The Grand Canyon is the subject of a pair of filmmakers’ new video, but it wasn’t the kind of set where you’d hear, “lights, camera, action!”
That’s because the site was chosen precisely because it doesn’t have as much light pollution from cities as plagues most of the rest of the world.
Filmmakers Harun Mehmedinovic and Gavin Heffernan set their sights on the southwest with a video called Kaibab Elegy. Viewers get a glimpse of a breathtaking spectacle known as full cloud inversion. As cold air floods through the narrow valley walls of the Grand Canyon clouds drift above and the air is trapped below.
The result is waves of clouds streaming through gorges in what makes the Grand Canyon look like flat land—and a very dim place.
“The Grand Canyon is one of the best dark sky spots in the country,” said Mehmedinovic. “We were extremely lucky to be there to capture it.”
According to the filmmakers, 80 percent of the world currently lives under light polluted skies—and it’s causing some serious consequences. Sleep disorders, depression, tainted ecosystems and disruptions with astronomy research have all been linked to light pollution.
Along with the videos is the release of a 192-page hardcover photo book by the same name.
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