TimeScapes: Death is the Road to Awe

I'm fascinated by time-lapse videos - especially the ones that include cactus related footage. Tom Lowe is a great inspiration when it comes to time-lapse filming and has recently released the movie TimeScapes that features stunning slow-motion and time-lapse cinematography of the landscapes, people, and wildlife of the American South West.

Tom has made several clips available on Vimeo including the one below featuring giant saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) reaching for the soaring night sky.



If the video doesn't embed properly you can view it in a separate window by clicking the picture below.


Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) lit by a military drop flare

A particularly epic sequence is filmed on the East side of the US Air Force's Goldwater bombing range near Ajo, Arizona, and shows a saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) towering in a desert landscape painted by the lights from military flares dropped from planes.

The above picture is courtesy of Tom Lowe @ Timescapes' photostream (where you can find a lot more beautiful photos).

Time-lapse video of a flowering Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus var. macdowellii cactus

Flowering Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus var. macdowellii (SB 100; El Pilar, Coahuila) - please note that the time-lapse video is generated with a fairly high frame rate meaning that you can slow down the video to 0.5x its speed (or even 0.25x) with good results - the playback speed is controlled via the settings for the YouTube video.

As mentioned in the previous post I broke the shutter of my old faithful Nikon D70 SLR camera while capturing photos for a time-lapse video of a flowering peyote. A time-lapse video of just a few seconds duration requires hundreds of photos and thus imposes a considerable wear on SLR cameras with mechanical shutters. Consequently I have avoided using my new SLR for time-lapse shooting and instead experimented with alternative solutions. One of these being iTimeLapse Pro for the iPhone - an app that allows you to control basic settings like the capture interval, when to stop and start capturing images, and the capture resolution.

The app was used for shooting the images for this video and as such functions just fine, but I still need to work on enhancing the steadiness of the phone (it slid slightly on its stand during the capture sequence), and on tuning the focus (which is slightly behind the center of the flower, making the flower itself look blurry). Also the images are taken in natural light that changes continuously giving the video a flickering appearance - on the other hand the change in light is also responsible for the flower closing again, adding to the video.

I also shot photo sets for a flowering peyote ( Lophophora williamsii var. echinata) and a Gymnocalycium calochlorum and will generate and upload time-lapse videos for these as time permits.

For the technically inclined it must be mentioned that the video was generated using FFmpeg, a free set of tools to record, convert, stream and play multimedia content. FFmpeg can be downloaded here. The photos used in the video were shot one every 15 seconds and is played back at a rate of 25 images per second. The time-lapse video comprises 1001 still images.

If the video doesn't embed properly you can view it in a separate window by clicking the picture below.

Peyote in the sky...

Time flies... as do the clouds in the above video. 8 years ago today this blog was started off with a test post featuring a picture of a field of Cylindropuntia bigelovii photographed in Joshua Tree National Park (maybe I should do another C. bigelovii post as I have lots of beautiful pictures from that and later visits to the park ;-)

As a curiosity it can be mentioned that I broke the shutter of my old Nikon D70 doing the above time-lapse video a couple of years ago. The video is rather short (as the shooting ended prematurely) and doesn't show the flower unfold, but I thought it would fit nicely with this post, illustrating the passing of precious time.

If the video doesn't embed properly you can view it in a separate window by clicking the picture below.


Peyote in the sky...

Geographic distribution of peyote / Lophophora

Recently several articles have been published updating the available information on the geographic range of peyote / Lophophora. I have made an overview of this distribution information available on a stand-alone blogger page (and as such it is not included in the blog post feed, hence this announcement:): Geographic distribution of peyote / Lophophora

Bibliography on peyote / Lophophora

Lately I've been working on a bibliography that is meant to cover literature on primarily peyote/Lophophora and related Mexican/Texan cactus species, but many general works on cacti are also included. Currently the bibliography is very much a work in progress and will be expanded in the future. Download links are included for works that are publicly available.

The bibliography resides on a stand-alone page (and as such is not included in the blog post feed, hence this announcement:): Bibliography on peyote / Lophophora

Gingerbread peyote cookies

Gingerbread peyote cookie

Yuletide is closing in and the winter solstice has to be celebrated. What better way to do it than with a handful of homemade gingerbread peyote cookies :-)


Gingerbread peyote cookies - a.k.a christmas cactus cookies :-)

Merry winter solstice to you all. And happy new growing season!

Huichol peyote picking under threat

Huichol looking over the desert - photo by Tracy L. Barnett

The Huichol not only have to deal with threats to their sacred land by the Canadian-based mining company First Majestic Silver Corporation. According to the Guadalajara Reporter a recent presidential decree also outlaws harvesting of peyote in two protected areas in San Luis Potosi, partly prohibiting the ancient Huichol pilgrimages that revolve around peyote picking.

