ASTURIAS EMOTION

Versión en Castellano

THE PROJECT

Best Timelapse Award at the 34th edition of the International Photography and Video Contest Memorial Maria Luisa.
Best Timelapse Award at Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards (LAIFFA) Spring 2024.
Best Cinematography Award at the 11th Noida International Film Festival (India).
Best Photography Award at Moonlight Online International Film Festival 2024 (Sweden).
Best Ttimelapse Award at the Barcelona Planet Film Festival 2024.
Winner of Award of Excellence at the Impact Docs Awards (California).
1st prize in the Promotions category at Finisterra Brasil Film Art & Tourism Festival.
1st prize Timelapse at Finisterra Brasil Film Art & Tourism Festival.
1st Destinations Award at Finisterra Brasil Film Art & Tourism Festival.
Best Cinematography Award at Finisterra Brasil Film Art & Tourism Festival.
Finalist at the Cannes Film Awards 2024.
Finalist at the 8th edition of the Europa Film Festival.
Finalist at the Indie Doc Pro Festival 2024.
Special mention at the 46 Semana del cine de Lugo.
1st Promotions Award at the Finisterra Arrabida Film Festival (Portugal).
2nd Timelapse Award at the Finisterra Arrabida Film Festival (Portugal).
3rd Travel Award at the Finisterra Arrabida Film Festival (Portugal).
3rd Destination Award at the Finisterra Arrabida Film Festival (Portugal).
Included in the official section of the Lookout Wild Film Festival (Tennessee).
Included in the official section of the Festival Internacional de Imagem de Natureza 2024 (Portugal).
Included in the official section of the Max Sir International Film Festival 2024 (Ukraine).
Included in the official section of the CortoGijon Festival.
Included in the official section of the Oriéntate Llanes festival.
Included in the official section of the Festival Cinematográfico Amigos de Ribadesella 2024.

Asturias Emotion - The 4 Seasons is a timelapse project initiated in late 2020 by photographers David Alvarez Velicia and Juan I. Cuadrado aiming to show the beauty of the Spanish region of Asturias, exploring its stunning corners throughout the different seasons of the year.

This timelapse project has been much more complex than we initially expected, probably due to our eagerness to capture the best moments in the most beautiful places of Asturias. This is why the time spent on its production, which we initially estimated to be between 12 and 18 months, has extended to three years. During this time, we experienced cold, heat, sleep (a lot of sleep!), we got wet, lost our way, our backs hurt badly from carrying equipment, and we even had to handcraft part of our gear. In a few words: we did enjoy it.

In total, we've taken more than 500,000 photographs for the project, of which around 30,000 are part of the final result, and we've spent more than 5,000 hours in the field work. It's been a hard effort, but very rewarding. Our goal was to create a video of the highest possible quality that does justice to the beauty of Asturias, and we hope to have achieved it. We also tried to incorporate innovative or less commonly used techniques in the world of timelapse, such as the use of fisheye lenses, the inclusion of nadir shots, and the application of cinematic techniques like the dolly zoom. For the latter, we designed and built a mechanism that shifts the camera's position on the slider, preventing the front part from being visible.

We also built a macro photography studio for the cover scenes of spring and autumn, consisting of a rotating table, a dual lighting system for plant growth and photography, an irrigation system, and more. Everything automated and controlled with an Arduino.

Many scenes have required very meticulous planning, such as the moonrise behind the 'Elogio del Horizonte' sculpture in Gijón. In this case, being located 2.6 km away from the sculpture, we had to calculate our position with a margin of error of just three meters to ensure the moon was perfectly centered at the right height. In other cases, preparation has been crucial: several days examining the terrain and seeking the best compositions, repeating the scene numerous times until we achieved the right lighting and circumstances. Some scenes were repeated more than ten times.

We've also paid special attention to sound, composing and recording a soundtrack adapted to each season and including voiceovers and environmental effects.

The project follows a dual narrative structure: on the one hand, the changing of the seasons, and on the other, within each season, the natural progression of a daily cycle, starting with sunrise and ending with nighttime. This added an extra layer of complexity as it required capturing scenes at specific moments of the day that are more challenging to obtain. Throughout the video, we've tried to capture the vast landscape diversity of Asturias in its various aspects: the coast, the mountains, the forests, the waterfalls, and so on, besides capturing unique and challenging-to-obtain timelapse events, such as the triple rainbow at Cabo Peñas or the storm over Oviedo.

All of this work wouldn't have been possible without the collaboration of the people who support and tolerate us. In particular, we want to express our gratitude for their direct involvement in the project to Pat Alonso Triviño, who wrote the introductory texts for each season, to Cecilia Blanco (www.instagram.com/ceciliablancoficial www.youtube.com/@ceciliablancoficial), who kindly read them, and to Rosana Yugueros Fernandez for her patience and assistance in capturing scenes.

