest to the window view, but the route and light of one flight do not promise the same sight on another. The film is a record of what its maker assembled from that journey, with the wing connecting the different scenes.
Sources, photography and further reading
Original feature and image attributions:
- vimeo.com
- The Arctic Light, A Really Amazing Video
- Amazing Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis over Norway, Alaska and from Space
- Visit Finland - Snowboarding And Freestyling
- Slow Motion Pictures Presents Film From The Swedish Mountains.
- aurora photographed from a mountain camp
- another unusual night-sky viewpoint
- Aurora From the Ground and From Space
- SF to Paris in Two Minutes
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