The full Guadalajara Reporter article reads:

Not only is their sacred land threatened by Canadian mining corporations, but the indigenous Huichol or Wixarika of Jalisco and Nayarit’s Sierra Madre must now also contend with the Mexican government undermining their peyote-infused religious rituals.

One of four Wixarika deities, peyote is considered a means of communicating with the gods, and for thousands of years the Wixarika have embarked on pilgrimages to pick the hallucinogenic cactus flower in the mountainous “Wirikuta” area of Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosi.

But a presidential decree issued on October 26 partly prohibited this ancient tradition by outlawing the harvest of fruit from two protected areas in San Luis Potosi.

At a press conference last week, the Regional Council for the Defense of Wirikuta, demanded that the government guarantee their right to pick peyote. The council also called for the cancellation of 79 mining concessions affecting their sacred land.

Since 2009, the Wixarika have been campaigning against mining concessions granted by the Mexican government to Canadian firms. The mining has a devastating impact on the local environment, critics say, with swaths of land destroyed and large quantities of cyanide used in the process.

Huichol pilgrimage becomes fight for spiritual survival

It saddens me to see that the Huichol still have to fight for their right to their sacred areas. Areas that are threatened by a mining concession granted by Mexico's government to Canada-based First Majestic Silver Corporation.

Earlier this year the Huichol, as part of their yearly pilgrimage, staged a protest against the Mexican government’s decision to allow First Majestic Silver Corporation to exploit the area.


Huicholes protesting in Guadalajara

The Guadalajara Reporter had the following to say on the subject:

With their ancestral homeland in danger of destruction at the hands of a Canadian mining company, the indigenous Huichol people used their annual pilgrimage to stage a rally in defense of their sacred territory last week.

Counting on support from their gods (as well as local media and human rights organizations), the Wixaritari, as the Huichol people traditionally call themselves, embarked upon a spiritual and political journey with the aim of drawing national attention to their predicament.

Mexico’s 28,000 Wixaritari are natives of a mountainous area where northern Jalisco, eastern Nayarit, southern Durango and western Zacatecas all intersect. They originated in Wirikuta, the Huichol name for Cerro del Quemado, in Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosi. This is a sacred area for the Wixaritari, where it is said the Sun God, “Tao Jreeku,” created the world.

Every year, hundreds of Wixaritari walk almost 500 kilometers to Wirikuta to pray, leave religious offerings and perform “Mitote” ceremonies with peyote, the sacred hallucinogenic cactus. Considered a magical means of communicating with the gods, peyote is an important part of Wixaritari culture and only they are legally allowed to gather or possess the cactus.

This year 800 pilgrims left their communities at the beginning of the month, arriving en masse on February 6. Normally the separate communities from different states arrive apart, but this year they coordinated their pilgrimages so as to arrive together and draw greater attention.

Attended by numerous special guests – including representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner, musicians, journalists and dozens of notable non-governmental organizations and human rights groups – the event was intended to protest the Mexican government’s decision to allow a Canadian mining company to exploit the area.

In November 2009, Vancouver-based First Majestic Silver Corporation bought 22 concessions from the Mexican government to explore and develop mineral deposits in a 6,327-hectare area of the Real de Catorce region. Around 70 percent of the land falls inside the sacred Wirikuta area.

In 1999, UNESCO designated this site as a protected area for its importance as a cultural route and for its endemic flora and fauna species. The mining project not only infringes on sacred and protected land, but also threatens the region’s eco-system, through potential cyanide contamination and the over-exploitation of local water resources.

As the Wixaritari spiritual authorities put it, “the problem of mining is so great that we cannot solve it physically, we need the help of the gods.”

Their political and religious leaders presented a ten-point manifesto demanding government support, calling for peaceful resistance against the mining operations, in order to defend “what for us is the essence of life,” and thanking the “universities, media and society that have supported us,” because “it made us feel we are not alone in this fight.”

While the federal government has shown very little interest in their concerns and First Majestic has aggressively pushed ahead with its plans, the Wixaritari have received some local backing, through the work of human rights organizations and publicity in the local media.

This week the Human Rights Commission of Jalisco (CEDHJ) reiterated its support for the Wixaritari in their struggle against exploitation. The CEDHJ said it is working with its national counterpart to identify potential human rights violations against the Wixaritari, who inhabit the municipalities of Mezquitic, Huejuquilla, Villa Guerrero, Chimaltitan, and Bolaños in Jalisco’s northern highlands.

Much of the Wixaritari anger has been directed at the government, as President Felipe Calderon has reneged on the Huauxca Manaka Pact he witnessed in 2008, when indigenous leaders and the governors of five states vowed to protect the holy places of the Wixaritari.

