Timelapse photography: ceiling artwork, NYC
Building out a new jewelry store in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan, the timelapse took several months as the renovation project unfolded. Part of it was when they had an artist paint a forest scene on the ceiling — the effect is the of looking upwards in the middle of a forest and seeing the canopy of trees above you. This part of the timelapse project, shown here, took 5 weeks to unfold.
The client: Cadar
The artist: Rey Jaffet — check out some of his other work on his Instagram account.
The challenge here was finding a central viewpoint that was low enough on the ground to give a view up towards the ceiling … but wouldn’t obstruct the workers completing the build-out of the new store. I clamped the camera to a short metal stud protruding from the wall, close to the floor.
About the specific gear I used here — a Sony mirrorless camera. Instead of a 12-24mm ultra-wide zoom like I had used for the rest of the timelapse project, I opted for a 16-35mm lens because this specific lens could take a filter. This was a crucial decision since the camera would be pointing upwards, and there would be weeks of spray paint floating around — this would cover the naked front element of any lens … which is why a filter was necessary here. You can see in the video as it fades out on the last day, that there is a haze to the image — that is because of spray paint covering the filter on the lens. I also covered the camera setup with plastic to help minimize damage.
In this photo below you can see the little monitor that I use to accurately position the camera. Because the camera is so tight to the wall, there is no other way to see the framing — I have to attach a monitor to the camera to confirm what angle the camera is capturing.
In the end, a fairly simple setup, but the video effectively shows the artwork unfolding over several weeks … all in the space of a short timelapse video.
The various rolling scaffolding that the artist used to reach the ceiling and walls.
- For more info about Time-Lapse Photography in New York (and New Jersey)