Ice Castle Hyperlapse Captures a Frozen Rave

'Boston Layer-Lapse' creator Julian Tryba teams up with timelapse artist Michael Sutton to tackle a dance party in a giant frozen fortress.

by Beckett Mufson

February 13, 2015, 8:20pm

GIF by Beckett Mufson. Images courtesy Julian Tryba

To cope with the current blanket of winter chills, some people build snowmen, the ambitious build igloos, and the ridiculously talented artists of Lincoln, New Hampshire build massive palaces made out of icicles and throw raves in them. Julian Tryba, the photographic pioneer behind the Boston layer-lapse, teamed up with timelapse artist Michael Sutton to capture a manic celebration of the New Hampshire Ice Castles in a fresh hyperlapse collaboration called Frozen Fortress.

The film is a great tour of what looks like a seriously fantastic party, but the repetitive process of timelapsing, i.e. linking hundreds of stills together frame-by-frame, isn't particularly conducive to the sub-zero temperatures of a New Hampshire night in a historically cold winter: "Shooting timelapse requires great patience, bladder control and a strong intestinal fortitude," Sutton told The Creators Project. " When you apply -15 degree weather to the equation you literally have to think of the endgame and nothing but." The trick to pulling it off, added Tryba, was to "wear lots of layers and bring a positive attitude."

It almost seems like a bummer to imagine the photographers fighting off the cold and handling technical equipment in the middle of such a mesmerizing light show, but damn if we're not grateful they did.