Time and the panoramic image.

Before spring break, we spoke about panoramas in the context of Solnit’s River of Shadows. The discussion of panoramic images as a sort of motion photography in their own right, because they represent a few different but consecutive moments in time, reminded me of the first panoramic image I was ever challenged to create, back during my senior year of high school. The assignment actually fits very well with the idea of motion photography, because we were asked to include the same three people in each section of the image, so as to make obvious the fact that the panorama was made up of multiple photos (either that or this looks like some bizarre phenomenon of three sets of triplets within one family).

To give a sense of movement and depth, my mom, brother and I are all placed in alternating positions. They were good sports and didn’t get frustrated as I ran to set the timer and instructed them as to where to stand (though my brother refused to put off his sandwich-eating until after the photos, causing he and my mother to argue over getting crumbs on our living room floor as he took a bite in between each image). In a photo I created more recently, with River of Shadows in mind, the question of elapsed time is more subtle:

This image is comprised of three photos taken as the sun was setting, resulting in one side of the photo looking rather light, and the other darker. The sense of time is almost somewhat ironic if the viewer is familiar with Livingston and its constant state of disarray. I was careful to include only a minimal amount of the ground, which is blocked off by that ugly black fence and completely torn up as part of what seems like a never-ending construction plan that makes Livingston virtually unwalkable in bad weather. Regardless, the lighting is beautiful at night.

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