As a result, the Wixaritari now face the threat of spiritual extermination, in addition to the existing problems of poverty, hunger, marginalization and drought. The destruction of their sacred homeland would be a large step towards wiping out their very identity.

But in a world where the market rules, ancient culture is only considered a meaningful commodity if it brings in tourism, as the ancient Mayan civilization does for Mexico. Wixaritari culture, on the other hand, does not – hence the government’s complete indifference to their plight.

The ongoing dispute is an example of the dark legacy of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which significantly eased restrictions on foreign corporations operating in Mexico. Highly profitable companies such as First Majestic can expect to receive large federal grants to exploit Mexico’s resources, while simultaneously damaging the environment and destroying ancient indigenous culture.

This is not the first time NAFTA has caused tension between the government and Mexico’s indigenous population. The Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas in 1994 was a result of the Mexican government signing away the land rights of indigenous campesinos to foreign corporations.

Under the terms of NAFTA, the government removed Article 27 Section VII of the Mexican Constitution, which had previously guaranteed land reparations to indigenous groups throughout Mexico. This right to land had been the principal gain of the Mexican Revolution.

Mongolian wildflowers

I’m recently back from a journey that took me through Russia, Mongolia, China, Tibet, and Nepal (and I’m aware that China considers Tibet an “autonomous region” of China and not a nation in its own right; that China “liberated” Tibet 60 years ago. But nobody - absolutely nobody in their right mind and not brainwashed by the chinese dictatorship - can see the ruthless chinese oppression of Tibet as anything else than a blatant occupation! More on that in an upcoming post).

I visited Russia (Siberia) during very early spring and my photos from that part of the trip mainly boils down to those of leafless birch trees; so I’ll skip Russia and jump straight to Mongolia in this floristic travelogue ;-) I’m in the unfortunate situation that I don’t know the names of most of the plants featured in this post so any help is appreciated ;-)


Cream flowers


Yellow flowers


Light blue / lilac flowers

After spending some days in Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), the capital and largest city of Mongolia, we set out for Gorkhi-Terelj National Park. It was still early spring but a few plants were flowering, including the cream, yellow, and light blue/lilac flowered plants pictured above. Especially the latter was abundant, in many places almost covering the grassy slopes with its beautiful flowers.

My expectations to Gorkhi-Terelj involved imagery of serene, unperturbed nature allowing for days of pure trekking bliss ;-) However the “developed” part of the park we visited is on the verge of being destroyed by golf courts, tourist ger camps, ubiquitous signs and posters, road construction, housing development, and the like. In their eagerness to attract more visitors the very soul of what people are coming to see are being destroyed. It’s a big shame.

That being said it’s still possible to find undisturbed spots among the rolling, grassy hills and beautiful rock formations (in many ways reminding of the monzogranite formations at Joshua Tree National Park) where you can get a sense of being in the wilderness. If you are of an imaginative temperament it’s not even hard to envision Genghis Khan (Chinggis Khaan) galloping across the steppes; otherwise you can go see the (quite clumsy and ugly, yet colossal) Genghis Khan monument ;-)


A few of the ubiquitous signs and posters


Road construction near Turtle Rock

Another plant that is abundant in Terelj is (what I take to be) Orostachys spinosa, a cold-tolerant alpine native to Siberia and Mongolia. Its fleshy leaves are arranged in a rosette, growing to 10 cm (4'') in diameter at maturity. The plant is said to be able to survive extreme freezing temperatures down to -40°C. I collected a few of these plants in the hope to grow them on my balcony here in Copenhagen, but unfortunately most of them died off in a storage room in Kathmandu - one small plant is still alive though, so I keep my hopes high ;-)


A cluster of Orostachys spinosa

Back in Ulan Bator the only plants we could find were made of plastic. At first I found it a bit strange to have outdoor plastic flower arrangements in a park, but it seemed like a common practice.


Red plastic flowers


Yellow plastic flowers

Peyote flowers - fisheye/tilt-shift photography

Flowering Lophophora williamsii - tilt-shift

I just got me a Lensbaby Composer lens and of course had to experiment taking pictures of some of my flowering peyote plants. Even though the subject line mentions “tilt-shift” the Composer technically only qualifies for the “tilt” part (a rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane) and actually doesn’t “shift” (i.e. doesn’t allow for movement of the lens parallel to the image plane) but I’ll stick to the “tilt-shift” label as it is often used to specifically refer to the use of tilt for selective focus as illustrated in the photo above.

Flowering Lophophora jourdaniana - fisheye/tilt-shift

Adding the Lensbaby fisheye optic to the Composer allows for an even more distorted and warped view on reality.

Warped peyote flower - fisheye/tilt-shift