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skyglowproject

Gorgeous night skies over Mojave for SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM Thanks

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skyglowproject

We are in a giving mood over at SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM, so through January 31st, you can get all our astrophotography photo prints 50% off using the code PRINTS50! Lots to choose from, sizes from 10x8 all the way to 54x36! Luster paper or canvas options! Check it out at skyglowproject.com/gallery

Harun Mehmedinovic is perhaps more familiar with the country’s dark skies than just about anyone. After establishing himself as an award-winning filmmaker and photographer in Los Angeles, Mehmedinovic now splits his time between L.A. and Flagstaff. But he’s best known for his Skyglow project, a light-pollution awareness campaign highlighting the importance of dark skies and featuring Arizona’s incredible views of the cosmos.

In honor of the International Dark-Sky Association's Dark Sky Week, which will take place on April 15-21, WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM is releasing SKYGLOW NYC, an experimental timelapse which imagines how the skies above New York City would look without light pollution. Inspired by the "Darkened Cities" stills project by Thierry Cohen, this short film composites the heavily light polluted "City That Never Sleeps" with the pristine night skies of Grand Canyon and Death Valley International Dark-Sky Parks.

In 2015, state of NY took an unprecedented step to begin protecting wildlife from excessive use of lights: "New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that state-owned and state-managed buildings from Buffalo to Gotham and Binghamton to Plattsburg will participate in the Audubon NY Lights Out program. That means unessential outdoor lighting will be shut off from 11:00 p.m. to dawn, from April 15 through May 31, and August 15 through November 15, when waves of songbirds migrate through New York in the dark en route to southern wintering grounds." audubon.org/news/new-york-turns-out-lights

The film was shot on Canon 5DIV cameras & lenses sponsored by Canon USA, aided by Alpine Labs' Michron & Pulse, powered by Paul C. Buff Vagabond Mini. Adobe Lightroom & Premiere were used for editing and processing. Additional corrections by LRTimelapse.

This video is a follow up to SKYGLOW, vimeo.com/125108525, a WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM viral video which was a subject of an episode of Discovery Science's "Outrageous Acts of Science" which can be viewed here: vimeo.com/175896277

SKYGLOW NYC stills: bit.ly/2GnHiQX SKYGLOW Book Stills: bit.ly/2vXO7Ag Other Photos from SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM: bit.ly/2whWSaQ

Credits: Producer/Editor/Shooter: Harun Mehmedinovic & Gavin Heffernan, Music: Terry Devine-King

Special Thanks: Leila Conners & Mathew Schmid, Mikayla Khramov, Annie Dolan, Semezdin & Sanja Mehmedinovic, Aaron McNally & Canon USA, Kevin Noble & Paul C. Buff Inc., Greg Horvath & Alpine Labs, Inc., International Dark-Sky Association, Northern Arizona University, State of New York.

Locations: New York City. Night skies courtesy of Death Valley National Park, Grand Canyon National Park and Fort Union National Monument.

Follow/Contact: Facebook facebook.com/skyglowproject Instagram: instagram.com/skyglowproject Email: [email protected]

We appreciate all your shares, comments and likes, thanks for checking out this video! For more videos please visit: vimeo.com/harun

This video is COPYRIGHT 2018 Harun Mehmedinovic / SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM. Any use beyond embedding this video in its unaltered form and properly credited to SKYGLOW PROJECT/SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM on another website, requires special permission from the creator. Any use of the entirety or portion(s) of this video to drive advertising traffic, sales or any other profit-driven venture on a third party website without express permission from the content creator will result in prosecution to the full extent of the law.

Timelapse artists and filmmakers Gavin Heffernan and Harun Mehmedinović are proud to introduce WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM, a 192-page hardcover photobook and timelapse video series exploring North America’s remaining magnificent night skies and the increasing impact of light pollution on our highly fragile environment.

A blend of images, stories, essays, and anecdotal captions, SKYGLOW explores the history and mythology of celestial observation and the proliferation of electrical outdoor lighting that spurred the rise of the phenomena known as “light pollution,” a grave threat not only to our incredible starscapes but also to the very ecosystem itself.

After a highly publicized Kickstarter campaign that ended as the fourth-most earning Photobook campaign ever, Harun and Gavin traveled over 150,000 miles and logged more than 3,000,000 photos on their grueling three-year quest. From incredible locations like the active Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii to Alberta’s majestic Northern Lights, SKYGLOW takes viewers on a visual journey through time, exploring our civilization’s evolving relationship with light and the night sky through the ages.

