Sunday, May 22, 2011

Urban sprawl


A city reaches for the sky
Toronto, ON, March 2011
Please click here for more aerial Thematic goodness

I don't often shoot panoramas, largely because they're the kind of scenes that lie toward the extreme end of the photographic subject bell curve.

That and I have memories of those old, throwaway panorama film cameras that were all the rage when I was, oh, 11 years-old. The pictures that resulted were little more than badly cropped, horridly blown up, optically ridiculous compositions that really could have been shot with a conventional camera. But because they were "panoramas", I was forced to sit politely while my hosts insisted I ooh and ahh over how wonderful the wide-view of Aunt Martha's garden was.

Truth of the matter, Aunt Martha wasn't a great gardener. And anything with "Aunt Martha" and "wide-view" in the same thought-space was really best left to the imagination. Or nothing at all. Because not everything should be recorded on film. Or memory card.

I'm kinda thinking Toronto by air is the exception. It's the biggest city we've got in this country, and it sprawls not-quite-randomly back and out from its lakeside downtown core, just the kind of progression best seen from the sky. As a continuation of this scene, I think it tells another chapter of the story I got to read from above on that late afternoon.

Your turn: Do you do the panorama thing? Why/why not?

5 comments:

Kalei's Best Friend said...

I edit my macros in panoramic form.. I find it gives the best detail to a macro shot...I do agree w/your opening sentence a typical panoramic does tend to do that.

young-eclectic-encounters said...

I remember the panarama cameras, I had one. I seldom used that mode as mine could switch between panarama and regular size. there just not that much that warrents that kind of view. Even though I could use it with my camera and editing software i find I can get so much more from the reg format. But I do agree some like your ariel view deserve the wide view; it is just not my thing

Anonymous said...

Toronto looks impressive in this format!
I have a panorama feature on my camera which allows me to take multiple pictures and line them up in panorama form. I've only used it a few times and it was very successful with a true panoramic view (Shenandoah National Park). Before that, I did my best with a regular camera and lined the photos up (Grand Canyon) in an album.
Aunt Martha's garden? I'd rather take macros.

CAM said...

I do not shoot panoramas, mostly because they are too much work. I do have a function on my point-and-shoot that lets you "seam" together 3 different shots to get a panorama, but never really taken the time to figure it out.

darlin said...

I love your description of Aunt Martha, I can see it now! lol I don't even know how to take a panoramic shot so I'm out of the running, I stick to what I know for now and one day I might have time to learn more about photography. For now thanks for the chuckle about your Aunt! Enjoy your day Carmi.