Timelapse photography is a technique where a sequence of frames is taken to record changes that take place slowly over time. This maybe be minutes, hours, days or months. When the frames are played at normal speed the action seems much faster and you can watch a city breathing around a building as day turns to night, or watch a skilled workman lay an entire floor, hammer in a thousand nails, or build a brick wall in moments. A timelapse doesn’t trivialise these trades but enhances them and shows the precision involved in creating the entire project.
A timelapse film is the perfect way to document and explore the construction of a building. From excavation and enabling works to topping out and ribbon cutting – a film can be used to promote a building project at key milestones. Films are immensely shareable as content for social media and creating brand awareness and profile through press coverage.
Not all timelapses are created equal
The architectural timelapses created by Raftery + Lowe are much more sophisticated than the traditional static site camera. Their high quality films explore architecture photographically and capture the way buildings can live outside of a single moment. Time flows continuously with little regard to the mundane, buildings are built to last, works of art to stand as a testament of vision and design.
Paul Raftery is an architectural photographer with more that 20 years’ experience – having worked for practices such as Herzog + de Meuron, RSH+P and magazines including Blueprint and Architects’ Journal. Dan Lowe is a commercial director who has worked for brands including Nike, Lacoste and Red Bull and for agencies such as BBH, Fallon and Mother.
Raftery + Lowe bring together this experience to shoot, edit, grade and produce high quality films of up to 4K and 8K that capture every design detail of a building. The search for the perfect composition and perfect light now include a time element: the perfect shutter speed and perhaps more importantly, the timing between frames. Using the same aesthetic that Paul would when shooting architectural stills and Dan’s keen eye on creating narrative; the right positions, the right time of day and of course the right lens – tilt and shift mostly, and high end DSLR and movie cameras, prove to be a perfect formula.
If you have a project that you would like to discuss with Raftery + Lowe please contact info@rafteryandlowe.com