“There are no facts, only interpretations.” So said the preeminent philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. From below the bank of clouds, it is a gray and dreary day. The threat of rain looms over everything beneath. From a higher elevation, the day is sunny and clear. Beams of sunlight illuminate the trees growing on the mountainside. But what about shadows? Do they always looks the same, or can they change depending where you are?
A change in perspective changes everything.
By considering the natural environment from a perspective that differs from the one we are accustomed to, we can gain a newfound understanding of both the world and ourselves.
Louie Schwartzberg is a storyteller and filmmaker who has been shooting time-lapse photography of nature, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, non-stop. His work compresses time and puts you in sync with different forms of life within our interconnected world.
His work makes the invisible visible.
From beneath the bank of clouds, they appear as one continuous object, not necessarily in motion. From up above, we see the cloud bank from another side, and we see how much the clouds can vary and move. Using time-lapse, Louie brings something we’ve seen time and time again to life in a way that is new.
Louie’s work provides the opportunity to see the world from a perspective that we are not accustomed to seeing. Thanks to his photography, we are able to meditate on the different ways of seeing, and thus different ways of thinking about the earth.
Let us know if you have ever filmed shadows and what you think of them in Louie’s work!