Tag Archives: time-lapse

Shoveling Snow Time-Lapse

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I shovel snow for the first time in 16 years.

It snowed last night. Finally.

Yeah, we did have some minor snowfall way back at the end of November or beginning of December, but it wasn’t much. I bought a snow shovel at the local Habitat for Humanity shop for $5 but was better off just sweeping that snow away.

But last night we had the real thing. About four inches of the stuff, slightly wet but otherwise powdery. I saw it in the dark when I woke up and let Penny out. She ran to the edge of the porch, saw the white stuff on the walk and in the yard, and turned tail, running back into the house, obviously afraid. It was 30 minutes later, after she’d finished most of her breakfast and really had to go that she stepped out into it. That’s when I got an idea of how deep it was — she sank in up to her little body and wound up doing her business under the porch.

I walked out, still in my slippers, and stuck a forefinger in the fresh snow on the walkway. My finger was buried before I touched the ground.

At least four inches. Whoa!

I waited eagerly for the sun to rise. I was actually looking forward to using that new shovel.

Those of you in winter wonderlands who have had snow dumped on you all season probably think I’m nuts. I’m not. I grew up in the New York Metro area where the weather was a bit colder in winter than where I am now — and a lot colder than where I lived in Arizona for 15+ years. I didn’t realize how much I missed the snow until I got here, prepped for winter sports, and then waited for the snow to fall.

It didn’t.

Until last night.

Anyway, at about 8 AM, I donned my winter pants and jacket and boots and fashioned my Buff into a balaclava. Then I pulled on my ski gloves and went out to do a chore most people hate: shoveling snow. Of course, I created a time-lapse:

I don’t have to shovel the driveway, which is quite long. The man who owns the house I’m living in right now has arranged for snow plow service if the snow gets too deep. Right now, I don’t think it’s too deep at all — my Jeep has big, gnarly tires that won’t even notice the snow. Besides, temperatures later this week are expected to rise above freezing — heck, it’s already 31°F outside right now — so I don’t expect the snow to linger.

Maybe that’s why I was in such a hurry to get out there and shovel? I didn’t want to miss my opportunity.

Besides, once it starts melting, I suspect it’ll be a lot heavier and harder to move.

Shelf Constuction Time-Lapse

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Shelves in my shed.

Way back in 2008, when I lived in Arizona, I bought a bunch of Ikea shelves to organize the garage. In February of that year, my wasband and I, supervised by our neighbor’s kids, built the shelves on one side of the garage. It took nearly the whole day to get that job done and when it was over, we were exhausted. The idea was to do the other side of the garage on a future weekend.

But like so many things I planned with my wasband, it never happened. The extra shelves sat languishing against one wall for more than five years. Finally, when I realized that I was going to be spending the entire winter of 2012/2013 in my house and had nothing better to do than pack, I packed up those loose shelves, leaving the built ones behind. The packed shelves were moved up to my storage space in Washington in September 2013 with the rest of my belongings.

Last week, I lucked upon an excellent deal for a 6 x 8 shed. I realized that I’d be able to store a lot more in the shed a lot more neatly with shelves. I measured those Ikea shelves and I measured the shed’s inside wall. Would you believe the shelves were just 1/4 inch narrower than the wall? They’d fit perfectly.

I built them today. Rather than use the relatively short vertical posts I already had, however, I bought some new 1 x 4s, 6 feet in length, so the shelves would be higher. So part of construction meant drilling new holes. I had all the tools I needed to make the job a snap — I’m really building quite a collection of power tools! And the difference in the shed is amazing; you can see for yourself in the time-lapse video I created.

The project took just over 2 hours from beginning to end. I’m very happy with the way it turned out!

November Full-Day Time-Lapse

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A recent time-lapse from my home in Malaga.

I love time-lapse photography. Although there’s nothing terribly special about this 2-minute compilation, it’s my first effort at a full-day time-lapse movie shot from my new home in Malaga, WA. The view looks northwest, toward East Wenatchee (center) and Wenatchee (left).

The formula: one shot every 10 seconds compiled at 30 frames per second. This was shot on November 3, 2013.

It’s interesting to note that because there are tall cliffs south of my property, in the wintertime, I don’t get direct sunlight on my home until late morning. I suspect that’ll get even later as the days get shorter. In the summer, however, I get nearly a full day of direct sunlight — perfect for gardening!

Yesterday’s Rainy Desert Day Time-Lapse

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Not what I expected, but you never know what to expect.

I set up my time-lapse camera — an old Canon G5 with a PClix attached — very early yesterday morning. We were supposed to get weather in Wickenburg and that meant clouds. (We don’t get clouds very often, so it’s notable.) I figured I’d get a dawn to sunset time-lapse of the weather moving through.

Unfortunately, it was cloudier than even I expected — not a glimpse of blue sky all day long. The video is a bit disappointing, although you can see the cloud movement and complete loss of visibility. The knobby mountain on the horizon is Vulture Peak, which is about 3 or 4 miles away as the crow flies. It doesn’t stay in the picture for long.

The formula for this video was one shot every 15 seconds, compiled at 30 fps. That takes a 12-hour period and reduces it to about a minute and a half.

One of the problems with shooting time-lapse movies of the sky is that you never know what to expect or where the best views will be. It’s all a crap shoot. That’s okay because the setup is digital and doesn’t cost a thing to operate. It’s just a matter of setting it up and running through the 2000+ photos it generates when it’s done.

I’ve got the camera set up again today and will have more action to show. There’s blue sky and a few clouds that are speeding through the sky, pushed by a strong wind. Perhaps you’ll see that here tomorrow.

Sunrise from Wenatchee Heights

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A time-lapse to remember.

For the past five weeks, I’ve been living in my RV on the side of a hill overlooking the Squilchuck Valley south of Wenatchee, WA. Every morning, I’ve watched the sun’s golden light spread out over the valley, illuminating the hillsides, mountaintops, orchards, and grassy knolls around me.

The view out the door of my RV for the past 5 weeks.

I’m leaving next week and although I think I’ll be back next year, I might not. I wanted to capture the experience to remember it.

So at 4 AM, I was outside, setting up my time-lapse camera. One shot per minute, compiled at 6 frames per second yields this 28-second video. Enjoy.