Trey Ratcliff's New Zealand Timelapse Is A Breathtaking Six Minute Trip to Mordor

by Mike Kelley August 9, 2012 9 Comments

Trey Ratcliff, the world's foremost HDR guru, recently relocated to Queenstown, New Zealand, which is quite possibly the most beautiful little town in the world. He just released a timelapse video of his first thirty days and thirty nights spent in the town, and it is definitely worth a watch - especially in the native 4k format. Wow! Whether or not you like Trey's work (we all know how polarizing it is) this little video is a very well made showcase of his skills. And by the way, Trey: Good luck down there, eat plenty of Fergburger, and keep an eye peeled for Oliphaunts.

Topics:

Nature

Natural Light

Location

Time-lapse

Landscapes

9 Comments

About Mike Kelley

mpkelley.com

Michael Kelley (mpkelley.com) is a Los Angeles-based architectural and fine art photographer with a background in digital art and sculpture. Using his backgrounds in the arts, he creates images that are surreal and otherworldly, yet lifelike and believable. A frequent traveler, Michael's personal work focuses on the built environment of unique

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9 Comments

Daithi Jenkins August 9, 2012

Well, this isn't awful. And this is coming from somebody who usually retches at the very mention of Trey Ratcliff.

That said, it is basically six minutes of clouds. There's lots of this stuff on Vimeo.

Jorge Pastrana August 10, 2012

great work!

Dave Dugdale August 10, 2012

So did Hans Zimmer compose it for him? It sounds like they are friends.

Carsten Schlipf August 10, 2012

Thanks to the used background music and GEMA this video is not available in Germany :-(

But I was able to watch it through this link: http://www.unblockyoutube.us/permalink.php?url=xIQ0pQ5KYfPxWSu2MueIUEqG6...

Thomas Jergel August 10, 2012

I was very impressed with his timelapses, except the one at around 1:40 of the streets where he has used some sort of pixel motion interpolation to blend between exposures/frames.

Marius Mariakinas August 10, 2012

It's not bad, but i don't think that this was something that should have been posted on fstoppers it's nothing special, but i did like the music.

Eric Gould August 10, 2012

I would love to see a little more "camera movement." The sound track is first rate as is the image composition.

james martin August 12, 2012

looks like cheap CGI

Martin Beebee August 16, 2012

Gorgeous scenery, but the video itself doesn't seem like anything special. The music is pretty heavy-handed for the entire 6 minutes, so I felt like I was being beat over the head for the entire time: "You! Will! Acknowledge! That! This! Is! Amazing! Scenery!" No time to breathe. I thought the little video flashing tricks were annoying, too. What was the point?

And I have to say that I'm getting more and more impatient with folks illegally using music in their videos. Now, maybe Trey is super special and had Hans Zimmer compose the piece for him, but call me skeptical. I'm pretty sure that if my friend's band laid down one of their songs to this video and posted it as their music video, Trey would be none too pleased.