This is Giants of Yosemite, by Gavin Heffernan. Heffernan has shared 4 timelapse videos from U.S. national parks with EarthSky. They’re a part of his PARKLIGHT project, meant to inspire people to protect our parklands. See the other national park timelapse videos below.
Awe-inspiring national park timelapse videos
Watch Taurus the Bull rise above Half Dome in Yosemite. Gaze at the red-rock monoliths of Zion as day turns to night. See the Blood Moon eclipse over Joshua Tree. And witness a curious fox at Channel Islands. These national park timelapse videos celebrate the beauty of the U.S. national park system.
Gavin Heffernan is a dark-sky advocate who shot these timelapse videos. His new series PARKLIGHT focuses on the U.S. national parks. Heffernan hopes his videos will inspire people to support the parks.
Starstorm Zion
Heffernan told EarthSky:
The fun part about PARKLIGHT is that each park is a unique experience with its own character and personality. There are commonalities, but every shoot is a totally different adventure, which is a big part of the magic of the national parks. Every visitor’s experience is a unique journey they get to have in their own way. But I try my best to capture the essence of each place and how it made me feel while I was there: the suspense of a beautiful sunset leading into a mysterious night, the intensity of a violent thunderstorm over Zion, the peace and quiet of a serene stream, the howl of coyotes echoing across the canyons at Joshua Tree.
I’m hoping that sharing these experiences helps other people get excited about the parks and inspires them to plan their own visit or find ways to help out. But, truthfully, I also make them as postcards to myself, so I can look back years later and remember not just what these parks looked like, but more importantly, what the experience felt like.
This is Starstorm Zion, by Gavin Heffernan. In this timelapse, you’ll see day turn to night in Utah’s Zion National Park. Watch as the Pleiades star cluster appears above the red cliffs and the Milky Way arcs across the sky as planes zip by. A brief thunderstorm clouds out the stars with lightning flashes before the serene stars appear again.
Eclipse Joshua Tree
Heffernan described to EarthSky how the parks connect him with the night sky:
The beauty of long-exposure night sky photography is that it allows you to see more than you would with your unaided eye. So it enhances that magical, surreal feeling that I always get in these locations and really helps amplify how special they are. The parks aren’t just nature refuges, they’re gateways to the universe and the stars we’ve lost. The parks are portals to unlocking your imagination and getting more perspective on life … and what a miracle it is we’re even here in the first place.
With the rapid advance of urban light pollution across the continent and the world, the parks have never been more important than they are now. They’ve become true sanctuaries of the stars. So, because of that, the night sky is often a central piece of these shorts.
This is Eclipse Joshua Tree, by Gavin Heffernan. The pastels colors of a desert sunset lead into a lunar eclipse. The reddened moon floats behind spiky Joshua trees, then brightens once more as star trails imitate falling meteors.
Channel Light
Heffernan also captures his landscapes under the beauty of sunlight. The last video showcases a day at Channel Islands National Park off the coast of California.
This is Channel Light, by Gavin Heffernan. See the sunny beauty of Channel Islands National Park as waves lap against the shore. Hikers take in an observation point and a Santa Cruz Island fox chews at scraps. The wind ruffles grasses and branches in this peaceful landscape.
National park timelapse videos meant to inspire
Spending a lot of time in the national parks has also given Heffernan an appreciation for the rangers and park service. His appreciation of both the park and park workers runs deep. Heffernan told EarthSky:
Like a lot of things in life, some of the most important stuff is the easiest to take for granted. I think the national parks are a good example of this. Because of the timeless nature of these locations, they often seem invulnerable, or that they will take care of themselves somehow. Nature does do a lot of the work, but a few hours at any park makes it clear how crucial the NPS staff are to protect and preserve these locations, especially the most popular parks that receive such a heavy human footprint.
It’s a mutually beneficial symbiotic collaboration between humans and nature that really is beautiful to see. But it doesn’t happen without support. The inspiration for starting this project was the government shutdown that was putting an extreme strain on park workers and therefore the parks themselves. Even though that situation has somewhat resolved, the parks are still woefully underfunded and need constant attention and care. We can’t take them for granted, especially as the rest of the world gets covered in concrete and the skies are blown out with lights, pollution and endless satellites littering the night.
Bottom line: Enjoy four national park timelapse videos from Gavin Heffernan. The views include both starscapes and landscapes of Yosemite, Zion, Joshua Tree and Channel Islands.
