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Joel Penner

@joelpenner

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Natural history artist focusing on timelapse 🍄
Wrought (2022) 🍉 @cbcdocs / @biofilm_productions (link in bio)

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loving the egg shell worm churn dance! 🤩

🎶 @tarpband by @joelpenner

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6 days ago

I came across this Wrought outtake from 2017 today while trying to organize my hilariously complicated storage situation! It was such a surprise to be reminded of the beautiful yeast waves and watermelon rain I was lucky enough to capture here. 🙏

Since people usually ask, the scans for this were taken every five minutes for two and a half months at 2400 dpi! Before reducing it the shot took up a ton of space, lol. But capturing that massive amount of data was all worth it for the part near the beginning where the yeast fragments, as that happened in just an hour or two! 🌟 by @joelpenner

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a month ago

Learn timelapse and stop motion skills with an award-winning filmmaker!

We’re excited to welcome Joel Penner, co-director of the award-winning film Wrought, back to the Radical Mycology Convergence this year for a special, hands-on workshop covering a range of time lapse and stop motion photography techniques.

In this limited-capacity, 3-hour immersive course, participants will get to experience some of the ingredients that went into making Wrought. One part of the workshop will involve people collectively working on a stop motion narrative film together with natural subjects found around Brown Bottle Farm. Another part of the workshop will involve participants getting up close and personal with some timelapses that will be running during the convergence. This will provide insight into how timelapse photography can help us understand time in a more fluid manner and get people excited about the artistic possibilities that are always around us.

Joel will also be hosting a screening of Wrought, with audience Q&A, Friday night before our big art show opening!

ABOUT JOEL
Joel Penner (@joelpenner) is a National Geographic-featured documentary filmmaker based out of Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Canada. His work delves into the beauty of mortality and decay seen through the unique perspective provided by timelapse photography. His most recent short film Wrought has screened at over 65 film festivals around the world, receiving 17 awards as well as being featured on CBC Gem. It is in a permanent exhibit about fungi at the Museo Interactivo Mirador in Santiago, Chile and is currently slated for inclusion in more exhibits.

ABOUT THE RMC
The 8th biennial Radical Mycology Convergence takes place September 24–27, 2026 (with Joel’s workshop being on Thursday the 24th) in Mulino, Oregon, 30 minutes south of Portland. Join us for one or all four days for workshops, art, music, camping, and mush more! Passes start at just $25!

Learn more at mycoculturerad.com

#timelapse
#stopmotion
#mushrooms
#radicalmycologyconvergence
#mycology taken in Mulino, Oregon by @joelpenner

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a month ago

It’s been inspiring observing the world from this vantage point this winter! I set up this shot to capture snowfall, but as I was waiting for that I got so into watching sunlight dancing across this snowy landscape. Each day is so different! by @joelpenner

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6 months ago

Lately I’ve been captivated by the ethereal and effervescent qualities of the snow, sun and wind! It’s so enlivening to briefly tap into these fascinatingly subtle whispers of the magical world around us. ✨

Also check out the amazing @tarpband! by @joelpenner

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10 months ago

So, I set up a shot recently to capture delicate scenes of some upcoming snowfall! Who knows what I’ll find with such a rich area to explore!?

For my first test shot I set the camera up to take one photo every 30 seconds, thinking - what could actually happen? But while looking at the footage I was taken aback as I saw how beautiful the dappled sunlight was! The day shown here was captured at one photo per second to more fluidly convey the enticing happenings. It took 200 GB at 45 megapixels, but was so worth it!

It’ll be an exciting journey exploring the artistic and conceptual possibilities here, and I already have some ideas for new angles to dive deeper with. 😎 ☀️ 🌙 by @joelpenner

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a year ago

Western salsify is one of my favourite weeds because of its distinctively beautiful seed pods! A while ago I wanted to see what would happen if I watched them open and then gradually added compost and worms to have them then be eaten. I also tried to capture the leaves growing above by using a scanner as a grow light.

With some technical difficulties, the low amount of light from the scanner and also the worms which were eager to eat the roots of the young plants - this didn’t work so well!! ✨😆

#nature #naturalhistory #decay #timelapse #biology #compost #vermicompost by @joelpenner

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a year ago

This is one of the shots I did for the Secrets of the Forest doc that was just released on PBS Nova. I had done lots of shots of leaf decay with scanners before, where the very moist conditions for fast decay are pretty simple, but it was tricky creating the right conditions to capture this with a camera.

First I dug up a bunch of teeming, active compost to use over the winter. In ensuing test shots I experimented a lot with different levels of soil moisture, with how much to heat it and with enclosure design. I tried to hasten the decay by buying insects people use to clean up detritus in their reptile enclosures in addition to extracting insects from my own compost with a “berlese funnel” to create turbo-charged compost!

I had wanted my red wiggler earthworms to play a more active role in this shot, but they are so averse to light! I made a set-up with the lights plugged in to a scriptable, network-connected power bar. This let me use a Raspberry Pi micro computer to turn on the lights for just a few seconds after the camera was triggered, but they still didn’t come out that much. They’re also so *big* and move the leaves around when they eat them which creates choppy animation. This led me to abandon my quest to use them as primary leaf eaters.

Closer to the deadline I realized that the white grindal worms (visible in the shot) were the fastest leaf decayers! Because of their size they don’t disturb the positioning of the leaves which was a relief. I found a seller locally (who raises them for fish food!) to add more to the soil, but I left them in their soil-less transport container for too long and they unfortunately died, creating the nastiest smell!

In the end what worked best was creating conditions that were humid and moist enough to allow the grindal worms I did have to eat the leaves.

This shot was done with a motorized focus stacking rail to create more depth of field than could be achieved normally.

I could say a lot more - what an adventure! I’ll post more shots in the next while. 🍂🪱

#timelapse #nature #naturalhistory #biology #compost #decay by @joelpenner

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a year ago

Last year I experimented with shots of red wigglers eating larger items of produce. I hadn’t really tried this before and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the animation!

A truly stunning aspect of this shot was how some of the worms stayed visible for *days*! Seriously - I’ve usually done one shot every 15 minutes to give them time in the dark in order to draw them out, but here even one shot a minute didn’t phase them!

Usually they avoid light so as to not dry out, but I guess the draw of the papaya was too powerful for these adventurous few! 😂

Afterwards I put another fruit on top of the compost to capture some ambient worm action. I find the frenetic quality of that activity so tantalizing! 🪱

As people often ask - this shot took place over two and a half months! 😀 by @joelpenner

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2 years ago

open door policy at the wasp hotel! 🐝 by @joelpenner

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2 years ago

I recently finished a focus stacked timelapse of this lichen apothecia and was excited to see a bunch of springtails feeding on it. Surprises like this are so fun to capture! 😊 by @joelpenner

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4 years ago

Earlier this year I collaborated with @kenmodenoise on some visuals for their new EP NULL. It was a fascinating process seeing my timelapses and band footage by @_tylerfunk_ get sculpted together by @______._.______.______ (Christopher Mills) into such a cool music video. Watch the full video at the link in bio! taken in Winnipeg, Manitoba by @joelpenner

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4 years ago