Untapped Cities has previously featured the innovative timelapse videos of filmmaker and photographer Luke Shepard, from the nighttime exploration of Paris’ monuments in Le Flâneur to Big Hands, a video commissioned by Nikon. Shepard is quite unorthodox in his technique. Unlike traditional timelapse videos, where the camera is stationary, he meticulously takes photographs in sequence about one foot from each other while walking. This technique creates a real-time moving video around the monuments themselves.
Shepard’s most recent project, NIGHTVISION, is set after dark like Le Flâneur, but takes us beyond Paris. The video is a stunning visual exploration of prominent monuments and landmarks throughout Europe, ranging from Westminster Palace and the Oslo Opera House to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and the Roman Colosseum. As Shepard explained in his Kickstarter, the viewer has the ability to journey around the entire continent within minutes…and what’s more, from the comfort of their own screens.
Bilbao Museum by Frank Gehry, screenshot from NIGHTVISION by Luke Shepard
NIGHTVISION is clearly the culmination of techniques developed by Shepard, and you can see the evolution of his skills in photography and post-production from Le Flâneur and Big Hands. When we met with Shepard after the release of Le Flâneur, he mentioned there were parts of the video he wanted to perfect and it’s exciting to see the results in NIGHTVISION. This video continues Shepard’s exploration of architecture at night, exploring static and dynamic beauty in unique ways.
