Photographer Fits An Entire Timelapse In A Single Photo

It’s almost impossible to sign into Vimeo without getting sucked into the latest and greatest timelapse video. It’s easy to understand why these videos find such great success. They allow the viewer to experience something incredibly surreal, yet familiar. Something as simple and beautiful as a sunrise can now be devoured in seconds.Photographer Pelle Cass also has deep fascination with what can happen over an extended period time, but has found a unique way of capturing it. Pelle describes his latest project as a “Still Timelapse Photograph”

He notes his inspiration:

"I was sitting outside, and just wondering what happened over time there. What happened over one hundred years. In a hundred years it would be filled up black with people, all covering every single inch. Making shadows and overlapping."

That simple thought lead Pelle’s to create his “Selected People” project.

After locating his ideal location, Pelle sets up his camera, frames his shot and proceeds to take between 100-300 nearly identical photos. After pulling the pictures into Photoshop, Pelle paints in interesting patterns and people. The result is similar to timelapse video - surreal, yet similar.

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 Check out more of Pelle's work here

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13 Comments

Beautiful.

would that not be a insane amount of layers? Or is there another way to do this in PS?

It looks like he layers them, but he could take multiple people from the same layer, so it's not like every single person is on a new layer, though that is a possibility as well.

Love this. I remember someone similar that did some work in New York where everyone in the shot was yawning. I love the meticulous detail that you capture.

How many layers would you use for this?

I can appreciate the time and effort that went into this, however, it falls very short of amazing. If I hadn't known that this was a heavily composited image, I would have thought it was a normal picture of a busy part.....There is not WOW factor there. If I was not a fellow photographer, just the average Jane, I would have never thought anything about the image.

I have to agree, this is really nothing new either. Would be fun to do though.

I don't agree, even the layer adjustments make everyone equally exposed, which is just weird even for a untrained eye

Personally, I feel overwhelmed with the constant showcasing of ''wow'' images. While those are nice to look at, these images make me wonder what I miss in the real world from day to day. Compared to "wow" images, this is more realistic which I think makes a bigger impact emotionally.

Inspiring work Pelle! Thank you for sharing.

wow! :)

Clearly copying the Day to Night series by Stephen Wilkes. http://stephenwilkes.com/fine-art-gallery.php?g=7&t=fineart

Clearly a copy of the Day to Night series by Stephen Wilkes. http://stephenwilkes.com/fine-art-gallery.php?g=7&t=fineart