"America by the Yard"

Terence · Mar 3, 2007

Just found this book at the ICP bookstore in NYC. It's a collection of Cirkut photos, and has some big foldouts. Some is uninspired photography, a lot is documentary, and a couple are just brilliant.

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I have absolutely no affiliation with any of it. just figured some of you Cirkut folks might enjoy it.

Now I'll go back to telling myself I don't need a Cirkut, I don't need a Cirkut, I don't need a Cirkut . . .

c.d.ewen · Mar 4, 2007

Very enjoyable book. It was at the top of my Christmas list. IIRC, these photos are from the author's personal collection.

A fun thing to do is to visit the sites where these photos were taken. I dropped by Dorchester, NH (Plate #16), which is in the middle of nowhere. To my amazement, the buildings in the picture seem to be exactly as they were in 1929.

ps, Terence: Give in. You really do need a Cirkut!

DougGrosjean · May 14, 2007

I recently bough that book, after reading about it here.

Fantastic! A trip through the first half of the 20th century via photos. Thanks!

Others I've shown the book to, photographers and non-shooters alike, have had the same reaction.

Terence · May 14, 2007

It's given me a few ideas for my 8x20 as well. Now if I just had more than one film holder . . .

Vaughn · May 14, 2007

You folks probably already know about this site, but just in case:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/panquery.html

Library of Congress -- searchable by many criteria. Lots of fun! For example I typed in Las Angeles -- t he first image is from 1912 of the LA Motorcycle Club taken in Venice, CA.

vaughn

DougGrosjean · May 15, 2007

Vaughn,

Very nice URL - Thanks!

Doug Grosjean

AgX · May 16, 2007

What intrigues me about that subject is that I don’t know of any photographs made with rotational cameras in that period in Europe. I am not an expert on the history of the application of panoramic cameras, but I only remember seeing photos made with swing-lens cameras in Europe then. Does my memory fail?

Or was the Cirkut-photography rather a North-American thing?

jamie young · May 16, 2007

I think they were much less popular, but when I was visiting my relatives in Egersund, Norway, much to my surprise one of my relatives had a wonderful period cirkut shot of the town hanging in her living room. People were definitely shooting cirkuts around europe at the time. I bet a little poking around would turn up a lot of great shots. America by the yard is a great book. Be fun to see a european version.
Jamie

AgX · May 16, 2007

Egersund... definitely one of the last places I would have expected to find a full circle panorama of (or something like that).
The next time I'll come across those photo historians I'll make that European Cirkut thing an issue.

"America by the Yard"

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