Posted: December 24, 2009 at 12:53 am | Filed in Personal
I moved into a new apartment a few weeks ago and Shaw cannot hook up my internet connection until the 28th so it’s been a quiet month without Facebook, Twitter, my RSS feeds and all the other distractions that come with this otherwise wonderful medium. So I’ve had a lot of time on my hands to edit my photography collection and work on some new conceptual designs.
I’m going to be making some big announcements regarding this website and my career sometime this January so I look forward to sharing that with all of you soon.
So I wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season and I look forward to seeing how next year is going to play out.
Posted: October 30, 2009 at 10:14 pm | Filed in Gaming
I was a huge gamer when I was younger, but in more recent times I have abandoned the hours of often mindless entertainment and replaced it with the distinct noise of a camera shutter and the whirring fans of my MacBook Pro as I churn through photos in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
But one game in particular always drew my attention and that was Natural Selection, a popular “mod” for Half-Life that first came out in 2002. Something about the combination of fast paced action, in-depth strategy and alien versus human warfare made the game a hit with me and apparently a lot of other people too.
Today the team behind the original game Unknown Worlds unveiled the first screenshots of the brand new version in action and I thought I’d share them with you since the graphics and the whole atmosphere of the game looks astonishingly beautiful.
Here you can see marines defending themselves against a pair of Skulks and a more evolved alien life form called a Lerk in a small corridor:
Two Skulks quietly wait in one of the many signature vents that are littered throughout the Natural Selection universe waiting for an unsuspecting marine that is about to become lunch:
Lastly here is a teaser video they released several months ago that was created entirely in-game except for the video editing (of course).
If this is what a small and motivated team of people can pull off, imagine what the future of the gaming industry is going to be like. For now though, I know I’ll be waiting to get my hands on the upcoming beta release.
Visit the Natural Selection 2 site to learn more information about the upcoming game and read about the development process in their blog.
Posted: September 30, 2009 at 02:26 pm | Filed in Photography and Film
Professional videographer Brad Kremer recently compiled several time lapses he shot with his Canon 5D Mark II into this stunning video. Footage includes Lake Tahoe, Alaska, Utah, Switzerland, Colorado, Minnesota, Finland and Japan.
Posted: August 23, 2009 at 10:17 am | Filed in Photography and Film
Alta Media Productions shot this time-lapse sequence of the 14th of July fireworks in Paris, France. It’s the anniversary of the French Revolution and also the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower. I particularly like the way they projected imagery onto the Eiffel Tower itself that compliments the fireworks show.
Welcome to my website. My name is Noel Hurtley and I’m a freelance photographer living in Vancouver, Canada. 
