Category Archives: Nature

Nature & Technology: “Ode To Desolation” On Fire Lookouts In North America By Lindsey Hagen

Directed by: Lindsey Hagen

Filmed and Edited by: Chris Naum
Original Score and Mix by: Brandon Hagen
Original Artwork by: Jim Henterly

“Ode to Desolation” shares the story of Jim Henterly, a naturalist, illustrator and fire lookout as he contemplates the dwindling days of Fire Lookouts in North America.

With the influence of technology and AI threatening to make his role obsolete, we look into the future and ask ourselves what connections we will maintain to keep our human interpretation of the natural world alive.

Timelapse Travel Videos: Denmark’s “Yellow Fields” By Casper Rolsted (2020)

Filmed and Edited by: Casper Rolsted

Every spring bright yellow fields occur for a few weeks all over the world. These beautiful carpets of yellow are the Rapeseed crop blooming. Many may be familiar with this crop under its other name of Canola.

The crop grows to 100 cm (39 in) in height and the flowers are about 17 mm (0.67 in) across.

Crops from the genus Brassica, including Rapeseed, were among the earliest plants to be widely cultivated by mankind as early as 10,000 years ago.

Today Rapeseed is used for production of animal feed, edible vegetable oils, and biodiesel.

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Health & Nature Books: “The Well-Gardened Mind” By Sue Stuart-Smith (2020)

 ‘The Well-Gardened Mind’ provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Here, Sue Stuart-Smith investigates the many ways in which mind and garden can interact and explores how the process of tending a plot can be a way of sustaining an innermost self.

A distinguished psychiatrist and avid gardener offers an inspiring and consoling work about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster mental well-being in our everyday lives.

The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Gardening is one of the quintessential nurturing activities and yet we understand so little about it.

Stuart-Smith’s own love of gardening developed as she studied to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. From her grandfather’s return from World War I to Freud’s obsession with flowers to case histories with her own patients to progressive gardening programs in such places as Rikers Island prison in New York City, Stuart-Smith weaves thoughtful yet powerful examples to argue that gardening is much more important to our cognition than we think. Recent research is showing how green nature has direct antidepressant effects on humans. Essential and pragmatic, The Well-Gardened Mind is a book for gardeners and the perfect read for people seeking healthier mental lives.

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Nature & Adventure Videos: “Earth – Tomes” By Rhett Cutrell (2020)

Filmed and Directed by: Rhett Cutrell (ForNever Productions)

Fornever Productions specializes in telling the difficult stories in, and about, the natural world we inhabit but our 2020 Demo Reel is inspired by the stories Earth tells US. Earth: tomes. features a collection of our favorite moments over the past few years that were captured in the highest cinematic quality imaginable. We are very proud of our past work and are excited for what the future holds in the way of Outdoor Cinema

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Top New Travel Videos: “Nature Showreel 2019” In Europe By Hans Leysieffer

https://vimeo.com/429640367

Filmed and Edited by: Hans Leysieffer

Sequences mainly from my first feature film “Ars Natura” which has beside other nominations and awards been nominated as “Best Independent Production” at the European leading GREEN SCREEN International Wildlife Filmfestival Eckernförde 2019. “Ars Natura” is a 95 min non-verbal emotional and meditative movie about the beauty of nature and life based on an inspiring surround sound track.

Music: “Harpoon” by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, and Ellie Kidd

Movie website: arsnatura-thefilm.com

Homes In Nature Design: “From Roots To Crowns” – Visionary “Lifting House” From Italian Studio NOA*

noa* Lifting House - From Roots to Crowns“from roots to crowns” describes the vertical metamorphosis of a hybrid building, moving from below ground through fields and trunks up to the crowns. It is a living shell on the move, able to take on 3 main positions “under the earth”(-1), “on the fields” (0) and “in the tree crowns” (+1+2). The lifting house is a visionary way of adapting the concept of “living and working in nature” to the varying requirements of its inhabitants. 

noa* (Network of Architecture) is the essential expression of a collaborative work-ethos: the young team of architects & designers, led by founders Lukas Rungger and Stefan Rier and based in Bolzano (Italy) and Berlin (Germany), explores and examines interdisciplinary methods of design, continuously evolving depending on both nature and requirements of each project.

noa Lifting House - From Roots to Crowns

By following the concept of „emergence“, where the whole is perceived as being far greater than the sum of its parts, a holistic approach and strategy is central to noa*s way of conceiving design.

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Gardens & Nature Videos: “Proserpina Returns Home” By Jonathan Gelez

Filmed and Produced by: Jonathan Gelez (The World Is Art)

Music:  “Spenta Mainyu” by Jesse Gallagher

Here is a simple and relaxing film about the beginning of the spring season as it happened in my garden. Since going outside wasn’t an option due to the confinement measures in place, I tried to capture the beauty of nature at home.

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Top Photographers: 65-Year Old William Neill “Light On The Landscape”

Drawing from the tradition of behind-the-scenes books like Ansel Adams’ Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs and Galen Rowell’s Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape, Light on the Landscape covers in detail the core photographic fundamentals such as light, composition, camera angle, and exposure choices, but it also deftly considers those subjects that are less frequently examined: portfolio development, marketing, printmaking, nature stewardship, inspiration, preparation, self-improvement, and more. The result is a profound and wide-ranging exploration of that magical convergence of light, land, and camera.

Light On The Landscape - William Neill 2020

For more than two decades, William Neill has been offering his thoughts and insights about photography and the beauty of nature in essays that cover the techniques, business, and spirit of his photographic life. Curated and collected here for the first time, and accompanying 128 beautiful reproductions of Neill’s photographs, these essays are both pragmatic and profound, offering readers an intimate look behind the scenes at Neill’s creative process behind individual photographs as well as a discussion of the larger and more foundational topics that are key to his philosophy and approach to work.

Light On The Landscape - William Neill 2020

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Filled with beautiful and inspiring photographs, Light on the Landscape is also full of the kind of wisdom that only comes from a deeply thoughtful photographer who has spent a lifetime communicating with a camera. Incorporating the lessons within the book, you too can learn to achieve not only technically excellent and beautiful images, but photographs that truly rise above your best and reveal your deeply personal and creative perspective―your vision, your voice.

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Travel & Nature Videos: “Mountain Dreams” By Wildglimpses (2020)

 

https://vimeo.com/412246503

Filmed and Edited by: Raul Tomas Granizo (Wildglimpses)

In these uncertain days, locked up in our houses watching the world from the window, we can only dream. Dream about the wild places we once visited, its pristine mountains, deep valleys and forests full of wildlife.

But now (more than ever), we should keep dreaming with our eyes wide open with all those corners that we have left to visit and that will remain there when all this finally ends…

Dedicated to all the victims of Covid-19 and their families/friends

Locations:
-Patagonia, Central Andes, Rocky Mountains, Alaska Range, Pyrenees, Lyngen Alps, Tien Shan, Caucasus, Himalaya

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