DMD Pano app for iOS and Android

I'm having fun at the moment shooting and uploading panoramic images taken with the Dermandar App.

The App allows you to take either a wide panorama or a 360 degree image which can then be either viewed on the phone or uploaded to their website.

 I uploaded this one that I took in Engelberg.

Here's a link to some of the panoramas I've made so far.
 
It's a fun tool and very simple to use. There's a free version and a paid for one. At the moment, I'm testing the free version.

Thanks for reading.

Silk purses from sow's ears

Sometimes you expect something quite different from what you get when working as a photographer.

Sometimes the client will only allow me (because of security reasons perhaps), a limited time on the premises or maybe I'll only be allowed to photograph an office complex from the inside before it gets finished and the workers move in.

This was the case last April went I drove for one and a half hours to photograph a new office complex. We had been trying for a long time to get permission and finally it had arrived. I was to photograph the new work areas and was told that everything was "more or less ready" and that there was only a few hours to complete the job.

The building looked magnificent from the outside but unfortunately I couldn't photograph it because it was raining very heavily.

No sign of the rain stopping

I met with the architect and went to the building with him. The lifts didn't work so I should have realised that maybe all was not going to be well. I asked him which offices were finished and had our lighting systems installed. He hesitated.

"Well which ones are nearly finished" I asked.

"Maybe on the third floor" He replied.

We tried that particular floor and it was like a building site. There were holes, rubble, boxes and tape everywhere.

The architect made a quick telephone call to the construction foreman and asked where we might find a finished office space.

The sixth floor......................... perhaps.

So up to the sixth floor it was. Me, The architect, a Hasselblad camera case, my rucksack with EOS gear and two tripods. Thank goodness I don't use extra lighting.

I looked around on the sixth floor but and was at first disillusioned with what I saw. Holes everywhere , floor tiles missing and generally lots of rubbish consistent with this being a building site.

Leaving my gear (and the architect) behind, I set off alone to find somewhere that may be usable. I certainly wasn't going to admit defeat and go back to the office empty handed. Finally. One floor above I found a place where the mess wasn't too bad. I took a couple of reference pictures with my mobile phone.

At least the lights were working

For the next hour or so, we tidied up. I put floor panels back, wiped dust off wooden surfaces, swept the carpet and generally did as much as I could so that there wouldn't be too much to do afterwards in Photoshop.

Before and after the clean up (and Photoshop)

All the before images taken with a Samsung Galaxy

A similar problem occurred earlier this month when I was taking pictures in the french part of Switzerland. The company I work for had delivered lots of lights to the Beaulieu Halls in Lausanne. Again this was a work in progress but as I generally only go to that part of the World about once a year, I don't like to go back empty handed so I look at all possibilities.

Our guide (one of the workmen) told me that there were lots of lights installed in the children's area downstairs.

"it's a massive hall with lots of inflatable castles for the children to play on" he said.

"How many is "lots?" I asked"

"About twenty-five or so" he replied.

"And the lights are all working?" I countered.

"Yes" he replied. "Everything is working"

Sounded great. A massive hall, lighting that worked and time to work with because it was our last job of the day.

Except.

Except that NONE of the bouncy castles were inflated.

Going to be one of those jobs

After an initial disappointment I decided to work with what I had. The deflated castles, would, I decided add a splash of colour to the images.

Here I tried to fill some of the frame

with colour

More colour and a centre of interest

for the picture

So despite my initial misgivings, all it normally takes is a quick pause for thought plus (sometimes) some cleaning up and there you have it. A usable image.

Thanks for reading.

Tom

Timing.............. or the lack of it

Timing, meaning everything from pre-planning to arriving on time to being at the correct spot to get the image, in photography, is everything.

Last weekend I displayed a singular lack of any sense of timing.

As you may have read I prepared to photograph the traditional  Gansabhäut in the town of Sursee in Switzerland (for exact details refer to the previous post).

I've been meaning to photograph it ever since I came to Switzerland in 1995 but things always seemed to happen that prevented me from making the journey.

This year I made all the arrangements. I researched the event, and telephoned the event organiser, the extremely helpful and very knowledgeable Mr Michael Blatter from Sursee council.

He informed me that this year, one hundred and eleven people of all ages from 15 to 70 years old had registered. Each person would only get one attempt at separating the goose from its head. There would be two geese. Last year it had taken about one and a half hours until the second goose was cut free.

The event was scheduled to begin at one o’clock with speeches etc and a procession of guild members carrying the two geese. My interest lay however with the actual main part of the proceedings i.e. the goose whacking.

I left my house in plenty of time and was sure of arriving at about three o’clock. Getting caught in traffic and then having to find a parking space a bit away from the event meant that I turned up 35 minutes late at the town hall. I was confident however that all would be good. Last year’s event had taken ninety minutes right?

Years ago, when I worked as a press photographer, I was told always to take a quick picture at a news scene upon arrival. This ensures that you have a picture, in case anything happens such as being told to leave.

With this in mind, I popped my head trough the door and took a long telephoto shot of one of the contestants lining up his aim. Not a great pic as his left arm is obscuring his mask / face. But I had at least one pic, should anything untoward happen.

 My establishing shot

Eos7d 70 -200 zoom

I went back inside to find Mr Blatter and heard a tremendous cheer from the assembled crowd. Spinning round and exiting through the door, I saw the goose’ body lying on the ground. I snapped several pics and said to one of the press photographers standing next to me

“So that’s the first one gone”

“No” he replied. “That was the second one”

I couldn’t believe it. I’d missed the action!

I learnt from the photographer that the first goose had been knocked down after the seventh participant whacked it.

The second goose had gone after the first person hit it!

All was not not lost however. Another thing that doing press photography teaches you is that there are always other images to be made. Thinking about this, I set about taking other images from the event. Pole climbing (Stangechlädere), ugly face contest (Chäszänne), where the winners get a slice of cheese, and the combined sack race (Sackgompe) & sausage eating contest were recorded by my cameras and these images will go to a slide library of traditional Swiss folklore events.

 Ugly faces rewarded with cheese

The pole climbing

 Combined sack race and sausage eating

 

 Town square

As for the main event. I'll definitely be back next year!

Thanks for reading

Abroad in my own land.

My holiday this year is in the Italian region of Switzerland. It's like being abroad in my own land. Everything is different. The language, the food and the attitude. Only the currency is the same. So much to see, explore and photograph.