Video Of The Day: Rio De Janeiro Time-Lapse

by Elizabeth Seward on

“A day in Rio de Janeiro” from Joe Simon Films on Vimeo.

I love going through Vimeo slowly, looking for diamonds in the rough of time-lapse videos. I found one today. Created by Joe Simon, this time-lapse explores Rio de Janeiro. Featuring the simplistic beauty found in the subtle swaying of anchored boats, the coming and going of beach-goers, the overwhelmingly perfect sunshine and the gorgeous curves of the landscape, this video is worth the few minutes it takes to view it. So sit back, relax and enjoy Rio de Janeiro from afar.

Video: Cities Across The Globe

by Elizabeth Seward on

CITY #3721 from Lam Ho Tak on Vimeo.

You can board a plane and fly to any city on this planet. No matter where you go, you’ll find familiarity amid the unfamiliarity. Paved and braided highway systems weave through cities and carry pairs of headlights through the dark night, one after another. Pedestrians congregate on street corners and wait for the opportunity to cross and then do so together as a herd. The buildings get taller; the cars get smaller; the chaos appears to increase, but within it there is a machine that is moving through its commands and that machine knows no barriers. In this video made by Lam Ho Tak, a student at the University of Hong Kong, that machine is documented at work in cities across the globe. Already the winner of several awards, this video is an entertaining short mix and matching color tones, subdued lighting, motion, and other elements of city life that act as a common denominator for cities everywhere.

Video Of The Day: Florence Time-Lapse

by Elizabeth Seward on

Semper Firenze

I came across this time-lapse video from a New Year’s outing in Florence, Italy, on Vimeo (user MattBen) today. It struck me immediately as dramatic, but also mesmerizing. The time-lapse starts off and ends with slow sounds and visuals. The video climaxes in the middle with chaotic and dissonant music paired with footage of people moving along the streets of Florence furiously. Time-lapses are something I like because, when done well, they present to us the image of a longer span of time in a place than a single snapshot can provide. With that we can view the changes that take place in a destination over the course of a few hours, a day, weeks, or months. If you know of any good time-lapse videos you’d like to share with us, please do so in the comments.

Video Of The Day: Rush Hour At Boston Logan Airport

by Meg Nesterov on


Today’s Video of the Day brings you a moment of Zen from an unlikely source: Boston Logan Airport at rush hour. Boston-based Chris Eagle made the time-lapse video from about 40 minutes of airplane runway footage, and with the accompanying music by Little People, it feels almost peaceful (probably much more so than if you were on one of the planes waiting to take off). The video is a sequel of sorts to another time-lapse from Logan last year, but the original has a much different feel, watching the airplanes rocket off into the sky.

See any cool travel videos? Share them in the comments below or on the Gadling Facebook page for another Video of the Day.

Video Of The Day: Midnight Sun Shines In Iceland

by Libby Zay on

The “midnight sun” is a natural phenomenon occurring north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle when the sun never fully sets and remains visible 24 hours a day. Since there are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, countries and territories that experience the midnight sun are limited to those crossed by the Arctic Circle, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia and Iceland, plus Alaska in the United States.

Filmmaker and photographer Joe Capra sought out capturing the midnight sun in Iceland. To make the above film, he traveled solo around the country for 17 days, shooting both day and night. He slept in his car, hiked in the middle of the night and ate whenever he had a moment of free time. When he returned to Los Angeles, he brought with him 38,000 images in total from the trip.

In an interview about the film, Capra told photographer Michael Levy he chose to travel to Iceland in June because the month is a little early for the tourist season, giving him a chance to film when some popular locations are less crowded. More importantly, at this time of year the midnight sun allowed him six or so hours of fantastic “golden light.”

“I am the type of person who does not want to go on vacation and just walk around cities or just lay on the beach all day long,” Capra said. “I like to get out and see and experience the countries I visit. Going alone also allowed me to go where I wanted, when I wanted, and stay at locations as long as I wanted without having to worry about the needs of another person with me,” he continued.

On his Vimeo page, Capra encourages everyone – photographer or not – to visit Iceland. Although Capra is not sure where he’ll go on his next trip, he relayed that he’s researching Patagonia.