Photog Accidentally Captures Montreal on Fire in His First Time-Lapse

This past Thursday, a spectacular three-alarm fire consumed the upper floors of a 6-story building in Old Montreal. Photographer Evan Kitaljevich found himself in the right place at the right time, and documented the blaze unintentionally in an uncommon way: through time-lapse photos.

Kitaljevich was on the other side of the Saint Lawrence River, shooting photos his very first time-lapse video using a Nikon D300, a Sigma 10-20mm, and a GorillaPod. Then the fire suddenly broke out, and make his introductory time-lapse project one that he’ll be remembering for a long time.

Kitaljevich writes,

This was honestly my first attempt at making a time-lapse. I downloaded/figured out LRtimelapse (the trial version) in the afternoon then went out around sunset to shoot […] Pan and zoom were added in post […] To anyone who wants to try this, my best advice is to use a really sturdy (possibly weighed down) tripod. I wish I had one, because shooting with a GorillaPod in a bit of wind made the camera shake between frames. I used the AE warp stabilizer to try and smooth it out, but it still looks a bit weird and wobbly.

One of Kitaljevich’s still photographs of the event, titled ‘Fire in the Old Port,’ is also making the rounds in the news.