World

Stunning Time-Lapse: Photographer’s Year-Long, 17-Country Journey in 5 Minutes

Kien Lam quit his job last year and traveled for 343 days through 17 countries, snapping more than 6,000 photographs.

The result of this endeavor is a less than five-minute, time-lapsed video around the world:

On his website, Lam says he first went to Stonehenge, England:

It’s staggering to think that I was standing in front of something that’s been there for 5,000 years. Checking this off my long bucket list felt good, especially since I knew that for the next few months, I’d be traveling around the globe and checking many more things off this little list. I look back and envy the person I was on that day, standing there at one of the ancient wonders of the world (not officially) with all the exciting possibilities of adventures yet to be had and stories yet to unfold and fill itself with details.

From there he went to other areas in England, Paris, Portugal, Morocco, Egypt,  Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and the United States.

Photographer Takes More than 6,000 Photos in Time Lapsed Video Around the World

Photographer Takes More than 6,000 Photos in Time Lapsed Video Around the World

Photographer Takes More than 6,000 Photos in Time Lapsed Video Around the World

Throughout his journey, Lam took 19 airplanes, traveled on 58 buses and was ferried on 18 boats. He took a total of 6,237 photographs.

[H/T Gizmodo]

Comments (35)

  • dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
    Posted on January 4, 2012 at 2:34pm

    how does one get to quit working and do this?

    Report Post » dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot  
  • aquablue
    Posted on January 4, 2012 at 1:09am

    Wouldn’t that be an awesome thing to do? I enjoyed it and I liked the music too.

    Report Post » aquablue  
  • M100Spiral
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:47pm

    I wish I had the money to travel around the world like this gentleman. He probably does not have much left to cross off on his Bucket List.

    Report Post » M100Spiral  
  • LMW
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:52pm

    I may not agree as to what to shoot as we all have our own thoughts but I thank Him for sharing his dream. At least he has done something I would love to be able to afford to do. I would love to see the rest of the 6000+ shots. Quit being jerks and just enjoy the show.

    Report Post »  
    • zman173rd
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:40pm

      I think if you counted ALL the still shots, you SAW all 6000+ pics. I liked it. He only went to 16 countries. I don‘t know how he made the decision of where to go but it’s his money (No federal grant here) and a nice break for me to remotely tag along.. As good if not better than the year end News Bloopers

      Report Post » zman173rd  
  • poverty.sucks
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:24pm

    Wonderful 5 minute presentation.

    Not only does the Holy Bible express honoring the Sabbath, rest on the 7th day, not to work 1/7th of the field, also, close the business every 7 years. Read scripture today to prepare for tomorrow.

    http://www.PeaceWithGod.Jesus.Net

    Report Post » poverty.sucks  
  • notreally
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:20pm

    Of the 94 scenes in this video 43 are taken in Muslim nations. It has always puzzled me as to how some people can romanticize Islam, even though they know that:
    -The United Nation’s Human Development Index ranks nations by life expectancy, literacy, education and GDP per capita. The top 50 encompass 700 million in Judao-Christian nations; Muslim nations encompass 5 million people (out of 1.5 billion people).
    -The UN’s Gender Empowerment Measure ranks nations by women’s equality: Muslim nations rank at the bottom.
    -The UN’s Arab Development Report on books translated per million people: Hungary 519; Spain 920; Israel 380; Arabia 4.
    -Tunis based Arab League: 76% of Arabs, ages 15 to 45, are illiterate.
    -1/29/07 Daily Telegraph UK: 40% of Muslims, ages 16 to 24, want Sharia law; 13% admire al-Qaeda; 36% believe apostates should be executed; 75% believe that women should wear veils.
    -5/22/07 Reuters: 25% of young American Muslims believe in suicide bombings to fight the West.
    -7/10/07 worldpress.org: Poll of Muslims in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia indicates that 75% believe in strict application of Sharia law.
    -7/27/08 Sunday Times UK: 33% of Muslim students support killing for islam; 33% want world Islamic law.
    -12/5/10 LA Times: A new Pew Research Center poll shows that majorities in Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Nigeria would favor changing the current laws to allow stoning as a punishment for adultery, hand amputation for theft and death for tho

    Report Post »  
    • Kaoscontrol
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:37pm

      Yeah. (sarcastically) Let‘s just nuke ’em all since they’er all savages. let God sort ‘em out.– But first, shoot some video so we can remember what the architecture looked like.

      Report Post » Kaoscontrol  
    • jcannon98188
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:36am

      Islamic countries are often the birth places of civilization, and are built in very beautiful, altough dangerous, terrain. That is why he took these photos there.

      Report Post »  
    • ginge
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 2:01pm

      All those pictures of Muslim countries is ONE MORE attempt to get us used to the Muslim presence.

      Report Post »  
  • Tom K
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 4:50pm

    These time lapsed “ tours ” are amazing. Behold God’s Creation.

    Report Post »  
  • kansasmo
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:44pm

    SERIOUSLY!!!! New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, San Francisco, and a babbling brook in Yosemite does NOT sum up the beauty found in the USA. When I was watching this I was disappointed that he missed out on the various other amazing places in our nation.

    Plus, I think I counted over 12 shots of Egypt…..EGYPT. Good grief!

