In 2019 July I went on a seven-day Alaska cruise. That was my first ever cruise. As usual I made lots of photos and videos but I also, for the first time, organized a longer duration Alaska cruise timelapse project.
Table of Contents
Background to My Alaska Trip
I have never been on a cruise. This can be attributed to two reasons: I prefer travelling to different countries, different cities with different landscapes and enjoying them but sitting in a massive ship with intermittent shore stops isn’t my thing; I had imagined that cruises are for people wearing formal dresses with formal food all the time.
But, being a traveler I knew I had to try a cruise at least once in my lifetime and had also heard that a lot of the cruises have become very informal.
So, when I got the opportunity to go on a week-long Alaska cruise with three stops, I decided take it.
The Alaska Cruise Timelapse Settings
I used my spare cellphone and an app for this. I set up the phone on the balcony of the room (I had booked an oceanside room with a balcony) and launched the time lapse app.
My goal was to capture the beauty of the coastal areas and the waterways through which the ship was to sail.
The Challenges of the Alaska Timelapse Project
There were three challenges:
- Power. I did not have an extension cord (I think we are not allowed to carry these onboard the cruise liners) but it meant frequent dying of the phone. Eventually, I figured out a way to connect my backup charger to the phone. Once the phone was charged, I would disconnect the backup charger and have it charged in the room. This way, I managed to capture as much as possible. I also switched off the recording during the night and tried to wake up as early as possible to start recording to capture the dawn.
- Space. The camera’s digital storage was limited so I had to stop the project to copy the photos into my laptop to free up space.
- Weather. I had set up the camera on a mini-tripod and balanced it with some water bottles for stability. Still, sometimes the winds were too heavy or it rained so I had to bring ‘home’ the camera.
The End Product
Even though I missed quite a few days because of power, space, weather and other reasons, I managed to put together what I believe is a decent timelapse product with a duration of 3:46.
This is the link to the timelapse video.