Millions of visitors come to Grand Canyon National Park, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the most visited national park in the western United States. However, very few ever get to experience the Grand Canyon by way of the Colorado River. Stretching from Lees Ferry at Marble Canyon, AZ, through the inner gorge graced with geology dating as far back as 1.8 billion years, all the way to Diamond Creek, just before the river gives way to Lake Mead, these spectacular 225 miles of whitewater rafting are only accessible by guided commercial motor trips and private rafting permits. Although over 6M visitors come to the Grand Canyon every year, only a small fraction gets permission to raft the river, mainly during the late Spring, Summer and early Fall months.

Production of this video was made possible by a commercial rafting partner Grand Canyon Whitewater, check them out at grandcanyonwhitewater.com!

Millions of visitors a year come to Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park, one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the most visited national park in the western United States. However, on extremely rare days when cold air is trapped in the canyon and topped by a layer of warm air, which in combination with moisture and condensation, form the phenomenon referred to as the full cloud inversion. In what resembles something between ocean waves and fast clouds, Grand Canyon is completely obscured by fog, making the visitors feel as if they are walking on clouds. The full inversions, which mostly take place in the late fall or early winter, are sometimes followed by huge snowstorms, as depicted here.

Grand Canyon was recently awarded the status of a Dark Sky Park by the International Dark-Sky Association.

This video was filmed as part of SKYGLOW (skyglowproject.com), an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible dark sky areas in North America. This project is being produced in collaboration with International Dark-Sky Association (darksky.org), a non-profit fighting for the preservation of night skies around the globe.

The film was shot on Canon 5DIV, 5DSR & 6D cameras & lenses sponsored by Canon USA, aided by Alpine Labs' Michron & Pulse, powered by Paul C. Buff Vagabond Mini. LRTimelapse was used to process some of the shots.

This video is a follow up to KAIBAB ELEGY, a SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM video which garnered over 1 million views on Vimeo and over 4 million on social media and other outlets. That video can be seen here: vimeo.com/217407298

SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM presents MOJAVE FORSAKEN -- a timelapse journey through ghost towns of the Mojave Desert and the magnificent night skies there.

Flanking the infamous Death Valley to the north, west and east, once-booming mining towns of Bodie, Cerro Gordo and Rhyolite now sit in decay at mercy of the elements. In the late 19th century, as gold-hungry settlers overran the West, thousands of mining towns, some as numerous as 50,000 inhabitants, each with own Chinatown, numerous brothels and casinos, sprung up across the continent. However, as the gold and silver mines were exhausted, mining boom collapsed by the early 20th century, leaving these towns abandoned virtually overnight.

Today, Bodie, managed by National Park Service, Rhyolite, managed by Bureau of Land Management, and Cerro Gordo, managed by private owners, exist in a state of "controlled decay," as the authorities protect the structures there from vandalism, but leave them exposed to scorching sun, vicious winds and freezing winter storms. At night, due to high elevation, clarity of the skies, and lack of sources of light pollution, these town give us a glimpse of the night sky as it would have been seen by inhabitants of these towns a century ago.

Note: The orange skies seen in the Bodie footage came from the August 2015 Walker Fire in Yosemite National Park.

MOJAVE FORSAKEN Photo Stills: http://bit.ly/2ySR0DU SKYGLOW Book Stills: http://bit.ly/2vXO7Ag Other Photos from SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM: http://bit.ly/2whWSaQ

SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM presents STORMHENGE -- an epic timelapse film of Carhenge, one of America’s most incredible roadside attractions, situated directly in the path of totality for the “Eclipse of the Century” aka the total solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017, a very rare phenomenon captured in this video!

Located in the High Plains of Alliance, Nebraska, this monument to England’s Stonehenge was conceived and created by Jim Reinders in 1987, as a memorial to his father. “Carhenge consists of 39 vintage American automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 29 meters (95 ft) in diameter. Some are held upright in pits 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models.” More info: carhenge.com

Because of Carhenge's fortuitous positioning on the narrow "path of totality" of the 2017 eclipse, the site has seen an incredible explosion of media attention in recent days, with thousands flocking there to witness the event, including Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and Carhenge creator Jim Reinders himself, now 89 years old.

The STORMHENGE footage was captured during four different shoots between 2015-2017 by Harun Mehmedinovic and Gavin Heffernan as part of SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM, their ongoing quest to raise awareness about the damage and dangers of light pollution.

The video gives a glimpse into the extreme weather volatility in the High Plains region, with extreme thunderstorms giving way to crystal clear skies overhead, seemingly at a moment’s notice.

