Video: An ultra high resolution look at the American Southwest

by Jessica Festa on

Time lapse photographer and filmmaker Tom Lowe has been working on his new and innovative creation for over two years now. The video is actually a clip of his soon-to-debut film, TimeScapes, which showcases the beauty of the American Southwest using Canon RAW and Epic Red still cameras. Because the movie was filmed and edited at 4K resolution, which is four times greater than regular high definition, the moments and places really come to life on the screen.

Watch sunsets at Salton Sea, coastlines, Redwoods, and waterfalls in Big Sur, and meteor showers at Bristlecone take on a life of their own as firefalls, eclipses, cultural dances, lakes, mountains, starry skys, concerts, and unique landscapes are shown like never before.

To see a stunning preview of what’s to come, as well as hear music by John Stanford, check out this video:


TimeScapes 4K from Tom Lowe on Vimeo.

Versalette convertible travel garment will revolutionize your packing list

by Jessica Marati on
When you’re living out of a suitcase, the less items of clothing you have to pack, the better. That’s the thinking behind The Versalette, a convertible garment from {r}evolution apparel that easily goes from a shirt to a skirt to a dress to… well, basically anything you can imagine. For a female traveler with a packing list of basic white tees and khaki cargo pants, it’s a dream travel piece. Plus, it’s ethically and sustainably developed.

The Versalette launched as a project on Kickstarter in mid-November, and within 14 days it was fully funded. As of Monday morning, $38,120 had been pledged from 470 backers, and the project still has another two weeks to go.

{r}evolution founders Kristin Glenn and Shannon Whitehead are travelers themselves, and they met while living and working in Australia. After several months of friendship, they separated and embarked on their own adventures, traversing five continents independently. But they kept in touch, and in mid-2010 they reunited in the United States to pursue an idea: a minimalist clothing line for female travelers.

Kristin and Shannon traveled to Central America with the goal of working sustainably and ethically to bring their line to life. There, they came face to face with the challenges of incorporating sustainability into a fashion item’s supply chain. But one year, many lessons, and lots of determination later, they’re closer to launching the line, and their story has resonated with travelers and style-setters across the web.

Their goal has also evolved to encompass something much larger than what they initially set out to accomplish: to create nothing short of a revolution toward minimalism and sustainability in the fashion industry.

The Versalette is currently in production and will be made in the USA using 100 percent recycled fabric. Kristin and Shannon have identified 15 different ways to style the item, including as a dress, shirt, skirt, scarf, purse, hood, and more. Really, what more does a female traveler need?


[images via {r}evolution apparel]

Eco-tourism gets edible with the Ritz Carlton, Charlotte’s, giant green gingerbread house

by Jessica Festa on

The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte, in North Carolina, is taking their eco-friendly hospitality to a whole new level. From Thanksgiving Day through December 28, 2011, the hotel will showcase a life-sized “edible eco-manor”, designed by architects and made by pastry chefs using all-natural and organic ingredients. The structure will be 12 feet high by 14 feet wide by 10 feet deep and will also feature LED lights and a green “moss” eco-roof.

So what goes into making a giant eco-friendly gingerbread house?

  • 350 pounds of organic white, brown and confectioner’s sugar
  • 70 pounds of organic egg whites
  • 300 pounds of organic bread flour
  • 100 organic eggs
  • 24 pounds of molasses
  • Four pounds of salt
  • Four pounds of baking soda
  • 120 pounds of shortening
  • 24 ounces of cinnamon
  • Two gallons of organic milk
  • Eight ounces each of nutmeg, allspice and cloves
  • Nine ounces of ginger

This unique exhibit complements The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte’s, already eco-friendly programming. The property is LEED-certified, meaning that the hotel’s construction and design follows the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines. Some sustainable practices of the Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte, include building materials that use 30% less energy than most hotels, reduced water usage by 35%, a green, vegetated rooftop, recycling more than 80% of construction waste, and having bicycles as available transportation for guests, among other initiatives.

For more information on the hotel’s green programming, click here.

Visit the world’s largest indoor rainforest resort

by Jessica Festa on

While Europe isn’t typically known for it’s tropical rainforests, a visit to the Tropical Islands in Germany can show you that they do indeed exist on the continent. In fact, the world’s largest indoor rainforest is located right outside of Berlin in the town of Krausnick.

Located inside of a giant, 22,000 square foot dome, the indoor tropical resort is about the size of eight football fields and wins the title of the world’s largest indoor rainforest, as well as the biggest tropical sauna and spa complex in Europe. The complex is also home to more than 29,000 plants while cocktatiels, parrots, and budgerigars provide animal life for the space.

There are many other features to this tropical paradise, as well. Visitors can relax on a man-made beach, swim in the “ocean”, go mini-golfing, or partake in some overnight camping. For those who want a short break from the natural side of things, restaurants, bars, and shops are also located in the rainforest resort.

Green travelers will be happy to know that Tropical Islands is also eco-friendly, recycling swimming pool water to feed the plants as well as using natural UV light that seeps through the dome’s massive panels. Rain showers also occur naturally inside the dome, forming from the humidity found inside the structure.

For more information, visit the Tropical Islands website.

New restaurant in Mexico City combines unique architecture and experiential dining

by Jessica Festa on

Tori-Tori, a new Japanese restaurant located in Polanco in Mexico City, Mexico, has recently finished completion. The project began in 2009 as a joint venture between the Mexico-based firm rojkind arquitectos and the design company Esrawe Studio, with the aim to create a unique contemporary space.

While the restaurant serves Japanese cuisine, the ambiance is more cosmopolitan than many other Japanese restaurants on the market. Imagine an interior full of open spaces, a bar, and terraces that always keep the guest close to natural vegetation.

The inside is actually an extension of the outside, where the facade seems to grow organically from the ground in a mass of steel ivy. You can see through to the restaurant and vice versa, and the pattern on Tori-Tori’s outside controls the ambiance on the inside by filtering light, shadows, and views.

As for the food, guests can expect an array of options, including salads, curries, pastas, fish dishes, beef, chicken, sushi, sashimi, nigri, and more. For more information, click here. Or, to get a better idea of the design of Tori-Tori, check out the gallery below. All photos are courtesy of photographer Paúl Rivera.

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