Time-lapse Photographers Reveal Yosemite in all its Splendor

Two budding time-lapse photographers, Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty, recently released this sweeping vignette of Yosemite National Park, which has resonated with nature lovers and photo geeks alike:  

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

The Project Yosemite idea was born shortly after Delehanty reached out to Neill over Vimeo and enquired about the technical dolly magic behind his romp from Cottonwood Lakes to Mt. Whitney. Delehanty wondered whether he'd be able to use a similar system for a project he envisioned capturing on Yosemite's Half Dome. 

Neill went a step further and suggested they film the time-lapse in the park together.

Some time in September, the pair rendezvoused for the first time in person at midnight in El Capitan Meadow and began shooting. The beautiful sequence at 1:24 of a climber's flashlight flickering from a crevice in the cliff was filmed later that night. 

Running on no sleep, the duo lugged their 70 pound packs and six-foot camera beams to the precipice of a deserted Half Dome the next evening around 7pm. 

"You feel like you're on top of the world," says Neill, who's based in San Juan Capistrano, CA. "We're in an area which is normally the most popular spot, and there was no one there." 

The pair spent the rest of the cloudless and windless night roaming the peak. The photographers didn't come down until they ran out of water late the next morning. 

They continued filming on solo-expeditions and team trips through December and spent roughly a week and a half editing the final product, which sets the wondrous scenes to the graceful track "Outro" from band M83.  Neither was expecting the epic reception to the video, which now boasts more than 1 million views.   

The videographers hope to conquer the nooks and crannies of another natural landscape in the near future. 

--Ryan Jacobs/video courtesy of photographers Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty