Panography

Reflecting on yesterday’s tutorial with Holger Pooten, I decided to do some research into some photographers and artists that use panography within their work. There are many ways that a 360º panorama can be captured and displayed, some of which are inventive and particularly eye-catching.

Mareen Fischinger

Mareen Fischinger is a German photographer and has a passion for everything that involves photography. As well as being a photographer, Fischinger is also involved with photo production services for national and international clients, including art direction, casting, booking of make-up/hair & styling, location scouting and retouching services. Her panographic images caught my attention, not only because they are aesthetically beautiful but because they are abstract in their nature and they have made me think about the other ways in which I can approach my work when shooting a landscape scene.

© Mareen Fischinger

© Mareen Fischinger

© Mareen Fischinger

The first image reminds me of one of my own images that I shall be using for my final assessment. My image also contains office buildings which are similar in their architectural style and I also have a crane present within my image.

As I had some images with me during the Photoshop tutorial, Holger suggested that I played around with these to experiment working in a similar style. We kept the images in a sphere shape (in keeping with my stereographic images) but in hindsight I think that the experiment would have looked better laid out from left to right.

Experiment with Holger

Image created with the help of Holger Pooten. Images © Richard Brochu-Williams

Holger showed me new techniques and methods within Photoshop that will come in very useful for future experimentations & creations.

Sven Fennema

Whilst researching I came across another photographer & artist by the name of Sven Fennema. Sven has an interest in landscape and architectural photography and is inspired by the geometry of buildings, their shapes and their lines. I have noticed that on his website he has also included panoramic tours, this is something that I experimented with back in April this year but I was unable to upload the tour that I created to this blog.

© Sven Fennema

Virtual Tours

Virtual Tours 2

I have also looked into the work of David Hockney, who also has created landscapes from multiple images. Due to copyright I cannot post any of his work to this blog but his images can be viewed on his website.

What I like about the images that I have found during my investigation, is the fact that they are stitched together rather crudely and not seamlessly (with the exception of Sven Fennema) and in my opinion this adds to the aesthetic properties of the image and creates an illusion of texture. This is definitely a technique that I will be experimenting with in the future. It’s a shame that I do not have enough time to experiment with this technique fully at the present time, as I feel that I could have produced some good work from using these methods.

References

4rtgallery.blogspot.com, (2014). Simply Creative: Panography by Mareen Fischinger. [online] Available at: http://4rtgallery.blogspot.com/2013/06/panography-by-mareen-fischinger.html [Accessed 5 Aug. 2014].

Hockneypictures.com, (2014). DAVID HOCKNEY. [online] Available at: http://www.hockneypictures.com [Accessed 6 Aug. 2014].

Mareen Fischinger Fotografie, (2014). Mareen Fischinger Fotografie. [online] Available at: http://mareenfischinger.com/places/panography/ [Accessed 5 Aug. 2014].

Sven Fennema – Fine Art Photography | Panorama – Fotografie, (2012). 360° Panography. [online] Available at: http://www.sven-fennema.de/panography/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2014].

Wikipedia, (2014). Panography. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panography [Accessed 6 Aug. 2014].

Schlumberger Gould Research Centre

Today I took a walk to the Schlumberger Gould Research Centre to do a shoot for my project. I chose to go today, as I had the opportunity to go there at the optimal shooting time (between 12pm-3pm) and the weather was suitable. I am hoping to obtain a good enough set of panoramic images for stitching into a panorama. The Schlumberger building is an interesting looking building and despite living only a mile away from it and seeing it on a daily basis, I had absolutely no idea what the function of the building was or what it was used for until I did some research afterwards.

“The Schlumberger Gould Research Center (SGR) on the western outskirts of Cambridge, England, is a distinctive marquee-like structure housing multidisciplinary research teams of more than 100 scientists and technicians. Research focuses on drilling, chemistry, fluid mechanics, and seismics, through a combination of theory, experiment, and computational simulation.

Founded in 1982 as Schlumberger Cambridge Research under the leadership of Bernard Vivet, the center was renamed as Schlumberger Gould Research at an inauguration ceremony on October 4th, 2012 in recognition of the retiring Chairman and CEO, Andrew Gould, and his career long commitment to research and development.

With a strengthened focus on drilling, the company is now embarking on the development of the integrated drilling technologies needed in the future to produce oil and gas safely, efficiently, and with the required environmental care. The Schlumberger Gould Research Center is expanding to become the primary company research facility for these developments.”

(Slb.com, 2014)

Charles Babbage Road, Location of Schlumberger Building © Richard Brochu-Williams

Schlumberger Building © Richard Brochu-Williams

I took several panoramas whilst visiting the Schlumberger Building and I am hoping that I will be able to produce a good image from these. I will be editing and stitching tomorrow.

References

Slb.com, (2014). Gould Research Center, Schlumberger. [online] Available at: http://www.slb.com/about/rd/research/sgr.aspx [Accessed 27 Jul. 2014].

