JEFFREY BLONDES: 9h10m11s
Jeffrey Blondes, Lunar Perigee, edition of 7, 2009
Real time. High definition (HDV 1080i) 09h10m11s hour loop, 51 x 30 1/4 in. (129.5 x 76.8 cm)
The film begins January 11, 2009 at sunrise over a snowy field in Touraine, France and culminates with sunset as the Full Moon rises above the horizon. Lunar Perigee is the Moon at its closest to earth. The Moon's orbit being elliptical, Lunar Apogee occurs when it is furthest. At Perigee, the Moon appears 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it is Apogee. It is rare for the Moon to be simultaneously Full and Perigee, an irregular occurrence happening usually only once or twice a year. In 2009 it was uniquely the 24 hour period between January 10th and 11th (thus the numerical significance of the film's length: 09h10m11s). Embarking on recordings of natural phenomena must be pursued knowing there is no guarantee the event will occur under clear skies. When it does, one is rewarded for optimism and perseverance by experiencing, then sharing the poetic moment captured in this film.
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Jeffrey Blondes, Winter Solstice, edition of 7, 2008
Real time. High definition (HDV 1080i), 24 hour loop, 51 x 30 1/4 in. (129.5 x 76.8 cm)
200 kms above the Arctic Circle. Tornehamn, Sweden. 21-27 December, 2007, a very rare conjunction of the winter solstice and the full moon, which lights what would normally be a virtually black landscape. In Sweden this is called the 'Philosopher's Moon'.
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Jeffrey Blondes, TdeF S54º W56º, edition of 7, 2013
Real time. High definition (HDV 1080i) 24 hour loop, 51 x 30 1/4 in. (129.5 x 76.8 cm)
Filmed at the South-Eastern tip of Argentinian Tierra del Fuego. The 360 degree cycle documents a graveyard of trees, felled or left standing virtually dead after being attacked by beavers. This non native species introduced 80 years ago has multiplied from a colony of 50 to a current population estimated to number over 200,000. With no natural predators on the island to regulate the population, they are 'eating themselves out of house and home'. When every tree is decimated, with no foliage left to eat, they will eventually die out, or swim the Straights of Magellan up to mainland Patagonia (which some observers have already documented). It is poignant to note that this is occurring in the very place where Darwin explored with Captain Fitzroy on the Beagle during the 1830's, while developing what was at the time his controversial theory of natural selection.
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Jeffrey Blondes, Solstice Equinox, edition of 7, 2008
Real time. High definition (HDV 1080i) 48h28m18s loop, 51 x 30 1/4 in. (129.5 x 76.8 cm)
Filmed at the four solar points of the year: Summer Solstice (the longest day of the year, 16 hours and some); Autumn Equinox (the 12 hour day, the point when the sun is equidistant between the solstices); Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year, 8 hours and some); Spring Equinox (12 hour day, the point when the sun is equidistant between the solstices as the northern hemisphere rotates back towards the summer hours).
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Jeffrey Blondes, Etang de Pezières III : 52 Hour Film, ed of 7, 2015
Real time. High definition (HDV 1080i) 52 hour loop
Etang de Pezières, the feeder lake to a 12th edifice, la Chartreuse de Liget, a monastery founded by Henry Plantagenet in atonement for the murder of Thomas Becket. Time is still here, a chapel stands not far away in the woods. It is a place that resonates timelessness/stillness as well as the cyclical and constant progression of man through history. The skeletal trees, a spider’s web, ever-swaying but rooted and never-moving, remain fixed, staring at the water, witness to the past. Fifty-two one hour segments. Filmed once a week over the course of one year.
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