STORMHENGE Photo Stills Download Link: http://bit.ly/2xm5iLj SKYGLOW Book Stills Download Link: http://bit.ly/2vXO7Ag Other Photos from SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM: http://bit.ly/2whWSaQ

STORMHENGE CREDITS:

Shot by Harun Mehmedinovic (Bloodhoney.com) and Gavin Heffernan (SunchaserPictures.com). Edited by Gavin Heffernan. Shot with Canon 5DSR, Canon 6D, and Canon 5DIV Music: “Constellation” by Terry Devine King. Special Thanks: City of Alliance, Friends of Carhenge, Jim Reinders, Canon, Aaron McNally, International Dark Sky Association, Leila Conners & Tree Media, Kevin Howard, Alliance Visitors Bureau, Masha Alibekova, Richael Young

SKYGLOW is endorsed by the International Dark Sky Association darksky.org

For a few short weeks each year, Elkmont Ghost Town in Smoky Mountains National Park becomes the site of the most magnificent synchronized firefly (Photinus carolinus) gathering in the world. Resembling an odd forest rave party, male fireflies enter the mating season by flashing their lights brightly four to right times in unison for about ten seconds, followed by a eight to twelve second darkness in which females may respond with their lights.

Overwhelmed by the tourist onslaught in the recent years, National Park Service now restricts the number of people who visit Elkmont during the peak of firefly season. Fireflies require total darkness to mate and humans who use flashlights, as well as produce any any other form of light pollution, have led to decrease of fireflies across the world. National Park Service has responded through strict lighting regulations in Smoky Mountains National Park which prohibit use of lights which may disturb and drive out the fireflies from the park.

This video was filmed as part of SKYGLOW (skyglowproject.com), an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible dark sky areas in North America. This project is being produced in collaboration with International Dark-Sky Association (darksky.org), a non-profit fighting for the preservation of night skies around the globe.

At the heart of the New River Gorge is world's third longest single span arch bridge, as well as the third tallest bridge on the United States at 876 feet above river level. Every year, around mid-October, this moody stretch of the river becomes the site of one of the most impressive displays of Fall foliage colors, and that transition of seasons has become one of the biggest tourist draws on the East coast.

This video was filmed as part of SKYGLOW (skyglowproject.com), an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible dark sky areas in North America. This project is being produced in collaboration with International Dark-Sky Association (darksky.org), a non-profit fighting for the preservation of night skies around the globe.

Originally premiered on BBC Earth: bbc.com/earth/story/20151112-see-an-entire-valley-change-colour-in-this-gorgeous-timelapse-video

Shenandoah Valley, located in gorgeous rural Virginia, is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the oldest mountain range in the world.

Shenandoah National Park, located at the northern section of the valley, struggles to maintain its dark skies as the surrounding towns such as Harrisonburg, Charlottesville and even as far back as Washington D.C, produce high levels of light pollution. Although the Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division of the National Park aims to curb light pollution on federal lands across the United States, severe urban light pollution of surrounding towns often negates those efforts.

This video reveals an interesting phenomenon which occurred in Summer 2015, when endless storms hammered the east coast of the United States for weeks. During one night, the clouds from those storms blocked much of the light pollution, which coupled with the clarity of the atmosphere, provided a rare crystal clear sighting of the Milky Way from the high elevation of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This video was filmed as part of SKYGLOW (skyglowproject.com), an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible dark sky areas in North America. This project is being produced in collaboration with International Dark-Sky Association (darksky.org), a non-profit fighting for the preservation of night skies around the globe.

Originally premiered on BBC Earth: bbc.com/earth/story/20151219-a-rare-glimpse-of-the-milky-way-over-the-shenandoah-valley

The film was shot and edited by Harun Mehmedinović on Canon 5DIII & 6D Cameras aided by Alpine Labs' Michron, powered by Paul C. Buff Vagabond Mini. The startrails were created using the rotation of Earth's axis and STARSTAX. LRTimelapse was used to process some of the shots.

WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM presents POLI'AHU, a timelapse trip above the clouds to Mauna Kea in Hawaii, an inactive volcano 14,000 feet above sea level. Much of the mountain is under water; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) tall. In Hawaiian mythology, Poliʻahu is one of the four goddesses of snow, thought to reside on Mauna Kea. Today, the mountain is known as one of the most important land-based astronomical research centers in the world. Our light pollution project WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM has taken us all across the continent to some of the most incredible dark sky locations, but the night sky quality here was absolutely stunning. We really lucked out with a crystal clear night and one of the best milky ways we've ever seen. You can even see the faint glow of the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater from the active Kīlauea Volcano at 2:41 (bottom right) and at 3:02.

Very special thanks to everyone at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility for their incredible support and access, allowing us to get the really cool interior perspective at 2:06.

From University of Hawaii: "Mauna Kea is unique as an astronomical observing site. The atmosphere above the mountain is extremely dry -- which is important in measuring infrared and submillimeter radiation from celestial sources - and cloud-free, so that the proportion of clear nights is among the highest in the world. The exceptional stability of the atmosphere above Mauna Kea permits more detailed studies than are possible elsewhere, while its distance from city lights and a strong island-wide lighting ordinance ensure an extremely dark sky, allowing observation of the faintest galaxies that lie at the very edge of the observable Universe."