Kirby Muxloe

I have been taking advantage of the good weather that we have been having and I travelled to Leicestershire to practice some more panoramic shots. This shoot was not the urban landscape that I have been photographing of late but it was a good opportunity for me to practice my technique and to keep myself familiar with the software that I am using. I find that if I do not do this on a regular basis, when I come back to use the software, it takes me twice as long to achieve my desired results because I have forgotten how to do certain things. By regularly practising, I become accustomed to what I am doing and I find that I work more efficiently.

Kirby Muxloe has a wonderful castle and this was the setting for this shoot. I really enjoy visiting castles and I am enticed by the architecture. The sense of history and what has gone on inside these magnificent constructions really draws me in.

The well known British proverb “An Englishman’s home is his castle” meaning: An English person’s home is a place where they may do as they please and from which they may exclude anyone they choose, strikes a chord with me and I think that my castle images work well with the stereographic format, as this provides an environment of it’s own for the castle, suggesting further that not only is the castle a place of privacy but it can be encapsulated in it’s own little world, providing a kind of private retreat.

I am continuing to photograph castles alongside my urban landscapes and I shall be comparing the two, to see which images have produced the best results.

Kirby Muxloe Castle, 360º Equirectangular Panorama, © Richard Brochu-Williams

Kirby Muxloe Castle, Stereographic Projection © Richard Brochu-Williams

I was pleased with the results that I achieved during the weekend at both Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire & Rickney’s Quarry, Hertfordshire. It was certainly a productive weekend.

References

Oxforddictionaries.com, (2014). an Englishman’s home is his castle: definition of an Englishman’s home is his castle in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). [online] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/an-englishman’s-home-is-his-castle [Accessed 22 Jul. 2014].

Hatfield House Picnic

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a picnic, if not a little hot. We had the pleasure of meeting up in the park at Hatfield House and setting up a picnic to be photographed. This was a side project and was not strictly related to the work that we were producing for our final major project but it enabled us to bond as a group and gave us the opportunity to try and incorporate some of the styles, methodologies and techniques that we would be using within our major project. I decided to capture a 360º panoramic shot of Hatfield House and project this as a stereographic image.

Hatfield House – Stereographic © Richard Brochu-Williams

Hatfield House – Equirectangular © Richard Brochu-Williams

This was also a good opportunity to capture more images to form part of our Instagram mini project (#picnicification). These can be seen below and also viewed at instagram.com/brochuwilliamsphotography.

All images © Richard Brochu-Williams. All rights reserved.

When we had finished our picnic, I took a walk around the gardens of Hatfield House and took some photographs. There were plenty of sculptures to see and I was pleasantly surprised with how big the gardens actually were.

Picnic

Hatfield House

Entrance to West Gardens

Hatfield House

Hatfield House

Hatfield House

Rose in the West Garden

Sculpture

Sculpture

Water Fountain

Water Fountain

Albert Renger-Patzch

Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). Renger-Patzsch was born in Würzburg and began making photographs by the age of 12. In the early 1920s he worked as a press photographer for the Chicago Tribune before becoming a freelancer and, in 1925, publishing a book, The choir stalls of Cappenberg. A second book followed in 1928, Die Welt ist schön (The World is Beautiful). This is his best-known book and is a collection of one hundred of his photographs in which natural forms, industrial subjects and mass-produced objects are presented with the clarity of scientific illustrations. Renger-Patzsch believed that the value of photography was in its ability to reproduce the texture of reality, and to represent the essence of an object.

He wrote: “The secret of a good photograph—which, like a work of art, can have esthetic qualities—is it’s realism … Let us therefore leave art to artists and endeavor to create, with the means peculiar to photography and without borrowing from art, photographs which will last because of their photographic qualities.” 

Schmied 1978, p. 86.

© Albert Renger-Patzch

© Albert Renger-Patzch

These images are reminiscent to those that were created by Bernd & Hilla Becher, in the way that they capture architecture and buildings within the landscapes. Again, these images give me more inspiration when thinking about the possible landscapes and architecture that could be included within my own set of images. These images have a lovely quality to them and seem to be rich in texture, I believe that this is due to the fact that they were shot on film.

References

Encyclopedia Britannica, (2014). Albert Renger-Patzsch (German photographer). [online] Available at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/498113/Albert-Renger-Patzsch [Accessed 11 Jul. 2014].

Juxtapoz.com, (2014). Juxtapoz Magazine – The photography of Albert Renger-Patzsch. [online] Available at: http://www.juxtapoz.com/photography/the-photography-of-albert-renger-patzsch [Accessed 11 Jul. 2014].

Tate.org.uk, (2014). Albert Renger-Patzsch | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/albert-renger-patzsch [Accessed 11 Jul. 2014].

Bernd & Hilla Becher

Bernhard “Bernd” Becher and Hilla Becher were German artists who worked as a collaborative duo, as well as being partners professionally, they were also married. They are best known for their large collection of photographic images, or typologies, of industrial buildings and structures. Sadly Bernd died in 2007.

Their work is of interest to me, since I have been looking at photographing alternative landscapes and have also done a photo shoot at Sizewell, which is home to the 2 nuclear power stations, Sizewell A & B. I hope to be doing another photo shoot in the near future at another power station, as I was pleased with the results I obtained on my last shoot. By looking at other artists and photographers who work with alternative landscapes and industrial structures, it is enabling me to look at landscapes in a whole new light and allowing me to come up with new ideas whilst producing new images for myself.

