You’ve met Elia Saikaly before in these planet5D posts: “Canon EOS 5D Mark II battles 90kph winds on Europe’s highest mountain and wins!” and “Climbing the world’s highest mountains with HDSLRs!” – well, Elia has put together a very visually incredible timelapse summary of his 2012 adventures that he’s shared with our planet5D readers!

Touching the Sky – A timelapse film

Description

5 countries, Peru, Nepal, Argentina, Russia and USA, over 15 000 photographs, dozens of sleepless nights while scaling 3 of the highest mountains on three different continents, never lower than 3000M and as high as 7000M above sea level. This is a compilation of my 2012 travel year. I am blessed and eternally grateful for the opportunities.

While most struggle to place one foot in front of the other in their pursuit of the world’s tallest peaks, I drag (often with help from local people) far too much DSLR gear with me to document and capture stories that inspire and stir the soul. Mother nature graciously and generously provides some of the most incredible scenery and light and I am humbled and grateful to be able to capture it for you. The magic of these environments is that you really have no idea what will happen in the frame once you set it up. I often view the end result with great surprise as I watch the stars dance in the evening sky. I just wish I had power sometimes!

Shot on a Canon T3i, Canon EOS 7D and Canon EOS 5D Mark II using the following lenses:

Canon 2.8 24-70mm
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
Tokina 2.8 11-16mm

Knock off intervalometer remotes
Cheap (light) tripods
A glidetrack
A Gorillapod
Large stable rocks!
Anything else that stabilizes the camera.

Solar batteries to charge my gear or anything I can rig that creates a stable(ish) current.

Processed in Lightroom
Movies compiled using Quicktime
Edited in Final Cut Pro

I would like to recognize the following people for their contribution, be it in support, assistance or inspiration.

Mohammed Al Thani
Mohammed Zaal
Ali Jaber
Arab Team in Russia (I’m sorry for keeping you guys up!)
Arab Team in Nepal (I’m sorry for keeping you guys up too!)
All of my dear Sherpa friends who were incredibly patient with my craft
The amazing porters from the lowlands in Nepal
Oliver and Alexandra
Apu and Mel
Lucas Wiseman
Dominic Czartoryski

Zacuto for lending me gear while all others turned me down. Your products rock!

I hope you enjoy this piece.

You can learn more about my work at eliasaikaly.com
My not for profit work with youth: findinglife.ca

For any stock footage or work enquiries, feel free to contact me at elia@findinglife.ca
Stock samples available here: eliasaikaly.com/stock-library/stock-video/

Another time-lapse film called ’45 Days in the Himalayas’ can be seen here: vimeo.com/32645004

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

---