Four cameras point outwards from a compact rig. The arrangement is a useful clue to Vincent Brady’s Planetary Panoramas: the film is built to gather a much wider view than a single conventional frame.
The projection changes the world’s shape
The creator’s night-sky time-lapse, with music by Brandon McCoy, combines panoramic imagery with a circular presentation. The ground can appear to curl into a small planet as the sky moves around it.
That effect comes from the way the imagery is assembled and projected. It is not a literal view of a small spherical mountain or a demonstration of Earth’s curvature at the scale of a campsite.
Compare movement in the subject and the camera
Time-lapse makes gradual change visible, while the panorama changes how space is read. Our Dustin Farrell archive feature considers the first idea. For a different relationship between camera and landscape, explore an eagle-mounted camera sequence, where the viewpoint itself travels through the scene. For a still-image comparison, see Mammut’s circular Jungfrau portrait.
For the same northern sky organised around people and viewing structures, explore Kwon O Chul’s Aurora Village photographs.
The camera rig explains the visual idea
The rig photograph supplies a useful companion to the finished panorama. Four outward-facing cameras suggest the breadth of material being gathered before it is assembled into a circular presentation. The result is not simply a wider version of an ordinary photograph: the projection changes how ground and sky relate within the frame. Looking at the equipment first can make the apparent tiny planet less mysterious, while leaving the creative effect just as enjoyable when the sequence begins to move.
The circular projection gives the time-lapse two kinds of movement to work with. Changes in the scene happen within a view that has already reorganised the ground and sky into an unfamiliar shape. Compare the recognisable details near the centre with the way the horizon wraps around them. Brady’s imagery and Brandon McCoy’s music make that unusual perspective into a sequence with its own pace.
Sources, photography and further reading
Original feature and image attributions:
- Vincent Brady
- Life Buzz
- Toroidal Sky – The First Ever 360-Degree Time-lapse Bends Space And Mind
- A Man Filmed Heaven For 7 Days. What He Saw Took My Breath Away.
- You’ll Never Believe What This Family Saw in the Sky Outside Their House in Finland.
- creator’s night-sky time-lapse
- Dustin Farrell archive feature
- an eagle-mounted camera sequence
- Mammut’s circular Jungfrau portrait
- Kwon O Chul’s Aurora Village photographs
nice
ReplyDelete