© Bernd & Hilla Becher

© Bernd & Hilla Becher

© Bernd & Hilla Becher

© Bernd & Hilla Becher

Bernd and Hilla Becher. Winding Towers, Belgium, Germany. 1971–91. Gelatin silver prints, each 15 3/4 x 12 1/8″ (40 x 30.8 cm). Lent by Hilla Becher. Courtesy Sonnabend Gallery, New York. © Hilla Becher

References

B & H Becher, (2014). Winding Towers, Belgium, Germany. 1971–91. [image] Available at: http://www.moma.org/images/dynamic_content/exhibition_page/14497.jpg?1404310817 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2014].

Getty.edu, (2014). Bernd and Hilla Becher (Getty Museum). [online] Available at: http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1813 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2014].

Moma.org, (2014). MoMA | Bernd and Hilla Becher: Landscape/Typology. [online] Available at: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/95 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2014].

Tate.org.uk, (2014). Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bernd-becher-and-hilla-becher-718 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2014].

Cambridge American Cemetery (Madingley)

Landscape / Architectural Photography

Cambridge American Cemetery

Graves

Cambridge American Cemetery

Grave

View Towards Visitors Building

72ft Flagpole & American Flag

The Great Mall

Farmland Adjacent to Cemetery

All images © Richard Brochu-Williams, 2013. All rights reserved.

Yesterday I decided to go on a walk with my camera and capture some more landscape images. I chose to go to the American Cemetery, Madingley, Cambridge, as it is a beautiful place that is surrounded by lovely countryside. Once inside the cemetery I found myself being drawn not to the countryside but to the wonderful architecture within the cemetery grounds. So I started out with landscape images in mind but decided to photograph the buildings and other objects that surrounded me.

Memorial Exterior Door

Memorial Interior Door

Memorial Interior

Memorial Interior

Memorial Interior

Maps

Map

All images © Richard Brochu-Williams, 2013. All rights reserved.

Inside the Memorial War Building there were stained glass replicas of the Seals of the States of the Union arranged from left to right in the order that they entered the union.

All images © Richard Brochu-Williams, 2013. All rights reserved.

I must have spent over an hour at the cemetery, it was peaceful and nobody else was around, except a grounds maintenance guy. This gave me the opportunity to reflect and think about my surroundings and be able to work uninterrupted. The temperature must have been close to 1°C, it was cold and I could see my breath, but I was amazed to see that there were a number of red roses that were still in bloom.

Polyantha Rose
© Richard Brochu-Williams, 2013

Polyantha Rose
© Richard Brochu-Williams, 2013

I also took a picture of the exterior of the Memorial Building. The building itself is beautiful and what really sets it off when viewing it from afar are the 2 giant reflecting pools, one leading up to the Memorial Building and the other to the 72ft flagpole. I produced a stereographic image.

Stereographic Projection of Memorial Building
© Richard Brochu-Williams

These were the kinds of images that I set out to produce and along the way I realised that I was able to combine landscape and architecture within my images, as architecture is part of the landscape.

Mall Wall

Statue

Statue

72ft Flagpole

All images © Richard Brochu-Williams, 2013. All rights reserved.

Linhof 5×4 Camera

Linhof 5×4

Linhof Manual

As an MA Photography student I am quite embarrassed to say that I have never used a 5×4 format camera until today. It was an eye opening experience and I only managed to take one picture due to the sheer amount of time that it took to set up but hopefully the end image will have been worth the effort. The picture was not of anything grand, just an image of the outside of one of the university buildings but the whole point of todays session was not to capture an award winning photo, just simply to experiment with the equipment. Hopefully I will be developing the negative tomorrow…fingers crossed that it comes out.

We also learned about tilt shift and how this is beneficial to architectural photography and also learned about the scheimpflug principle.

Scheimpflug principle

Diagram of The Sheimpflug Principle

The Scheimpflug principle is a geometric rule that describes the orientation of the plane of focus of an optical system (such as a camera) when the lens plane is not parallel to the image plane. It is commonly applied to the use of camera movements on a view camera.

Front of Linhof Camera

Front of Linhof Camera Showing Aperture & Shutter Speed Values

Side View of Linhof Camera

The above images show the sheer size of the camera. Obviously this camera is most suited to be used with a tripod.

Film That Has Been Inserted

Case with Film Inserted Ready to go onto Camera

The film has to be inserted into the case in complete darkness, the first image shows how the film is inserted into the case but this was just a practice strip so it did not matter that it was being exposed to the light. You will notice the 3 holes on the bottom left hand side, this enables you to know which way the film is to be inserted correctly, ensuring that the emulsion side is facing up.

Lights, Camera , Action (Out on Location)

Innovation Centre | University of Hertfordshire

On Location

On Location

An interesting and informative afternoon. It would be good to work with the 5×4 format camera at a later stage but next time to photograph something other than the buildings around the university. Looking forward to seeing the results tomorrow.