wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Future of the World Wide Panorama - Themes
G. Donald Bain 2004-Jul-27 18:22:00
Future of the World Wide Panorama - Part Two
I think it will be important to make each new WWP event unique -- a
distinctive name, an intriguing topic. In other words, a theme.
This will help with publicity - to the press it will be something new,
not just "another world wide panorama". I envision "Horizons and Skies
- a World Wide Panorama"; "Music -- a World Wide Panorama"; "Bridges --
a World Wide Panorama"; etc. Each event publicizes the others and
together they build an ever more valuable resource. Each event will
stand alone, but eventually we will want an overall directory listing
all panos by name, location, etc.
Well chosen themes can inspire us to new levels of creativity. A
subject you might not normally approach might yield a great pano. The
disparate ways in which participants will interpret the themes will add
to the interest of the event.
I have two basic criteria that must by met by any theme to be
appropriate for our group and technology.
First, it must be universal, both geographically and culturally. For
example, I would love to do a theme of "mountains", but that might not
be fair to potential participants in Louisiana, Florida, Holland, etc.
Each theme should ideally have both indoors and outdoors examples.
Second, it should be broad enough to allow lots of room for creativity.
More of a suggestion, an inspiration, than a strict rule. There should
also be some degree of ambiguity in the topic. Some people will want to
use a strict interpretation, others will use it as a metaphor.
So here are some possible themes I came up with on my long drive home
from Canada. Comments on them, please, and suggestions for more.
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Water
Rivers, lakes, waterfalls, hot tubs, bath tubs, ruins of a Roman bath,
fountains, springs, snow, rain, beaches, coasts, open ocean,
irrigation, pipes, canals, filtration plants, rain, steam, garden
ponds, swimming pools...
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Food and Drink
Family dinner, picnic, restaurant kitchen, winery, vineyard, small
farm, crops in the field, bakery, street market, fish market, fishing
boats, grain elevators, micro-breweries, mega-breweries, inside a
refrigerator, store shelves, an Edward Weston pepper as an object
movie...
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Nature
Everything from a goldfish bowl to a safari park, back yard to
wilderness.
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Horizons and Skies
City skylines, trees against the sky, storm clouds, sunsets/sunrises.
Technically it suggests perhaps a hemispheric rather than either
cylindrical or cubic approach.
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Teach the Children
Each of us teach VR to a group of students, then take them out on the
appointed weekend and help each to produce a VR. It could be our own
families. Young children with a lot of help, high school or college
students with more autonomy. It could even be a group of teachers, who
will then pass it on to their classes.
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Agriculture
Agricultural landscapes, farmers, dairies, vineyards, orchards, banana
plantations, farm machinery, laborers, farm buildings...
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Small Worlds
Requires imagination... Children and their view of the world. Panoramas
taken very close to the ground. Dolls, model railroads, miniature towns
and landscapes. Desktop clutter. In the middle of a game board (chess
pieces, monopoly houses). A panorama taken through a microscope (would
that be possible?)
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Transportation
Planes, trains, automobiles, stations, highways, subways, elevated
railways, trails, flights of steps, spiral staircase, canals,
sailboats, ferries, cruise ships, bicycles, bike race, car race, horse
race, donkey cart, elephant, classic cars, steam trains, traffic jam...
-----
Quest for Knowledge
Schools, colleges, research institutes, libraries, museums, students,
teachers, researchers, home library, computer lab...
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Home
Each of us share a glimpse into our home? ...or maybe somebody else's.
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Communication
Here's an ambiguous one -- can be either something concrete, like a
telephone switchboard, or metaphorical: are we communicating?
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Preserved for Posterity
Parks, stately homes, objects in a museum, dedicated bench, fountain,
old town street, palace, natural landscapes, wildlife reserves, family
heirlooms.
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Energy
Wide open -- from power plants to people with energy.
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Music
Concert halls, concerts in parks, coffeehouses, groups of friends,
instruments in a museum or home, piano lessons, recital, church choir,
band in parade, statues of composers. Also places in songs: Standin' on
a corner in Winslow Arizona; I left my heart in San Francisco, the Blue
Danube Waltz.
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Arts and Artists/Arts and Crafts
The people, their work, their workplaces, where they sell, displays in
museums, public art...
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Monuments
From the obvious (Nelson's Column) to the metaphorical: a monument to
...
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To Everything There Is a Season
Highly metaphorical. "To everything there is a season, and a time for
every purpose under heaven... a time to build up, a time to break down,
a time to be born, a time to die, a time to cast away stones, a time to
gather stones together... a time to love, a time to hate, a time for
peace, a time for war, a time that you may embrace, a time to refrain
from embracing..." (That's all I can remember)
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Ancient Places
Bronze age stones, Anasazi ruins, Meso-American cities, petroglyphs and
pictographs, museums, old churches, Greek and Roman ruins, pagodas and
temples, tombs, catacombs, scenes of ones childhood.
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Bridges
Actual bridges (Golden Gate, London) and metaphorical bridges. Japanese
garden bridges, city park bridges, high tech modern bridges, pedestrian
overpasses, freeway interchanges, the bridge of a ship...
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High Technology
It's all around us, but how to make an interesting panorama of it?
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Sports
Personally I have zero interest in sports, but most people are very
interested, and I have to admit there is plenty of material. Everything
from little kids to professional teams, neighborhood playing fields and
schoolyards to huge commercial complexes. I guess I could photograph an
empty stadium...
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A Moment in Time (Landis' suggestion)
Everyone shoot at the same exact moment, even though it will be the
middle of the night some places - like the original Wrinkle in Time.
Or everyone shoot at the same o'clock in their time-zone. Or both, your
choice, do both times and get two panoramas on the site.
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Obviously some of these are better than others. Please post your
opinions, and suggestions for additional themes (with a little
explanation), to the #removed# list.
Don