On Saturday the 6th December I was invited to do a talk about motion timelapse at an event set up by Triggertrap to create the world's first crowd-sourced timelapse of London. I've not done much in the way of public speaking since I was asked to do a reading at church when I was a kid and subsequently broke down into a blubbering mess, overcome with emotion, nerves and not liking the whole 'situation'. What could go wrong?

Great turnout for the Timelapse talk! @Photocritic takes the stage! @Triggertrap pic.twitter.com/LjRp2HQ6RM
— Chad Gordon Higgins (@chadchud) December 6, 2014

The Event

#Lapselondon was the brainchild of Triggertrap - they're a company that creates devices to trigger your camera for all sorts of creative shots and for my line of work, timelapse. The plan was simple - gather as many photographers as possible with an interest in timelapse photography, give them a few ideas and inspiration then unleash them onto the streets of London with the aim of capturing as many shots as possible. They'd then return back to base and then the footage would be assembled into a video for all to enjoy.

There would be talks from myself, Nicholas Goodden (a great Urban Photog - check him out!) and Haje Jan Kamps (CEO of Triggertrap)

The awesome @chadchud is giving a #Timelapse masterclass at #lapselondon pic.twitter.com/oz4Z6xoBvS
— Haje Jan Kamps (@Photocritic) December 6, 2014

The Talk

Luckily my days of crying before an audience were long gone as I approached the stage to talk to the 60 odd people who'd turned up. It wasn't without it's challenges though as I'd pulled an all-nighter working on a shoot along with the fact I was wired on coffee and recognisably had the shakes due to that cocktail of no sleep / coffee mixture. Add to that mix a distinct lack of planning and you'd expect 30 minutes of verbal diarrhoea. Luckily, I had two things on my side - experience and passion. Whatever you're passionate about, you'll be able to talk about it for hours! My experience added to that as I was able to draw upon many stories of timelapses gone past and also answer any questions anybody had.

I showed a few shots of my work as examples (blog post to come soon) and tried to describe as best I could how it was all done (the audience varied from complete beginners to advanced timelapsers). All in all I had some great feedback and I'd certainly do it again, probably with a bit more sleep beforehand!

#LapseLondon on location! @Triggertrap @NicholasGoodden pic.twitter.com/7IKXRaNP8l
— Chad Gordon Higgins (@chadchud) December 6, 2014

The release

After the talking was done, it was time to release the team of timelapsees (I think I've just made up a new word?) into the bustle of a pre-Christmas London. Part shoot, part human experiment, I was keen to see what everybody would come up with and where people would go.

I initially feared that we'd end up with 60 shots of the London Eye or Big Ben but only a couple of those cropped up and great they were too! Unfortunately, I'd hung around Triggertrap's HQ too long chatting and scoffing pizza before realising I had around an hour to get to my planned location with my trusted assistant Rob Myler (who incidentally, has fledged my timelapse nest and is now shooting his own cracking work!) so I only had time for one shot before heading back to work.

Through London's usual Saturday traffic, we got to the Thames Barrier just in time to find a spot, set up and start shooting the sunset. Once I'd started shooting, I had my usual time to reflect, talk about life with Rob and ponder the fact that there were at least 40+ cameras out there somewhere clicking along like off-beat metronomes to the pulse of London's tune.