Night Timelapse Photography in National Parks: PARKLIGHT, Giants of Yosemite, and Starstorm Zion

Why Night Timelapse Photography Works So Well After Dark

Night timelapse photography reveals a side of the world that most people never experience. Familiar places feel completely different once the crowds are gone and the light slows down. That is exactly what the PARKLIGHT series explores.

Created by filmmaker Gavin Heffernan, PARKLIGHT is a collection of night timelapse films focused on America’s national parks. The series captures these places during quiet, often overlooked moments and turns darkness into a storytelling tool.

Giants of Yosemite: Night Timelapse Photography Under a Super Harvest Moon

Giants of Yosemite is the first film in the PARKLIGHT series and a strong example of thoughtful night timelapse photography. Filmed during the Super Harvest Moon of October 2025, the project captures Yosemite National Park in rare conditions.

Moonlight softly illuminates El Capitan, Half Dome, and the surrounding granite formations while stars continue to move across the sky. Instead of dramatic motion, the film focuses on calm, steady change. Giants of Yosemite invites viewers to slow down and experience the park as it exists after dark.

This film also represents a personal return. Ten years earlier, Heffernan passed through Yosemite on his way to another shoot and never stopped. This project became his chance to finally capture the park at night.

A Film Rooted in Memory

Giants of Yosemite is dedicated to Balin Miller, a young climber who tragically lost his life on El Capitan just days before filming began. Knowing this gives the film emotional weight and reminds viewers that national parks are more than landscapes.

Night timelapse photography allows space for reflection. By compressing hours into moments, it creates a quiet rhythm where memory and respect can exist without explanation.

Starstorm Zion and the Growing PARKLIGHT Series

Starstorm Zion is another film in the PARKLIGHT series and expands the idea beyond Yosemite. While Giants of Yosemite focuses on moonlit granite walls, Starstorm Zion leans into dramatic skies and intense star movement over Zion National Park.

Together, these films show the range of night timelapse photography. Different locations, different conditions, but the same patience and long-term commitment. The PARKLIGHT series is clearly not about chasing spectacle, but about returning to places and letting time do the work.

A Simple and Reliable Workflow

The technical approach behind PARKLIGHT is intentionally straightforward. Two Canon 6D cameras were used, paired with a small selection of wide and fast lenses. Exposure times averaged eight to ten seconds per frame.

Post-production was handled using Lightroom Classic, Final Cut Pro, and StarStax for the star trails. This setup reflects an important lesson in night timelapse photography. Reliability and consistency matter more than complexity, especially when working in remote locations over long nights.

The Purpose Behind the PARKLIGHT Series

The PARKLIGHT series was created with a clear intention that goes beyond visual beauty. It focuses on America’s national parks during government shutdowns, a time when these protected places are often at their most vulnerable.

During shutdowns, staffing is reduced, maintenance is delayed, and many safeguards simply stop functioning. Trails, facilities, and sensitive environments can suffer lasting damage while public attention quietly shifts elsewhere. PARKLIGHT uses night timelapse photography to bring awareness back to these moments, choosing darkness and stillness as a way to reflect that absence of protection.

By filming at night, the series avoids spectacle and distraction. Instead, it shows the parks in a quiet, exposed state, lit only by moonlight and stars. This approach mirrors the reality of shutdowns themselves. The parks are still there, still monumental, but temporarily left without the support they depend on.

The goal of PARKLIGHT is not to dramatize or exaggerate, but to create space for reflection. Night timelapse photography allows time to slow down and invites viewers to consider what it means to protect these landscapes, even when no one is watching. It turns attention toward responsibility rather than urgency.

In this way, the PARKLIGHT series uses timelapse not just as a creative tool, but as a reminder. These places deserve care at all times, not only when they are open, staffed, and visible.

Final Thoughts

Night timelapse photography is not about speed or spectacle. It is about waiting, observing, and allowing places to reveal themselves over time.

The PARKLIGHT series, through films like Giants of Yosemite and Starstorm Zion, shows what is possible when timelapse is driven by intention and respect for the subject. For anyone interested in creating or watching timelapse work, these films are a reminder of why the craft still matters.