The Growth of Panoramas
The world’s oldest known surviving photograph was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce onto a piece of metal coated with Bitumen of Judea which is a naturally occurring syrian asphalt. The image, though difficult to make out, appears closer to a charcoal drawing than what most people today envision as a photograph. It’s due to Niépce and the innovations of so many that followed him that allows us to have cameras at our fingertips.
Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution - © 1844-1856 Friedrich von Martens
A panoramic silver albumen print ca. 1844-1856. Taken in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century, the photograph is of the Louvre as seen from the opposite bank of the River Seine. A barge floats on the river close to the left bank. In the street there are two horse drawn cariages and one empty parked carriage. Buildings and shops line the street. Two of these buildings, located on adjacent corners, are print shops. One sign reads 'Delauney F. Danlos Editeur.' In the distance the Arc de Triomphe can be seen.
Among those that pioneered the field of photography, Niécpe’s work in the late 1820’s and 30’s was followed by Louis Daguerre who introduced the daguerreotype, (1840) a silver-coated copper plate that allowed for the transfer of highly detailed images.
Daguerre’s method was widely used for 20 years following its creation, but received a handful of modifications as the process was not patented. The most notable of any modification done to the daguerreotype was done by Friedrich von Martens, who curved the plate to 150 degrees to fit his self-made panorama camera. The angle of the film allowed for a wider image with an ability to capture more space than a standard daguerreotype plate. Von Martens would place two or more daguerreotype plates side-by-side to create one large image, thus creating a panorama composed of multiple photographs.
Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution - © 1844-1856 Friedrich von Martens
A panoramic silver albumen print ca. 1844-1856. It is the view from the base of a mountain looking up towards the peak. From the base we see a trail leading up the mountain. There are several wood encampments visable along the way up. In the foreground a patch of land is seperated into different crops. The snow capped summit is in the distance.
His use of the technique transformed the way the world understood photography; at the time photographs of any kind were rarely seen, let alone several, comprised to generate one. Von Martens was fueled by a desire to capture images that realistically portrayed the way in which humans witnessed reality and their surrounding areas and pushed the medium to new heights (and widths).
By 1888, nearly 50 years after von Martens captured his first panoramas, flexible film was introduced and completely revolutionized film and panorama photography. At the turn of the century, the style became quite popular, and cameras were produced specifically to take panoramic images. The works of Niécpe, Daguerre and von Martens paved the path of photography and the panoramic genre for those like Barbara Bosworth who continued to push new elements within the field.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk and Elisa Soykan - © 1993, Barbara Bosworth
Wynoochee Falls, Olympic National Forest, Washington
Bosworth (b. 1953) is an American photographer who primarily works with a large-format, 8x10 view camera to explore the relation between nature and the human element. For a majority of her life, Bosworth was enamored by nature, so naturally her photography highlights outdoor elements, mainly trees. There is constant attempt to tell more than one story, and thus Bosworth looks to shoot wider than her camera will allow. By capturing three images which are subsequently lined up and stitched together, Bosworth creates diptychs and triptychs which are far from the common religious representations. Rather, she spends the majority of her time pushing the boundaries of her images by juxtaposing humans and animals within the fragility of nature.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk and Elisa Soykan - © 1993, Barbara Bosworth
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Unlike von Martens, Bosworth has no need for bent metal plates, and instead opts for a flexible film which is easier to work with in post-production. Though Bosworth’s works do contain an element of natural human error like the spacing between individual images, it is through this spacing that we learn just how perfect each photo must be to line up with another. Any imperfection can immediately be noticed, but it’s thanks to the likes of Niépce and von Martens that Bosworth continued the evolution of the panorama; a continuation that led to you and me having panorama cameras built into our phones, and one that furthers the notion that an image can show viewers more than the eye can take in.
