Self-described digital media junky and “time traveler” Chad Richard is a time-lapse photographer from San Francisco, working with a relatively new technology known as HDR, or high dynamic range, imaging. The results are time-lapse compositions with unprecedented clarity and detail despite the dramatically changing light conditions common to time-lapse photography.

In an interview with KGO-TV, San Francisco, Chad describes the process as taking 7 different exposures in quick succession, then digitally combining those into a single, properly exposed, HDR image. The resulting images — 1,000 per hour — are then assembled into a video.

Despite the technical nature of his work, Richard never lets it upstage his subject. Nature, painting improvisational landscapes in time, is given full reign to run the show. And what a show it is.

When you’re setting up,” Chad laughs, “you never know what you’re going to get. You come out here, you set up in the dark, you point your camera where you think you want to be pointed, and you hope nature’s going to do what you want it to do. But you never know how things are going to turn out.”

“It’s always about sunrise or sunset. It’s definitely an early ’sport’. But, it’s great to be outside, watch the sun rise. It’s a wonderful place to be.”

Clear Lake Lapse

Two days compressed into less than seven minutes.
Chad Richard (6:45)

Moon Clouds

Clouds passing in front of the Moon as it rises.
Chad Richard (0:17)

Utah & Arizona Compilation

A collection of sequences featuring some of the most spectacular landforms on Earth.
Chad Richard (5:24)

To learn more, visit Chad Richard’s blog, TimeTraveler: A Journey Through Time, One Frame at a Time.