the Bristol, England Balloon Fiesta photographed on a c1890s camera – courtesy of BBC News
Toronto. Over a century ago, cameras were made to take a very wide, ‘panorama’, photo. Kodak made some with a lens that swings in a 180 degree arc and the famous geared version (Cirkut) that rotated the entire camera nearly 360 degrees.
Like all fads, panorama photos tended to come and go. Every one has seen a group photograph taken with the Cirkut camera. It was a popular way to record school students, workers, organizations, etc. In film’s dying years, Kodak and other film makers tried to replace 110 film with APS film and cameras. With APS, the user could specify format, including panorama (cropping the top and bottom areas of a negative). It didn’t catch on.
Nowadays people can set their digital camera or smart phone to ‘panorama’ and carefully scan the scene in the direction shown on the camera screen and at the correct speed to create a modern digital panorama photo – without need for a tripod!
Recently my good friend, George Dunbar, discovered this article in the BBC News written by Clara Bullock. The article describes how Simon Williams photographed the Bristol Balloon Fiesta with an 1890s camera. Two different cameras are illustrated in the article, one obviously a swinging lens design.
Our ESTATE AUCTION next month is an ideal time for you to augment your collection! And hard on its heels on October 15th will be our annual Fall Fair.
