Ah the panorama, modern photography’s attempt to escape its own limitations, to break free of its borders, its frame. There are many ways to produce photographic panoramas; there are special cameras with slit lenses that rotate on a tripod at a precisely pre-programmed speed, there are apps on your phone that let you snap photos and automatically assemble them into a pano, and then there are desktop programs that take your DSLR photos and assemble them after the fact.
I try to stay away from photography as a purely technical pursuit, but especially in the case of shooting panoramas, how you do it plays a big role in how your panos turn out. Most of the panoramas in this post were taken with the iphone app Photosynth. You take an initial photo, and the app uses GPS and the phone’s accelerometer to create a VR sphere with the camera at the center. Then you can just move the camera around willy nilly, snapping photos at whatever angle and in whichever order you please. When you’re finished, the app attempts to piece together a seamless photo of what you’ve done, and you can even make Quicktime VR files as well.
I’ve really been enjoying making panoramas this way, because I’m able to augment the sense of time and movement that is absent from a single still shot. Check out all the glitchy artifacts and mismatches in the panoramas below; try to imagine the changes and movement that were taking place during the minute or so it took me to shoot each panorama. The photographic process is exposed and thrust in your face, the technology is laid bare, and an aesthetically pleasing image is formed.
Updated!
Abridged Scooters, Rural Vietnam
Kyrgyz Roadscape
Self-portrait of the Cyclist as a Sweaty Man
Green Waters
Lake Stinky, Tajikistan
Shaky with Waterfall, Cherrapunji
Laotian Highway
Multiverse Shaky
Retro Shakies, Vietnam
Older panos:
Me and the crew at a tea shop in India, surrounded by onlookers.
The view from the trash heap at Jamtse Gatsal Community outside of Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.
My bike on a bridge in Myanmar.
Coffee break at a gas station in Thailand.
Misty mountains in Arunachal Pradesh.
360 pano of the highway, during my last few days in Myanmar.
My bike on the road in Northern Vietnam.
Bangkok skyline as seen from Baioke Tower, tallest building in BKK.
Coffee shop in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Mike the shaky starts heading downhill; Arunachal Pradesh, India.
Big tree in the countryside, Myanmar.
Daniella and I taking a break in our AIRCONDITIONED hotel room, Pye, Myanmar.
Cool bathroom, Thailand.
View from my hammock, Koh Phangan, Thailand.
Din Dang’s permaculture farm; near Ranong, Thailand.
View on the superhighway, outside of Bangkok, Thailand. I did not want to be here.
Another toilet in Thailand.
Fancy coffee shop toilet, Phnom Penh.
Hammock break, middle of nowhere, Laos.
We camped at what we think was a truck driving school, Vietnam. The night watchman came by to examine our gear and cooking.
Three shakies, in front of the 1000 year old tree, Cu Phuong Nat’l Park, Vietnam
On the road, somewhere in Vietnam
Hotel room, Vietnam.
Another hotel room in Vietnam.
VIP hotel room, Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh Museum; Hanoi, Vietnam.
Yet another hotel room in Vietnam.
Breakfast at a coffee shop in Vietnam.
Three of us sleeping in a guard box at a school in Vietnam. Bikes and everything went inside.
School children accost us in a small town in Vietnam.
Sketchy bridge in Vietnam.
Me in Laos.
Three cool dudes; friends of a high school student who invited us to stay at his house in Laos.
Roadside kids in Laos? Or was it Vietnam?
Up up up, Vietnam.
Temple steps in Thailand.
Breakfast in Thailand with the shakies.
Hammock time, Thailand.
The bike, pre-departure.
Another big tree in Myanmar.
I try to stay away from photography as a purely technical pursuit, but especially in the case of shooting panoramas, how you do it plays a big role in how your panos turn out. Most of the panoramas in this post were taken with the iphone app Photosynth. You take an initial photo, and the app uses GPS and the phone’s accelerometer to create a VR sphere with the camera at the center. Then you can just move the camera around willy nilly, snapping photos at whatever angle and in whichever order you please. When you’re finished, the app attempts to piece together a seamless photo of what you’ve done, and you can even make Quicktime VR files as well.
I’ve really been enjoying making panoramas this way, because I’m able to augment the sense of time and movement that is absent from a single still shot. Check out all the glitchy artifacts and mismatches in the panoramas below; try to imagine the changes and movement that were taking place during the minute or so it took me to shoot each panorama. The photographic process is exposed and thrust in your face, the technology is laid bare, and an aesthetically pleasing image is formed.
Updated!
Abridged Scooters, Rural Vietnam
Kyrgyz Roadscape
Self-portrait of the Cyclist as a Sweaty Man
Green Waters
Lake Stinky, Tajikistan
Shaky with Waterfall, Cherrapunji
Laotian Highway
Multiverse Shaky
Retro Shakies, Vietnam
Older panos:
Me and the crew at a tea shop in India, surrounded by onlookers.
The view from the trash heap at Jamtse Gatsal Community outside of Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.
My bike on a bridge in Myanmar.
Coffee break at a gas station in Thailand.
Misty mountains in Arunachal Pradesh.
360 pano of the highway, during my last few days in Myanmar.
My bike on the road in Northern Vietnam.
Bangkok skyline as seen from Baioke Tower, tallest building in BKK.
Coffee shop in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
Mike the shaky starts heading downhill; Arunachal Pradesh, India.
Big tree in the countryside, Myanmar.
Daniella and I taking a break in our AIRCONDITIONED hotel room, Pye, Myanmar.
Cool bathroom, Thailand.
View from my hammock, Koh Phangan, Thailand.
Din Dang’s permaculture farm; near Ranong, Thailand.
View on the superhighway, outside of Bangkok, Thailand. I did not want to be here.
Another toilet in Thailand.
Fancy coffee shop toilet, Phnom Penh.
Hammock break, middle of nowhere, Laos.
We camped at what we think was a truck driving school, Vietnam. The night watchman came by to examine our gear and cooking.
Three shakies, in front of the 1000 year old tree, Cu Phuong Nat’l Park, Vietnam
On the road, somewhere in Vietnam
Hotel room, Vietnam.
Another hotel room in Vietnam.
VIP hotel room, Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh Museum; Hanoi, Vietnam.
Yet another hotel room in Vietnam.
Breakfast at a coffee shop in Vietnam.
Three of us sleeping in a guard box at a school in Vietnam. Bikes and everything went inside.
School children accost us in a small town in Vietnam.
Sketchy bridge in Vietnam.
Me in Laos.
Three cool dudes; friends of a high school student who invited us to stay at his house in Laos.
Roadside kids in Laos? Or was it Vietnam?
Up up up, Vietnam.
Temple steps in Thailand.
Breakfast in Thailand with the shakies.
Hammock time, Thailand.
The bike, pre-departure.
Another big tree in Myanmar.