We also want to express our gratitude to the following: the people at Laowa (www.venuslens.net), without whose fantastic lenses some scenes would have been impossible; Gunther Wegner, the creator of LRTimelapse software (www.lrtimelapse.com), an essential tool for the completion of this type of work; the team at PhotoPills (www.photopills.com), an incredible application that is fundamental for any photographer; Fotocentro (www.fotocentrogijon.com), which has always supported and advised us in the purchase of equipment; and Javimo (www.eltiempodejavimo.es), whose accurate weather predictions made our work much less challenging.

Many other people have helped us in one way or another throughout this project. It's difficult to mention them all, but at the risk of forgetting someone, we'll try: Juan Carlos Cortina (www.youtube.com/@JuanCarlosCortinaTimeLapse), Juanra Noriega (www.namastephototours.com), Laura Muñoz, Fredi Marugán (www.fredimarugan.com), Begoña Martín, Nacho Granda, Héctor Argüelles, Roberto Rodriguez, and Pablo Rodriguez Otero.

THE AUTHORS

David Álvarez Velicia

Born in Oviedo in 1975, he became interested in photography and nature since he was very young. However, later in adolescence, he shifted his focus to the technological world, which would later become the field in which he developed his professional career.

He obtained a degree in computer science at Oviedo University. After a brief time as an employee, he founded a small technology company with colleagues and friends. Later on, this company joined the PFS Group, where he currently works as an associate and head of the information technology department.

For many years, his professional commitments kept him away from the world of photography. However, in 2015, his long-standing interest in photography reappeared.

Gradually, this hobby turned into a more serious pursuit, dedicating all his efforts and available free time to it. His photographic life has always been closely tied to Asturias, not only because it is his birth place and residence but also due to his passion for its nature and landscapes.

In 2016, he received an honorable mention in the "I Concurso de Fotografía Asturias Paraíso Natural" (I Asturias Natural Paradise Photography Contest). In 2020, he earned a nomination in the International Photography and Video Competition Memorial Maria Luisa. Also in 2020, he won a second place in the Valle de Espinareu photography contest, and in 2022, he obtained another second place in the 5th Laowa International Photography Contest.

In 2018, he met photographer Juan Carlos Cortina, who introduced him to the world of timelapse photography, a discipline that quickly became his favourite. In 2020, they published together the timelapse "Asturias Mágica," which won the first place in the timelapse category at the International Photography and Video Competition Memorial Maria Luisa in 2021. It also received the award for best Timelapse in the Miró category at the Barcelona Planet Film Festival.

Since completing his previous work, "Asturias Mágica," he has been focused on the "Emoción Asturias" project, alongside with Juan Ignacio Cuadrado.

David Álvarez Velicia's portfolio: https://500px.com/davidalvarez8

Juan I. Cuadrado

Born in Lugo, in 1949, he lived in that city until he finished high school. In 1965, he moved to Madrid to study chemistry at the University. There, he met a group of young people fond of music, like himself, who In their leisure time, gathered to play and sing and thus, without planning it, Nuestro Pequeño Mundo, a pioneer folk music Spanish group was born. Hired by a record company, they achieved a great success nationwide in a few months. Due to the new situation, it became difficult to reconcile studies and musical activities, so he decided to abandon chemistry without completing the degree.

Passionate about technology, while he continued his musical activities with NPM, he set up a recording studio with some friends in the basement of his house in Boadilla del Monte. Also interested in photography since very young, he also installed a developing lab there.

During these years, a new discipline, computing, began to emerge. Sensing its future importance, he enrolled in this field, sharing studies with NPM concerts and the recording company.

But the day has only 24 hours, and once again, some things had to be left behind. On this occasion, and after 15 years of intense activity, he abandoned NPM. It was also time to extend the company, so they moved to the center of Madrid and founded Estudios Trak, which soon became one of the main recording studios in town.

At Trak, in the following years, he developed the rest of his professional career as a sound engineer and producer, taking part in the recording of countless albums with different musicians and artists.. Unfortunately, during this stage, he had no time to continue practicing photography.

He has been nominated twice for the Grammy Awards. The first time was in 2001 in the "Best Sound Engineering" category for the album "Los Paraísos Desiertos" by Ismael Serrano, which he also produced along with Fredi Marugán. The second nomination was for "Las Flores de la Vida" by Compay Segundo, also produced by him, which was nominated for "Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album" at the 44th Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Some years ago he decided to end his long career as a music producer, and moved to the countryside, alternating between Asturias and the north of León. There, his passion for nature photography revived. And although he lives surrounded by magnificent landscape, he occasionally travels abroad to photograph some other interesting places.

Recently, he is particularly focused on creating timelapses and in composing and recording the music for the "Emoción Asturias" project, which he is carrying out with David Álvarez Velicia.

Juan I. Cuadrado's portfolio: https://500px.com/p/juacuaphoto?view=photos

THE FINAL RESULT

IMAGE GALLERY

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