Panoramic Photography by Tom Yanul

PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPHER, CAMERA BUILDER, AND AMATEUR PHOTO HISTORIAN

This page is a catch-all in an attempt to get more searchable areas of my websites. This includes my own panoramic photography, my panoramic home-built cameras, my black & white enlarging of 8x10 to 12x20" negatives for others, and my long interest in the history of photography. The photo shown above is one of many pan cameras that I have built: the practical ones, built mainly for architectural work (especially from higher than grade elevations) are those using either a 7", 81/4" or 91/2" lenses. Films size ranges from 10x20" to 12x25". The largest and most "impractacle" is the "coffee-table model which sports a 21" lens and takes a one by five foot negative. Its better for landscapes, and has a close-up setting which allows me to make a group photo at about 40 feet of a large number of people, similar to those done by revolving cirkut cameras but is limited to about 145 degrees. But its imagery is far superior to that of the cirkut.
Most of my work has been done in Chicago. I have about 800 plus images made mostly in downtown Chicago, mostly from rooftops, during the period 1985 (when I built by first pan camera) to about 1992. The costs and physical toll of working downtown has slowed my pace to a crawl since that time, but it is a premier record of the architecture of the City at that time.

MY PARIS WORK AND HISTORY RESEARCH

Although my work in Paris is small compared to Chicago, I have done enough work there to warrant a one-man exhibition. It was held in 1996 at the gallery of the Bibliotheque Historique de la Ville
de Paris. Prior to that another one person exhibit was held at the gallery of the United States Information Agency in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
That exhibit toured for six months shown in Zagreb and Scopje. It barely made it out of the country as the war began in 1991.

I originally wanted to go to Paris to research the life and times of Frederic von Martens, the panoramic camera inventor of the early 1840's.
Although I have been able to replicate only one of Martens daguerreotype pans, several of my photos in Paris have been quite satisfactory in their execution and feeling. I feel that the high quality large format images are superior cameras for panoramic recording of architecture; used correctly they produce a wealth of detailed information without the absurd proportions of other rotating pan cameras. My goal is not to produce "art" photos, but rather to produce record photography that is also artistic and balanced, although in some cases the goal is sheer record when artistic balance cannot be achieved for some physically limiting factor.

MY OTHER RESEARCH IN PHOTOGRAPHY

For many years I have researched other photographers and their works. These include George R. Lawrence, Charles Dudley Arnold and John J. Gibson. Recently I have put several pages on the web of information regarding C.D. Arnold because it is the 100th anniversary of the Pan-American Exposition and there is considerable interest in that Expo and Arnold's work there and at the Columbian Exposition. I have included links below to that site.
Please feel free to contact me about any and all things.

My Favorite Places

C. D. Arnold, Photographer

Citypan Images




	Panoramic Photography by Tom Yanul



	PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPHER, CAMERA BUILDER, AND AMATEUR PHOTO HISTORIAN This page is a catch-all in an attempt to get more searchable areas of my websites. This includes my own panoramic photography, my panoramic home-built cameras, my black & white enlarging of 8x10 to 12x20" negatives for others, and my long interest in the history of photography. The photo shown above is one of many pan cameras that I have built: the practical ones, built mainly for architectural work (especially from higher than grade elevations) are those using either a 7", 81/4" or 91/2" lenses. Films size ranges from 10x20" to 12x25". The largest and most "impractacle" is the "coffee-table model which sports a 21" lens and takes a one by five foot negative. Its better for landscapes, and has a close-up setting which allows me to make a group photo at about 40 feet of a large number of people, similar to those done by revolving cirkut cameras but is limited to about 145 degrees. But its imagery is far superior to that of the cirkut. Most of my work has been done in Chicago. I have about 800 plus images made mostly in downtown Chicago, mostly from rooftops, during the period 1985 (when I built by first pan camera) to about 1992. The costs and physical toll of working downtown has slowed my pace to a crawl since that time, but it is a premier record of the architecture of the City at that time.

	MY PARIS WORK AND HISTORY RESEARCH Although my work in Paris is small compared to Chicago, I have done enough work there to warrant a one-man exhibition. It was held in 1996 at the gallery of the Bibliotheque Historique de la Ville de Paris. Prior to that another one person exhibit was held at the gallery of the United States Information Agency in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. That exhibit toured for six months shown in Zagreb and Scopje. It barely made it out of the country as the war began in 1991. I originally wanted to go to Paris to research the life and times of Frederic von Martens, the panoramic camera inventor of the early 1840's. Although I have been able to replicate only one of Martens daguerreotype pans, several of my photos in Paris have been quite satisfactory in their execution and feeling. I feel that the high quality large format images are superior cameras for panoramic recording of architecture; used correctly they produce a wealth of detailed information without the absurd proportions of other rotating pan cameras. My goal is not to produce "art" photos, but rather to produce record photography that is also artistic and balanced, although in some cases the goal is sheer record when artistic balance cannot be achieved for some physically limiting factor.

	MY OTHER RESEARCH IN PHOTOGRAPHY For many years I have researched other photographers and their works. These include George R. Lawrence, Charles Dudley Arnold and John J. Gibson. Recently I have put several pages on the web of information regarding C.D. Arnold because it is the 100th anniversary of the Pan-American Exposition and there is considerable interest in that Expo and Arnold's work there and at the Columbian Exposition. I have included links below to that site. Please feel free to contact me about any and all things.

	My Favorite Places C. D. Arnold, Photographer Citypan Images