Russia Hour - A Travel Video

Russia was the last trip I took in 2017. I spent three weeks traveling from city to city in Russia's rainy and gloomy weather. As you know, by November, Russia is approaching winter, and the weather can be quite unpredictable, as it was for me.

Instead of dwelling on the bad weather, I decided to go out and capture the cities of Russia as they were, taking advantage of the approaching winter, and even went up to the Arctic Circle to witness the northern lights. It was probably one of the cheapest places in the world to do so.

After Murmansk, I went down and spent a week each in St. Petersburg and Moscow to capture the "Life Out of Balance" of Russian cities. If that phrase is familiar to you, then you know where I drew my inspiration. Yes, you are not mistaken. This video is inspired by the great documentary, "Koyaanisqatsi," directed by Godfrey Reggio and released in 1982.

"Koyaanisqatsi" is a word from the Hopi language, which translates to "Life Out of Balance." Watching the documentary is a psychedelic trip in itself. The documentary consists of several collections of fast-moving timelapse and hyperlapse footage showing the fast-paced city life of the 1980s.

There is no narration in the documentary, only stunning visuals and the heart-pounding, eerie music by Philip Glass that transcended the storytelling of words and tells its story through sound. It's one of my favorite experimental documentaries, and I highly recommend you watch it.

Funny enough, I actually took all this footage before I even watched the documentary. I'm quite surprised that I was able to incorporate the concept into this travel video, "Russia Hour," all without a plan.

The video is full of timelapse, hyperlapse, and slow-motion footage of Russian cityscapes and the people living in it; hence why I called this video "Russia Hour". Get it? "Russia Hour" is equal to Rush Hour, and if you watch the video, you will feel like it was almost always shot during rush hours.

Timelapse travel videos are something I don't usually do for my travel videos, which is why I decided to experiment with it. So, I hope you like the change of pace here.

Location: Murmansk, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow

Camera Gear: Sony a6500 + 16mm - 70mm Zeiss lens

Music: Thoughts by ANBR (Licensed through Artlist.io)

Further Reading for Russia

I hope you found this Russia travel guide useful. If you want to read more about Russia, I have a ton more articles you might like:

Clarification: The driving night lapse from 2:25 - 2:28 is stock footage (somewhere in the US, I was told) from Videezy.com. I wanted to replicate the same fast-moving feel of car lapses from Koyaanisqatsi, but I didn't have my footage, so I had to rely on stock footage instead.

• I love Moscow. Not many people agree with me but I think it has its own charm that, without any expectation, one could enjoy thoroughly. It also has a ton of awesome photo spots for instagrammers and photographers alike. Here’s 9 best photo spots in Moscow you should visit.
• When people think of a trip to see the Northern Lights, they associate it as being an expensive activity, but did you know that you can do it in Russia, which is probably the cheapest places to witness northern light in the world. Here’s a guide on how to witness the Northern Lights cheaply in Murmansk, Russia.
• Saint Petersburg has everything you would expect from a developed European city but at half the price. Here’s a complete travel guide on how to spend 3 days in Saint Petersburg.
• You can find more Russia travel guides on my Russia Travel Guide page.
• Looking for more travel guides for Europe? You can find more on my Europe Travel Guide page.
• Want to dive deeper in to Northern Europe? You can find more about it on my Northern Europe Travel Guide page.
• For more of my travel guides like this, visit my Destinations page.