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Chad Gordon Higgins

Chad is a specialist timelapse cameraman who has worked in the industry for over ten years.

He has filmed many stunning shots for adverts and music videos but this was his first foray into natural history.

With time-lapse, you have to capture 250 perfect shots for a 10 second clip which can take hours, days or even years.
Chad Gordon Higgins

Chad says:

β€œI think my love (and obsession) for time-lapse photography takes me back to working with film and my first . It was 1995 and I was on tour with the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra in Paris as I'm also a classically trained tubaist - slight career diversion!

I'd taken four rolls of with me and having got it all processed there was one photo of the Eiffel Tower that stood out from the rest of the dodgy shots. Most were blurred or under-exposed. It was an immensely proud moment for me. This was my personal inspiration to continue to teach myself photography and get better at it!

A landscape photographer will wait for many hours for the 'perfect' light in a single shot. But with time-lapse you have to capture 250 perfect shots for a 10 second clip which can take hours, days or even years.

The ever-changing weather in Britain is unpredictable at best. When coupled with our plethora of dramatic and varying Landscapes explains why I'd happily spend the rest of my life with the challenge of capturing beautiful Britain, frame by frame.

One of the most challenging shots for me on this series was filming the oak tree at Stock Gaylard. A challenge because I'd created a method of using a 26ft crane to shoot time-lapse, which as far as I know hadn't been done before. Also that shot was going to be repeated more than once over a period of a few months.

It's known as a Lapsed-Time or Time Study which means the camera has to be in exactly the same place when you return to do further shots - let alone moving 26ft from top to bottom. Apart from wind, rain and all the usual seasons we seem to have in one day in Britain, even in summer, I managed to pull it off.”

Clips

Timelapse showreel: Chad Gordon Higgins

A collection of the timelapse footage produced by Chad for The Great British Year.