In a stunning time-lapse film released today, award-winning Edinburgh filmmaker Walid Salhab shows off this year’s Botanic Lights night-time experience at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE).
Film by Walid Salhab
Walid, a film lecturer at Queen Margaret University in Musselburgh and producer of the construction time-lapse ‘The Kelpies’, spent the last two weeks filming at the ‘Botanics’ to produce yet another one of his eminent short films mixing stop-motion and time-lapse photography techniques.
‘Botanic Lights 2016 – Explore’ runs until 6 November and takes visitors on a journey of light around the Edinburgh Garden, exploring regions of the world where the Garden’s plants and trees originate. Presented by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in association with Scotland’s leading independent event producers Unique Events, with lighting, AV and sound specialists Black-Light.
From the Arctic to the Himalaya, visitors are able to follow in the footsteps of the original plant hunters and explore a trail of spectacular light installations around the Garden, experiencing the sights and sounds of some of the world’s most exotic locations which have played an important part in the creation of the Botanics living collection.
About his experience filming the event, Walid Salhab, said:
I have always had aspirations to feature the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in one of my films, and being able to create something really unique which showcases Botanic Lights was a great opportunity for me. I love using interesting lighting conditions in my work and I particularly enjoy the challenge of creating unique visuals to highlight areas of Scotland.
Some of my favourite films include capturing Edinburgh’s Winter Wonderland in ‘Kinetic Edinburgh II’ – most of which was shot during dark winter nights with the addition of artificial lighting on buildings and fairground rides – and of course, The Kelpies which were filmed against the changing dark skies of Grangemouth.
I have spent a couple of weeks at the Botanics trying to capture different elements of the event, combining stop-motion and timelapse techniques with normal film to create a dynamic style. I mainly used a new DJI Zenmuse X5R camera system which shoots in raw to try to deal with the difficult lighting conditions. This project has also presented a great opportunity to trial a range of new equipment before introducing the technology to film and media students at Queen Margaret University.
Heather Jackson, Director of Enterprise at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, said:
We are thrilled about Walid’s interest in filming Botanic Lights this year and even more so with the result. He has managed to creatively capture the Garden as it transforms from daylight into a night-time spectacle full of colour and sound.
We have had a terrifically popular run of Botanic Lights Explore so far. Over 30,000 tickets have already been sold for this year’s event, breaking the attendance record set in 2015. I would urge visitors to book their slots quickly as we are expecting more people to be drawn to the Garden as we approach the last week of the event.