Magills / Heidi Haus Photomontage / By: Justin Hawkes

When the project began I had a lot of ideas and some were too big for me to even begin so I started with what I knew, time lapse photography. About 6 months ago I looked into the equipment I would need to start taking time-lapse photography. Then as the day, and search, went on I though “there has to be an app for that.” I looked up reviews and found “Lapse It”. I have yet to purchase any equipment to begin time-lapse photography with my Nikon but an extra iPhone and “Lapse It” have paved the way for future endeavors.

My first time lapse montage was of the sunset and sunrise, which was my first time capturing both in one video. I liked it but it wasn’t enough so I did a montage of myself as I mowed the lawn. That too wasn’t enough. For my final piece I found a photo of Magill’s Pasco restaurant when it was Heidi Haus and I asked the owners if it was ok to take photos and make this project. One owner, Sheila Bently, was very nice and very encouraging. I set out to take the photos before work and later that night I tried merging them. To my demise they weren’t taken at the right angle. So when I had time I went out again and took more photos starting from the left side of the building and worked my way all the way to the center so I wouldn’t mess it up again. I was successful and I am happy with my final result.

This project taught me a lot about photo merging and how to take the right photo for the project. I figured I could take one photo assuming it was in the correct position based to the archived photo but I was wrong. In my defense I was on a time crunch but I learned to get a lot of photos in different positions to find the right one that fit the project. I used a lot of familiar tools but I used them in a new way, ultimately expanding my knowledge in Photoshop as well.