A panorama is an image that has been ‘stitched together’ from multiple photographs.
In landscape photography, the subject often doesn’t fit into a single shot. In this case, multiple single images can be taken, slightly overlapped and with the wonder of digital processing, a single image may be created from our broken mosaic of photographs. There are a few tricks and a bit of wizardry sometimes, especially when the photographs were not taken correctly; but even then, sometimes the images simply don’t match and our panorama never appears. Other times, the result is seamless and beautiful.
Here is a collection of my favourite panoramic images I have taken over the last few years. These have all been shot on all-mechanical film cameras. No light meters, no electronics, just a little wind up arm and a roll of film.
The beauty of these images is that the full files are quite large, consisting of up to 12 individual shots in some cases. This means these images can be printed BIG!
Enjoy!
-A.S.
Mt Gell Panorama, Tasmania, 2019. Pentax MX, 50mm, Ektar 100.
Arrow Tarn Panorama, Central Highlands, Pentax MX, 50mm, 2021.
Freycinet Panorama, Pentax MX, 2021.
King William Saddle Panorama, Hasselblad 500C/M, 2020.
Wineglass Bay Panorama, 2019. Pentax MX, Ektar 100.
Lake St Clair Panorama, 2019, Pentax MX, Ektar 100. This image is currently displayed at the Lake St Clair Visitor Centre. It is nearly two metres wide.
Lake Pedder Panorama, 2021. Hasselblad 500C/M. This image might look familiar. If you could see through the tannin stained waters of the impoundment, you might be able to make out a beach, hidden below.
Voila! New and old together. The previous image has been merged with Lindsay Hope’s image from 50 years ago before Lake Pedder was flooded, taken from approximately the same location. Note the two different shorelines (old and new) in the image. The mountains just about overlap. The beach on the right hand of the image is 3.5km long and 800m wide. It is the equivalent of three hundred footy ovals in terms of area. It’s patiently waiting beneath the tannin stained waters of the South West.
One day, it will emerge.
This image was printed onto a 6x3m billboard in Hobart earlier this year with the phrase “What was once, will be again” in the middle of it.
If you wish to spend some time down by Lake Pedder this year, why not register for the 2022 Lake Pedder Bioblitz here?