Photographer David Trood was commissioned by Evergas to document the construction of the world’s largest Ethane gas carriers in a shipyard in China. He has created this impressive video below, with creative use of time lapse footage.
Trood used six GoPro Cameras in conjunction with with the CamDo Time Lapse Intervalometer and Programmable Scheduler in a Solar Enclosure. Some of the cameras ran also on 240v power. He mostly shot using GoPro HERO3+ Black cameras, but also used a Canon 5D m11 to film real time and on some of the time lapse sequences.
The logistics of a shoot like this are astounding. Completed in June of 2015, the project took 18 months, 1.6 million man hours and 6250 tons of steel. A lot of planning. A little luck. And a touch trial and error.
The first cameras were set up at the start of the project to capture the assembly of the first ship. Lucky for Trood, they were building three ships at once, so at one point, it was possible to film the installation of the bridge on one ship, the painting of the bridge on a second ship, and the captain actually sailing away on the third ship (all in the same day).
According to Trood, the project presented a number of unique challenges.For example, when mounting a camera outside on a building, you need to be aware that the building actually shifts due to thermal expansion. When the sun rises in the morning and hits the metal structure of a building, the heat expands the metal. That means the building's position changes a tiny bit, which in turn affects the camera position. This results in an image that jumps up and down as the sun heats the building during the day and it cools down during the night. Additionally, the air at a shipyard is full of metallic dust, so metallic components in the gear rusted and corroded very quickly, and the lens filter needed weekly cleaning.
“There are lots of things that can go wrong, and lots of things that can turn out fantastic when shooting time lapse.” Trood says, “So really, it's about using your brain, your feet and your calculator.”
David Trood is a photographer/videographer/cinematographer residing in Copenhagen, Denmark. He’s commissioned by clients for a wide array of projects. He was awarded the title “Hasselblad Master” in 2006 and has contributed to Getty Images for the last 10 years between client projects. For more information and to see his work, visit his website or Vimeo page.
Interested in what other customers are doing? You can view more customer footage taken with CamDo Solutions gear here.