Read more: Moonlight Mojave: The desert under starry skies
Read more: See the best Milky Way photos of 2025 here
The post Feel awe over these national park timelapse videos first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/mCTg94D
This is Giants of Yosemite, by Gavin Heffernan. Heffernan has shared 4 timelapse videos from U.S. national parks with EarthSky. They’re a part of his PARKLIGHT project, meant to inspire people to protect our parklands. See the other national park timelapse videos below.
Awe-inspiring national park timelapse videos
Watch Taurus the Bull rise above Half Dome in Yosemite. Gaze at the red-rock monoliths of Zion as day turns to night. See the Blood Moon eclipse over Joshua Tree. And witness a curious fox at Channel Islands. These national park timelapse videos celebrate the beauty of the U.S. national park system.
Gavin Heffernan is a dark-sky advocate who shot these timelapse videos. His new series PARKLIGHT focuses on the U.S. national parks. Heffernan hopes his videos will inspire people to support the parks.
Starstorm Zion
Heffernan told EarthSky:
The fun part about PARKLIGHT is that each park is a unique experience with its own character and personality. There are commonalities, but every shoot is a totally different adventure, which is a big part of the magic of the national parks. Every visitor’s experience is a unique journey they get to have in their own way. But I try my best to capture the essence of each place and how it made me feel while I was there: the suspense of a beautiful sunset leading into a mysterious night, the intensity of a violent thunderstorm over Zion, the peace and quiet of a serene stream, the howl of coyotes echoing across the canyons at Joshua Tree.
I’m hoping that sharing these experiences helps other people get excited about the parks and inspires them to plan their own visit or find ways to help out. But, truthfully, I also make them as postcards to myself, so I can look back years later and remember not just what these parks looked like, but more importantly, what the experience felt like.
This is Starstorm Zion, by Gavin Heffernan. In this timelapse, you’ll see day turn to night in Utah’s Zion National Park. Watch as the Pleiades star cluster appears above the red cliffs and the Milky Way arcs across the sky as planes zip by. A brief thunderstorm clouds out the stars with lightning flashes before the serene stars appear again.
Eclipse Joshua Tree
Heffernan described to EarthSky how the parks connect him with the night sky:
The beauty of long-exposure night sky photography is that it allows you to see more than you would with your unaided eye. So it enhances that magical, surreal feeling that I always get in these locations and really helps amplify how special they are. The parks aren’t just nature refuges, they’re gateways to the universe and the stars we’ve lost. The parks are portals to unlocking your imagination and getting more perspective on life … and what a miracle it is we’re even here in the first place.
With the rapid advance of urban light pollution across the continent and the world, the parks have never been more important than they are now. They’ve become true sanctuaries of the stars. So, because of that, the night sky is often a central piece of these shorts.
This is Eclipse Joshua Tree, by Gavin Heffernan. The pastels colors of a desert sunset lead into a lunar eclipse. The reddened moon floats behind spiky Joshua trees, then brightens once more as star trails imitate falling meteors.
Channel Light
Heffernan also captures his landscapes under the beauty of sunlight. The last video showcases a day at Channel Islands National Park off the coast of California.
This is Channel Light, by Gavin Heffernan. See the sunny beauty of Channel Islands National Park as waves lap against the shore. Hikers take in an observation point and a Santa Cruz Island fox chews at scraps. The wind ruffles grasses and branches in this peaceful landscape.
National park timelapse videos meant to inspire
Spending a lot of time in the national parks has also given Heffernan an appreciation for the rangers and park service. His appreciation of both the park and park workers runs deep. Heffernan told EarthSky:
Like a lot of things in life, some of the most important stuff is the easiest to take for granted. I think the national parks are a good example of this. Because of the timeless nature of these locations, they often seem invulnerable, or that they will take care of themselves somehow. Nature does do a lot of the work, but a few hours at any park makes it clear how crucial the NPS staff are to protect and preserve these locations, especially the most popular parks that receive such a heavy human footprint.
It’s a mutually beneficial symbiotic collaboration between humans and nature that really is beautiful to see. But it doesn’t happen without support. The inspiration for starting this project was the government shutdown that was putting an extreme strain on park workers and therefore the parks themselves. Even though that situation has somewhat resolved, the parks are still woefully underfunded and need constant attention and care. We can’t take them for granted, especially as the rest of the world gets covered in concrete and the skies are blown out with lights, pollution and endless satellites littering the night.
Bottom line: Enjoy four national park timelapse videos from Gavin Heffernan. The views include both starscapes and landscapes of Yosemite, Zion, Joshua Tree and Channel Islands.
Read more: Moonlight Mojave: The desert under starry skies
Read more: See the best Milky Way photos of 2025 here
The post Feel awe over these national park timelapse videos first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/mCTg94D
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire