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Day 1

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Secrets of plant life guarded by nature through the ages are being recorded on film, television,

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The film is produced by John Hott, one of the world's foremost authorities on stop motion

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photography, the amazing technique that brings flowers into bloom before our eyes.

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His studio is the specially constructed greenhouse behind his suburban Chicago home, stocked

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with countless varieties of flowers and thousands of dollars worth of cameras and timing devices

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needed for his experiments in stop motion or time lapse photography.

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A single picture of each flower is taken at five minute intervals for several months,

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then the individual pictures can be speeded up so that twenty-four a second pass before our eyes on the screen.

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An intricate control board regulates the equipment used in making the photographs.

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Floodlights are used when each picture is taken so that the exposure is the same every time.

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In this way, stop motion photographs can be taken day or night, dark days or bright.

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Lights flash on as a camera records another in the hundreds of pictures, which join together now

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at ten thousand times normal speed capture the rhythm and grace of a blooming cactus flower.

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Next, Hott films two hibiscus blossoms as they swirl into bloom.

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Shuttles can be closed to eliminate outside light and cameras set in motion by an electric motor

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Hott has connected to a clock. Here, daffodils open in a symphony of motion.

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There are other uses of stop motion photography too. It has become a valuable tool in cancer research.

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The camera is harnessed to a high powered microscope to study the action of cancerous cells

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fed blood plasma through two rubber tubes on each side of the dish.

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In movies taken picture by picture every six seconds, the cells actually divide and multiply

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as they might in the human body.

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Here is another fascinating set of stop motion photographs of hybrid corn this time

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with a grain of pollen at top left growing out, pulling away and penetrating the corn silk.

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Scientists studying the feverish activity of the pollen, busily discharging the

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protoplasmic material that's contained in each grain, may find important clues in their studies of hay fever and other allergies.

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Here are two sets of bean seeds planted to learn the effects of a certain fertilizer on their growth.

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Bursting from the seeds, the roots probe deeper and deeper into the earth

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while the bean plant itself struggles to the surface.

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We can see that the four on the left grew more quickly than those on the right.

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And now nature and photography blended by John Ott, a symphony in flowers.

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A bud of a rhododendron native to Asia, Europe and North America.

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Its clusters are of many shades and colors.

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Akin to the azaleas, the large-leaved, large-flowered rhododendron ripples into bloom.

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Next, the hibiscus again, an American garden favorite.

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And here, a camellia bud.

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A native of Japan and China, thriving in very cool weather, the camellia is cultivated in greenhouses for its delicate blossoms.

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This is the night-blooming Sirius, a member of the cactus family, which opens only at night to reveal its funnel-shaped flowers.

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The Sirius folds its petals during the day to bloom again another night.

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A brilliant climax, the beauty of the Amaryllis, caught by the camera through the magic of John Ott's stop-motion photography.