A few days ago I taught a time-lapse workshop at the Snap photo festival. Usually for this type of event I would of ran a workshop based around film, lomo or something along those lines. As Snap was in deepest rural Wales film development was not going to be an option.
Time-lapses workshop with a little help from TriggerTrap
One of my digital loves is time-lapse and I’m also currently in the middle of a commission to shoot a two year time-lapse so I decided my workshop would be based around that. Unless the people in my workshop had cameras with a built in Intervalometer (the thing that triggers the camera repeatedly) they where going to need one. Luckily TriggerTrap were kind enough to lend me a whole bunch for their smart phone triggers. TriggerTrap is more than just a Intervalometer, with the aid of their dongle it turns any iOS / Android device into sophisticated camera trigger, it’s not just for time-lapses you can also use it to trigger your camera with sound and movement amongst other things, check out the full range of features on their website.
On the Subject of Triggertrap they have got an exciting time-lapse event coming that anyone can get involved in! On 22nd April they will be running EarthLapse, a global timelapse event where they are asking photographers the world over to contribute time-lapse footage to. Get more details at their site here.
Time-lapse conger went down very well!
My workshop along with most other sessions were three hours long, so after a little talk on all the things to make a super slick time-lapse I took some of the Snap attendees off to shoot for what was for most of them their first time-lapse. Because of the session length I decided we would only shoot for 15 minutes so there was enough time to process some of the images shot into a movie. As there were no clouds or anything moving near by I decided to introduce a human element to our little movie. I told everyone to get into the field and start acting silly, then once I was happy that everyone’s cameras where clicking away by themselves I joined them and collected everyone up in a conger line which I am sure you will agree helped create a very visually compelling off the cuff time-lapse.
Friend and fellow Snap speaker Conor MacNeill was at Snap teaching an Astro photography workshop. The Night before my workshop he took me and some other Snap attendees out to shoot the stars which is something I’ve never done. I was really pleased with the results I attained under his instruction. Once I was happy with the stills I was getting I decided to mash things up and shoot an astro time-lapse. Admittedly it’s very short but it’s made up of 10 second exposures shot over an hour, it was a clear sky that clouded over but for added effect I reversed the film so it looks like the sky is clearing to reveal the cosmos.
I really enjoyed teaching this workshop so I’m thinking of running a short time-lapse workshop, Maybe over a few evenings or over a day. Get in touch if that is something that you think you might be interested in and I’ll keep updated as my new plans evolve.
I would like to say thanks to Snap for inviting me to the festival and being the seed that inspired this workshop and Conor MacNeill for teaching my new astrophotography skills.
