Imagimotion #3 Trapped in Gemstones

This is a unique piece of filming, animation and science coming together. Tried to envision how events may have occurred to have encased live beings and preserve them for eternity. The world has been around for billions of years and many species have preceded human beings, so this example is a testimony that what comes goes and the circularity of life.

Please enjoy the show and share it if you like,
Leo

Opals – Water and Time

You will  see a collection of my little friends together with some cataloged opals from the The Australian National Opal Collection.  Special motion graphics and animated motion sequences were added at the bottom of the screen to represent the passage of time and the leaching of water through the layers of soil which is what forms opals over a long time…

Across the world, precious opal occurs in very few locations because it required a very special series of geological, climate and possibly biological phenomena to coincide for opals to form. These special criteria occurred in what is now the great desert regions of central Australia, which produces around 90% of the world’s precious opal.

Opals are formed from a solution of silicon dioxide and water. As water runs down through the earth, it picks up silica from sandstone, and carries this silica-rich solution through cracks and voids caused by natural faults or decomposing fossils. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind a silica deposit. This cycle repeats over very long periods of time, and eventually opal is formed.
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Music: Tibetan bell & Sounds from Outer Space Uranus V-2 06 – The real Horst (by special permission.) Remix by Leo Bar; The Ancients – Celestial Aeon Project – Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
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[sources: nationalopal.com/opals/precious-opal-formation.html – mindat.org/ ]

Beauty by Fire

This production shows part of my collection of gems and minerals highlighted by providing specific notations to their chemistry and composition. While organizing the storyboard I wanted to show the beginning of the creation, when minerals are spewed from the center of the Earth. Used some public domain explorations of volcanoes and their caldera.

The piece involved intense manipulation of images, including accented coloration, special lighting, macro photography, animation, motion graphics, and other esoteric effects such as morphing.

The music was key to pace the progress of the presentation. Still some stones left that haven’t seen the light or appeared on the screen 🙂 Perhaps a third chapter on this series may take place in the future.

Enjoy the warmth of the stones,

Leo

Fire Crystals

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
-Robert Frost-

Ever since childhood I have been collecting stones, gems, and minerals. Everywhere I travel I pick more “dirt” and visit caves and mines when possible. It’s fascinating to see what fire and water under the patient direction of nature have been able to create. This is a small tribute to mother nature and its beautiful “stones”.
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The Naica mine of the Mexican state of Chihuahua is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary selenite crystals. Located in Naica in the municipality of Saucillo, Naica is a lead, zinc and silver mine in which large voids have been found, containing crystals of selenite (gypsum) as large as 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and 50 feet (15 m) long.

The Cave of Crystals (Cueva de los Cristales) is a chamber approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) down in the limestone host rock of the mine. The chamber contains giant selenite crystals, some of the largest natural crystals ever found. The selenite crystals were formed by hydrothermal fluids emanating from the magma chambers below. The cavern was discovered while the miners were drilling through the Naica fault, which they were worried would flood the mine.