What a trip! Time-lapse video captures 12,225-mile road journey across America... in just FIVE minutes



A freelance photographer took to the road for inspiration and came back from his trip with a time lapse video speeding across 12,225 miles in just under five minutes.

Brian DeFrees, 25, took a two month road trip across the United States to visit places he had never been and catch up with relatives along the way. The fact that he is a freelance photographer helped him lend a goal to the project, as he hoped turn the trip into a creative piece of some sort at the end.

'I wanted to inspire people to go out and take a trip of their own, whether they live in the U.S. or not- there are a lot of parts of it that you haven't seen then hopefully you'll go out and see,' Mr DeFrees told MailOnline.



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Amid the rocks: Mr DeFrees' video doesn't note which state each photo was taken in, so it is up to the viewer to guess based on landmarks

Driving over sea: He took the ferry in Seattle, Washington

Hitting the highway: There is an idealized mystique attached to the Great American Road Trip, and images like this help to tell why

The man behind the wheel: Brian DeFrees, 25, works as a freelance video editor and photographer in upstate New York

Though he set out by himself in his Honda Civic Si, Mr DeFrees was happy to go it alone, if only for a few days.

'I know enough people across the country to only go a couple days by myself, but I have to say I really didn't mind [being alone] that much. Another part I really enjoyed was only having the belongings that i had in my trunk, it was kind of freeing,' he said.

Starting his journey on August 8 in his hometown of Syracuse, New York, Mr DeFrees then headed south along the east coast, hitting eight states along the way.



By attaching a digital camera to his wind shield that had a program installed to instantly take photos every five seconds, Mr DeFrees was able to drive and shoot at the same time.

He continued his trip heading west along the Gulf of Mexico before getting to Texas and driving up the historic Route 66.

'I went on Route 66 from Amirillo, Texas to Arizona and that was really cool,' he told MailOnline. 'I was just trying to stay on the old roads and stay in the old towns.'

Given the frequency of the digital shots, viewers are able to see the evolution of rain clouds along the side of highways. Differences in climate also prove entertaining, going from sunny Los Angeles and it's palm tree-lined streets to the snow capped Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs.





Quite the journey: Mr DeFrees drove through about 32 states

Winter: Though the trip lasted from August 8 to October 1, Mr DeFrees saw the first snowfall of the season in Point's Pike, Colorado Springs

Detail: Because the photos were taken every five seconds, the viewer can see as clouds start to form along the roads

He returned to Syracuse on October 1, having driven through at least 32 states over the course of 55 days, and launched into a new project: the video.

Throughout the trip, Mr DeFrees uploaded the five-second shots to his computer and later turned all of the still photographs into one, two and a half hour long video.

Two weeks of editing later, the video is now five minutes and 14 seconds long and set to a song by the band Waking Lights.

Not so Golden: Because he was driving right in the midst of weekend commute, Mr DeFrees said he was in bumper-to-bumper traffic in San Francisco

Gaudy: The congestion of cities like Las Vegas stands out in stark contrast to the open fields from other stretches of the video

'It was nice to stay in one place when I got back, but as soon as I got back I thought of all the places I didn't see,' Mr DeFrees said.

'I already plan on doing it a few more times in my life.'

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