Hyperlapse Shows Thousands of Years of Color and Culture Still Present in Modern Iran

Stanislas Giroux gets it. All of his videos have a common thread of featuring fantastic soundtracks. This video, "Curves of Iran," celebrates modern Iran's rich visual textures and — you guessed it — curves. Fitted to great music, fun (but fitting) sound effects to every cut, and a great overall tempo, this video makes use of hyperlapse-like cuts, but spares your brain from the monotony of yet another time-lapse by letting the actual shots play in real time once you've "arrived" at your new destination. Truly imaginative. And at the Giroux's request, I'll remind you to listen with headphones.

The eye-popping colors of the world as seen, captured, and shared by Giroux is truly incredible and undeniably completely contradicts the grey-brown Iran that is pushed forward through the media every day in the U.S. Say what you want about Iran's political and social issues (hey, I'm not in love with them either), but there's obviously something completely lacking in the imagery of the Iran that is presented to us today. In fact, "Curves of Iran" depicts an Iran some of us might only be able to have thought of as a pre-1970s Iran, which always basks in its nostalgia-ridden glory.

Could these shots be a string of carefully selected vignettes that don't tell the whole story? Certainly. And in many ways, how could they not be at least to a small extent. But one thing's for sure, I want to go see Iran.

Check out more of Stanislas Giroux's work at his website or on his Vimeo page. And don't forget, listen with headphones! He worked hard to make that a good experience for you.

Adam Ottke's picture

Adam works mostly across California on all things photography and art. He can be found at the best local coffee shops, at home scanning film in for hours, or out and about shooting his next assignment. Want to talk about gear? Want to work on a project together? Have an idea for Fstoppers? Get in touch! And, check out FilmObjektiv.org film rentals!

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15 Comments

Iran here i go!!

Seriously! I'll meet you there!

It's a matter of putting some cash aside, a couple of weddings should be enough.
I felt in love for the mosques, they look stunning.

regarding cash: this will mostly depend on your travel style but if you want to you can travel very cheap in Iran. Overland buses for example cost around 10$ US for an 8 hour ride. Basic Hotels around 25 or 30 $ US. A basic meal around 4$ US if I remember correctly

That's cheap then. Like 50€ a day.

as I said this will mainly depend on your travel style / need for "luxury". But with 50 per day you should be fine if you don't expect a 3 or 4 star hotel.

Oh no, none of that, i can sleep in tents and other places cheaper than hotels. :)

then you'll probably be able to need 30 per day. Especially because the Iranians are so incredibly inviting and yes you can couchsurf - in fact you will sometimes even be invited to sleep at somebodys house without actively couchsurfing

Great, thanks for the valuable help!! :)

I wanted to use this opportunity to tell you, you are more than welcome to come visit, we have a small community of photographers over here, and that’d be a good idea for us to share some ideas, I can show you so much more that what that video has to offer.
it is quite an adventure.

Thanks Hossein! Can you tell us more, like for example, prices of hotels and stuff like that? Is there any sort of coachsurfing platform in Iran? Can we bring our gear at will, or are there any rules that must be followed? I'm curious and i know that our countries share a different ideology and society, still i am keen on learning more about Iran.

we went to Iran in spring 2014 and totally loved it! you can read about our experiences here: http://distant-horizons.de/blog/23_Iran.html

Hey thanks Edgar! What about gear? What did you take there? DSLR cameras or point and shoot? I'm more interested in landscape and street photography, it seems such a rich enviroinment .

we were on a trip around the world and had the following equipment with us: Laptop, smartphone, DSLR, point and shoot camera

P.S.
you will be fine with your 14mm and 50mm on your 6D:-)

P.S.
you will be fine with your 14mm and 50mm on FF :-)