    Report Post »  
    • SacKings2312
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 4:04pm

      SERIOUSLY!!! Can you be any more narcissistic? It’s not about which country was shown the most. Did you even read the beginning? Let‘s boycott this because it doesn’t show USA enough!!!

      Report Post » SacKings2312  
    • RowdieGal
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 4:04pm

      I agree with you. Although it was a very cool video, some of those shots were not what I’d term “beautiful,” but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Where was Hawaii, or Mount Rushmore, or the Grand Canyon, or steamboats, or New Orleans, or a million other U.S. spots?

      I wouldn’t touch Egypt with a 100 mile pole.

      Report Post » RowdieGal  
    • brianmoc
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 4:27pm

      very cool! and Boston yes! New York (Yankees suck) but it is the new Rome and D.C is are nations capital. Boston Is the education capital of the world and birth place of liberty. kansasmo sorry they did not get a picture of your truck stuck in the mud behind your trailer.

      Report Post » brianmoc  
    • GrannyATL
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:42pm

      Kansamo, I thought the same thing. He had some beautiful photos of many countries’ hidden beauty, yet for the USA, the only scene I saw other than cityscapes was the falls at Yosemite. We have so much beauty here and he obviously visited many states, yet he seemed to see none of the beauty we see. (Fields of corn that go on for miles, desert vistas at sunset, the ruggedness of snow-capped Rockies, etc.)

      Beautiful video, but it seems America wasn’t one of his high points.

      Report Post » GrannyATL  
    • Mo Rage
      Posted on January 5, 2012 at 1:55am

      you have to be kidding, right? it‘s irrelevant unless there’s lots of shots of the US of A in it? Geez, relax and enjoy.

      Report Post »  
  • bhosux
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:42pm

    The music is the power of the slide show. We never appreciate it and will never be able to take it with us. They should do one on the Obama four year stint. It would be five minuets of a test pattern in grey.

    Report Post » bhosux  
  • Kaoscontrol
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:36pm

    Well, that was a fun boondoggle for Mr. Lam. Not to sound critical, but the photography is just kind of ‘O.K.’ Most blaze readers with an iPhone, a $1.99 Time lapse app and a mess of plane tickets could shoot this. Wish Kien Lam had a little better eye and sense of when the locations looked their best under the light. I do like his brother‘s little music ’piano’ piece. It’s kind of fun.

    Report Post » Kaoscontrol  
    • TheBurningTruth
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:45pm

      What is it with people like you? Mr. Lam took his dream vacation and produced a “still action movie” of it then he shared it. All these comments about “ordinary shots” and “why so little USA” when it was a trip around THE WORLD do show an immaturity in those posters. I thought there were some really good pictures and some OK pictures. I wish there had been more pictures from other locations to really represent the world. But I never considered Mr. Lam’s effort to be humdrum. At least he MADE the effort instead of just sitting there and dissing others.

      Report Post » TheBurningTruth  
    • Kaoscontrol
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:30pm

      When you ‘publish’ a representation of your work worldwide via the internet, you are asking for people to evaluate your work. There will always be a variety of positive and/or negative reactions and feedback that an artist can use to strengthen future work, or choose to ignore. Mr‘ Lam’s still photography on his website is pretty good… this piece is just so-so. I’m glad he enjoyed the trip, but the photography here is average and not up to the quality of his still work. Perhaps the problem here is that the work doesn’t live up to the expectation promised by the use of “Stunning” in the headline. Many of us were decidedly “un-stunned”.

      Kaoscontrol  
    • PAR
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:13pm

      I have travelled a grest deal in this world, and I honestly do not understand his fascination with the Middle East. Between Egypt and Jordan – come on, Europe was Spain, Portugal and Paris only. WOW. This guy has a crappy eye for beauty. There was a lot left out, but then maybe he was limited by FF miles, etc. as to where he could go.

      Report Post » PAR  
  • Highland
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:31pm

    I feel like I need a nap.

    Report Post » Highland  
  • db321
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:04pm

    Now we have proof their is no God – 6000 photos and I could not find one place I would want to be – Just joking – I’m am extremely impressed with the labor of love this man did diligently for a year and I think him for sharing.

    Report Post » db321  
  • KeystoneState
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 2:44pm

    Nice chatting with you Blaze, I got censored twice now for speaking my mind in the last two days (never happened before), welcome to 2012! Bye!

    Report Post » KeystoneState  
    • whereiswashington
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:18pm

      later

      Report Post »  
    • lodgerat
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:49pm

      Been coming here from the start. Only been censored once for using the word T o w e l H e.a d

      Report Post » lodgerat  
    • 82dAirborne
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 3:56pm

      The auto-filters are finicky. Some thigs I thought I’d never get posted go right thru and some of mine that have been blocked for no reason at all. Heck I have the same EXACT post get blocked once and go thru five minutes later. As websites go this one is fairly loose.

      Report Post » 82dAirborne  
    • dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 2:35pm

      Glenn’s house, Glenn’s rules just like guests in your house. Don’t like it you can leave. Bye.

      Report Post » dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot  
  • sWampy
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 2:41pm

    Lucky guy, wish I had had that opportunity, I would have come back with many, many more breath taking images.

    Report Post »  
  • 82dAirborne
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 2:37pm

    Very cool! 6237 photos?????? That’s less than 20 per day. I would have taken tens of thousands on a trip like that.

    Report Post » 82dAirborne  

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