exhibited, reflecting a continuing interest in the form
that had proven to be one of the most popular enter-
tainments of the nineteenth century. Landscapes and
aerial views dominated, although large group shots
were also popular, even in the early years of the cen-
tury; George Lawrence, known for his extraordinary
aerial panorama of the aftermath of the Great San
Francisco Earthquake in 1906, captured several nota-
ble indoor and outdoor crowd shots, such asGreat
American Handicap, c. 1907. Miles Weaver’s panora-
mas of beauty contests, such asVenice Bathing Beauty
Pageant, 1926, show the technical advances that
allowed more refined group portraits two decades later.
However, with the introduction of Kodak’s
mass-produced Panoram camera in 1899, which
captured a 142field of view, the medium was at
once within reach of the amateur enthusiast. For a
time, panoramic photography was extremely pop-
ular with non-professionals since the Panoram did
not need a complex tripod and also had the advan-
tage of using roll film. British-born Alfred Hind
Robinson (1864–1950) regarded panoramic photo-
graphy as strictly a hobby but produced thousands
of exceptional images between 1903 and 1930 using
his trusty clockwork Kodak Panoram No. 4 cam-
era, which used 124-inch nitrate film and pro-
duced a 180sweep. Another master of the Kodak
Panoram was Czech-born Josef Sudek (1896–1976)
whose views of Prague are renowned. Like Robin-
son, Sudek preferred to produce his photographs
as contact prints as opposed to enlargements, thus
retaining detail and tonal range. What marks
Robinson’s and Sudek’s work is not only their
excellent compositions but the high technical qual-
ity—the relatively cheap, mass-produced cameras
like the Panoram tended toward distortion—and it
is a testament to these photographers’ skill that
they were able to produce such excellent results
with such basic equipment.
Other cameras popular around the turn of the
twentieth century included the Conley Panoramic
Camera, the Al-Vista, and the Kodak Cirkut camera,
patented in 1904. Frederick W. Brehm, a photogra-
phy instructor and technician employed by Eastman
Kodak, is generally credited with developing the
prototypes and early versions of what became the
Cirkut, which he used to make historic panoramas
of the U.S. capital, including a 20 foot long, 360
degree panorama. Unlike the Panoram, the Cirkut
used large format film ranging from 5 to 16 inches
and capable of producing prints up to 20 feet long.
The Cirkut also came with its own special tripod,
which housed the negative film. This camera was
largely the preserve of the commercial photographic
market to produce cityscapes and large group por-
traits As the Cirkut traveled in an arc on its tripod, to
produce a group that seemed to be normally
arranged, either in a line or a block, the photographer
had to carefully arrange his subjects in a correspond-
ing arc to correct for distortion.
As the twentieth century progressed, the appeal of
panoramic photography declined—the invention of
the 35 mm format Leica camera in the late 1920s and
the resultant rise of photojournalism certainly has-
tened the demise of the panoramic, which was seen
increasingly as a novelty in a world where reportage
capturing the immediate was all the rage. The wane
in popularity of the panoramic was relatively short-
lived, however, and the post World War II period
witnessed a resurgence of interest. This interest con-
tinued to grow as large format landscape and art
photography became more and more an integral
part of the photographic spectra. The panoramic
view also became increasingly popular among nature
photographers in the late decades of the century.
Fine arts photographers who created panoramic
photographs include Art Sinsabaugh (1924–1983),
who trained at Chicago’s Institute of Design and
specialized in views of the flat Midwestern landscape
made with a 1220-inch banquet camera, Charles
Traub, a student of Sinsabaugh’s, Josef Koudelka,
and Mark Klett.
In addition, there was still demand for panoramic
photography from the commercial market—particu-
larly where large group shots were needed. Indeed,
those who remember having their school photograph
taken may also recall the prospect of a student appear-
ing twice in the same photograph. As the panoramic
camera swept from one end of the group to the other,
a student would stand at one end, then run to the
other before the camera completed its sweep, thus
appearing as his or her identical twin in the shot—
often referred to as the ‘‘pizza-run’’ in the business.
The continued popularity and interest in the med-
ium may be attributed to the fact that a panorama
captures the way we actually view the world where
the human field of vision is wider than it is high.
However, up until recently the mechanics of panora-
mic photography meant it was still difficult—and
expensive—for the amateur to compete with the pro-
fessional, thus keeping the art within the realms of an
elite few. Film cameras such as the Widelux and
Horizont as well as the Hulcher and Globus were
all capable of producing excellent results but finding
a photo-laboratory that could produce prints from
35-mm negatives or positives longer than 8 inches
was another matter. The advent of the digital age,
given that most digital cameras are now equipped
with a panoramic setting as standard, has revolutio-
nised and invigorated the genre. The relative ease ofPANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPHY