John Nash Ott

Biography

Dr. John Nash Ott (October 23, 1909 – April 12, 2000) was a photographer and cinematographer who developed many modern photographic practices, including time-lapse photography and full-spectrum lighting. Initially, Ott's interest in time-lapse movie photography, mostly of plants, was just a hobby. Starting in the 1930s, Ott bought and built more and more time-lapse equipment, eventually building a large greenhouse full of plants, cameras, and even self-built automated electric moving camera systems (the first movie camera motion control systems ever built) for moving the cameras to follow the growth of plants as they developed. He even time-lapsed his entire greenhouse of plants and cameras as they all worked, a virtual symphony of time-lapse movement. His work was featured on an episode of the second incarnation of the request TV show, You Asked For It, in the late 1950s.