Watch: Breathtaking time-lapse film showing Hong Kong's stunning beauty
Francis So was inspired to try time-lapse photography by a video of New Zealand scenery. It's now his full-time job, and his first film, of Hong Kong's natural beauty, has been viewed 320,000 times
An iridescent night sky filled with stars, windswept rolling hills, a fast-moving sea of clouds streaked with breaking sunlight and serene water sprinkled with bobbing boats. The scenes in Seen by My Eyes, Hong Kong, a five-minute short made by local photographer Francis So Ka-chun, are so breathtaking that it is hard to believe that they were captured in Hong Kong, a city more famous for being a concrete jungle than its natural beauty.
Made using time-lapse photography, the short won four prizes – including winner of the mountain tourism category and first runner-up for best time-lapse – in the 4th Finisterra Arrábida Film Art and Tourism Festival held in Portugal in May.
Time-lapse photography records an object or a scene in single shots and turns it into a video that plays back at high speed. The easiest way to do it is to place a camera on a tripod and, at intervals, take shots of slow-moving things – such as clouds and germinating plants – for hours or days on end. The footage is then compressed into a video lasting only a few minutes.
So, a 28-year-old former designer turned full-time photographer first tried the technique two years ago after he saw a time-lapse photography video on New Zealand landscapes taken by Bevan Percival.