Humboldt County’s a beautiful place. This isn’t news.

But if you could distill days’ full of beauty from scenic vistas throughout the county into a four-and-a-half-minute experience, there would be a novelty factor, right? Well, that’s what local photographer/handyman Ryan Johnson has done.

Johnson, who has lived in Humboldt County since coming to go to school in 2001, said he was inspired by Ben Canales when he got the idea of putting together a time-lapse montage of Humboldt County, to create a piece showing “what this place means to me. I don’t know if it will ever be finished," he said, "but the video you see is truly a piece of my heart.”

The photographer said he’s spent six months pecking away at the video, spending four or five nights a week working on it. For some of the night shots, he said he spent six hours photographing what would become 10 seconds of video, noting that it takes almost 30 photos to fill a single second.

In talking about his work on the video, it's clear Johnson has enjoyed some support along the way. First and foremost, there’s his wife of seven years, who he said “changed my definition of happiness.” Then, there’s his wolf, who spends hours on end sitting with him in some of Humboldt’s most scenic locales.

Check out Johnson’s Lucid Photography page on Facebook, and his Flickr page. And, do set aside a few minutes to watch the video. It might make you appreciate where you live just a little bit more.