Places
During its history, North America has been in contact with South America and Eurasia, and been colonised by animals and plants from both landmasses. Some of these have gone on to evolve into new species in their new home. North America also had native creatures that evolved in situ and spread across the world later, such as the horse family and reindeer. Those mountain ranges that run north to south, such as the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, influence the continent's climate and create barriers to the movement of animals which makes for distinct ecological regions on either side.
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Fire-friendly
In Florida and Georgia, pine prospers over oak thanks to forest fires.
In Florida and Georgia, pine prospers over oak thanks to forest fires.
Waterholes
The desert can be a difficult place to find enough to drink.
Mountain lions are successful hunters, and they can eat almost anything from mountain sheep to plants. The main problem in the desert is finding enough to drink. Away from rivers, water holes are rarely refilled as storms happen infrequently.
Ancient forests
The last true wilderness of North America.
The last true wilderness of North America.
Utah Canyonlands
An aerial journey through the sandstone pinnacles of the USA's wild west.
These classic American icons made perfect subjects for the extended pan and tilt capability of the heligimbal camera system. Capturing them in splendid isolation, however, was not so easy. Dawn and dusk, when long shadows and clear air present the best filming conditions, are also peak times for climbers to swarm up and down the vertiginous spires before the day's heat sets in.
Autumn colours
Tracking time-lapse, elapsed time and satellite imagery capture seasonal change.
A motion control system (MOSYS) allowed simultaneous panning, tracking and time-lapse in the blossoming and leaf growth sequence. Autumn's temporal advance is illustrated here spatially, through an elapsed time technique. Images taken at different stages of the change are blended together to create a single continuous sequence of the colour sweeping across the forest.
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