Shot by Gavin Heffernan (SunchaserPictures.com) and Harun Mehmedinovic (Bloodhoney.com). SKYGLOW is endorsed by the International Dark Sky Association darksky.org/.

Download Stills Here: bit.ly/2p8Piwn

Music: "Genesis One" by David O'Brien / Chris Egan and "E Ala E" by Pualani Kanahele. Special Thanks: Alan Tokunaga, Lars Bergknut, Dawn Pamarang, Brian McOuat, Nasa Infrared Telescope Facility, University of Hawaii, Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii Film Office, International Dark Sky Association.

Timelapse artists and filmmakers Gavin Heffernan and Harun Mehmedinović are proud to introduce WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM, a 192-page hardcover photobook and timelapse video series exploring North America’s remaining magnificent night skies and the increasing impact of light pollution on our highly fragile environment.

A blend of images, stories, essays, and anecdotal captions, SKYGLOW explores the history and mythology of celestial observation and the proliferation of electrical outdoor lighting that spurred the rise of the phenomena known as “light pollution,” a grave threat not only to our incredible starscapes but also to the very ecosystem itself.

After a highly publicized Kickstarter campaign that ended as the fourth-most earning Photobook campaign ever, Harun and Gavin traveled over 150,000 miles and logged more than 3,000,000 photos on their grueling three-year quest. From incredible locations like the active Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii to Alberta’s majestic Northern Lights, SKYGLOW takes viewers on a visual journey through time, exploring our civilization’s evolving relationship with light and the night sky through the ages.

See how the ancient Puebloan archaeoastronomy sites of our native elders have now been replaced with the blinding “artificial day” of over-lit modern metropolises, and learn about the “Dark Sky Movement” fighting to reclaim the pristine darkness the Earth had enjoyed for billions of years. The importance of America’s threatened National Parks is also highlighted in a section of stunning landscapes from numerous parks, including Shenandoah, Yosemite, Acadia, Death Valley, Yellowstone and many more. Completed in collaboration with the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), SKYGLOW also explores the numerous towns and sites that IDA has identified as official “Dark-Sky” Communities, Cities, Parks, Reserves and Sanctuaries.

Light pollution (aka “skyglow”) affects human health, animal migratory patterns, obstructs astronomy research and leads to over two billion dollars of lost energy every year in the USA. The book includes original essays on the subject from key science voices like BAD ASTRONOMY blogger / author Phil Plait, Eric Betz of ASTRONOMY MAGAZINE, and night sky crusader / poster artist Tyler Nordgren.

Though this is the first time Heffernan and Mehmedinović have put their night sky photos in print, their SKYGLOW timelapse collaborations have been seen by over 50 million viewers, and featured in a vast array of media, like The Rolling Stones 2015 ZIP CODE stadium tour and their 2016 DESERT TRIP shows, the Roger Waters DESERT TRIP shows and his 2016 Mexico concerts.

Mojave Desert, one of the hottest and driest places on the planet, stretches from Western Arizona and Southwestern Nevada all the way to Los Angeles County. Graced with sights ranging from magnificent forests of Joshua Trees to burned out shells and parts of cars and hundreds of ghost towns, it also features some of the clearest views of night skies despite the incredible amounts of light pollution from Los Angeles, Las Vegas and surrounding towns.

At the north end of the desert lies Death Valley, the hottest and driest place on Earth. With just 2.36 inches annual average of rain, and summer temperatures that average between 110-120 degrees, only the most resilient plants and animals are capable of surviving this environment.

However, every ten to twenty years comes a winter of heavy rainfall, usually associated with El Niño (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o). These vicious storms drown the valley, and when they reach above eight to nine inches of rainfall, a rare desert miracle occurs. Laying dormant below the harsh high desert landscape are seeds of numerous wildflowers waiting to be awakened by these rare years of rainfall, and the spectacular display that follows has been dubbed: superbloom.

To many, the most spectacular of these wildflowers are Geraea canescens, the Desert Gold, which blanket the lower elevations along the Badwater road. This video, which premiered on BBC Earth, was filmed as part of SKYGLOW, an ongoing crowdfunded quest to explore the effects and dangers of urban light pollution in contrast with some of the most incredible Dark Sky Preserves in North America. This project is being produced in collaboration with International Dark-Sky Association. You can support SKYGLOW by visiting WWW.SKYGLOWPROJECT.COM bbc.com/earth/story/20160323-when-d

The film was shot and edited by Harun Mehmedinović on Canon 5DIII & 6D Cameras aided by Alpine Labs' Michron, powered by Paul C. Buff Vagabond Mini. LRTimelapse was used to process some of the shots.