A timelapse journey through the American Southwest

by Jessica Festa on


While I don’t think anybody would dispute that the American Southwest is beautiful, this timelapse video by Henry Jun Wah Lee of Evosia Studios takes the region to a whole new level of breathtaking. Without using words or special effects, the Los Angeles-based filmmaker brings the landscape to life with dancing fog, vibrant sunrises, detailed rock formations, and curvacious craters that appear to flow like a woman’s skirt. The photographer’s mission in his work is to inspire people who spend their time in cities to get out and re-connect with nature. Through this video, you’ll get to explore the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, North Coyote Buttes, the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, Rattlesnake Canyon, the Eastern Sierras, Vermillion Cliffs, Yosemite National Park, Grand Staircase Escalante, and the December 2011 Lunar Eclipse.

So how did he create such a stunning masterpiece? Jun Wah Lee explains it took, “a little bit of luck, a lot of traveling and sleepless nights, and a lot of practice!”

Exploring the diverse scenery of East Java, Indonesia

by Jessica Festa on

The area of East Java in Indonesia is home to beautiful and diverse landscapes that include beaches, volcanoes, mountains, plantations, lakes, natural reserves, and a lot more. There are also many natural, cultural, and adventure activities to partake in, like scuba diving, hiking volcanoes, surfing, witnessing traditional ceremonies, hearing folklore stories, learning the cultivation process of tea, and photographing wild animals like zebras and cheetahs.

To get to East Java you can fly into its capital, Surabaya, via their international airport, Juanda Airport (SUB).

If you’d like to explore East Java from the comfort of your computer chair, check out the gallery below.

%Gallery-145096%

Photo of the day – St. Peter’s and a puddle

by Meg Nesterov on

When taking travel photos, we spend a lot of time looking for the right background. Whether it’s capturing a candid portrait or framing the perfect landscape, it’s not always easy to convey a beautiful scene in a photograph. Flickr user John Overmeyer used a humble puddle of rain to elevate this night shot of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Of course, flawless composition, lighting, and luck didn’t hurt, but it all comes together for a beautifully romantic shot that makes the puddle look like a grand river.

Show off your perfect travel shots by adding them to the Gadling Flickr pool. We may choose yours for a future Photo of the Day.

Video: acorn becoming oak tree time-lapse

by Elizabeth Seward on

Ever wanted to watch an acorn as it slowly becomes an oak tree? But, you know, watch it all rather quickly since to watch it actually would take, I don’t know, say, eight months? Eight months is how long it took plant-lover and and filmmaker, Neil Bromhall, to put together this insightful time-lapse video. His Nikon D300 camera was programmed with a 55mm macro lens and took exposures every two hours for eight months of the little acorn as it grew. Maybe I’m just a plants-captured-while-growing novice, but I think this is fascinating.

We all have our own motivations for traveling. We escape. We familiarize ourselves with the unfamiliar. We learn languages. We adjust. But one element of travel that seems to allure most everyone is landscape. I love to travel so that I can see this world for all that it naturally is instead of just the scenery in front of my face as I move in and out of each day. For me, this boils down to the beaches, the mountains, the forests… and the forests boil down to this.

Enjoy.

Photo of the day – Approaching Rio

by Meg Nesterov on


Many of us love the window seat when traveling. Even in cramped coach class, you can feel like you have your own little nook with a place to prop up your tiny airline pillow (in case you don’t fly with a SkyRest like Mike Barish) and a great view of the sky and landscape below. But few of us ever get the best window seat, up in the cockpit, where the view is framed by hundreds of tiny lights and controls. Fortunately own resident pilot Kent Wien shared this nighttime arrival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. See more of his beautiful sky photos here.

See any stellar views on your travels? Add your pictures to the Gadling Flickr pool and you may see one as a future Photo of the Day.