Cirkuts Rule!

[c.d.ewen]

Thanks, Jim Galli, for getting this forum started

 

[Petzi]

Thanks, Jim Galli, for getting this forum started

It was Jim Galli? Thanks for that.

Regarding the title of this thread, why do Cirkuts rule?

 

[c.d.ewen]

Regarding the title of this thread, why do Cirkuts rule?

A bit of hubris. I've always maintained that Cirkuts are the coolest things on three legs. Many have seen the resulting photos; e.g., there's always one or two WWI Doughboy photos in any Cracker Barrel restaurant along the highway. Not everyone has seen one in glorious, whirling, buzzing action, however. A sight to behold!

 

[Petzi]

A bit of hubris. I've always maintained that Cirkuts are the coolest things on three legs. Many have seen the resulting photos; e.g., there's always one or two WWI Doughboy photos in any Cracker Barrel restaurant along the highway. Not everyone has seen one in glorious, whirling, buzzing action, however. A sight to behold!

I must have grown up somewhere else than you because I don't know what you mean by "Doughboy" or "Cracker Barrel restaurant". Thanks for the entertaining post tough.

 

[c.d.ewen]

Ahh, Petzi, I'm guilty of parochialism, thinking all are like me. Please forgive me. And thank you. I had not looked to see where you lived.

Cracker Barrel is a restaurant chain in the US, found along the major Interstate highways. Their menu is meant to suggest home-style Southern US cuisine, which to a Northerner such as myself, seems to mean cooking everything with bacon thrown in. Their walls are full of antiques - vintage kitchen & farm implements, advertisements and photographs.

Doughboys was the vernacular term for American soldiers in World War I, just as English soldiers of the era were called Tommies.

Cirkut cameras were invented (and purchased) for commercial reasons, not artistic ones. Kodak sold them as the 'greatest money making invention' of all time. And, indeed, they were terrific investments. Their particular forte was taking a single picture of a large group of people, and having each of those many people remain identifiable in the resulting print. From the photographer's point of view, it was lucrative to be able to take one picture and then make many, many prints from it. It became popular during WWI to take a picture of any identifiable military unit, and then sell the members of that unit a print. Thus, many thousands of these types of pictures were produced. The most illustrious practitioner of this art was Eugene Goldbeck, who took pictures of groups as large as 20,000. It takes a great deal of skill and planning to do that sort of thing correctly.

 

[rbarker]

Cirkuts rule?

Considering how they work, wouldn't "Cirkuts Protract" (as in protractor) be more accurate?

 

[Petzi]

Ahh, Petzi, I'm guilty of parochialism, thinking all are like me. Please forgive me. And thank you. I had not looked to see where you lived.

Not your fault because I only added my precise location to my profile after your post. Thanks for the interesting Cirkut story. I wish this business model would work today. But it seems pretty hard to motivate people for a large group shot. I know they still do this kind of thing in China.

 

[jamie young]

it tends to be difficult to keep everyones attention for very long.
Having one or more people appear in a cirkut photo by running around is actually a good way to keep people's attention. I shot my daughter's fourth grade class on a field trip, and had the teacher and a lot of the class run around.The teacher was in the shot 4 times by running behind the kids. they had a great time, and it kept their attention for the shot.
Good planning and presetup is also necessary. you don't want to bring the people over till you are mostly ready for them. Also , when you are shooting large groups you have to expect some people looking around. most do pay attention. it's fun to do. I tend to be a bit shy, but after the first hundred people, you have to let go and hope everyone is doing what they are supposed to.
Jamie Young

 

[claytume]

I wish this business model would work today. But it seems pretty hard to motivate people for a large group shot. I know they still do this kind of thing in China.

Petzi

this business model does still work today, it's the main reason why Cirkuts have survived so long. As Jamie says there's a lot of work doing the shot and getting it right but a lot of fun.

Clayton

 

[bill schwab]

Don Cardwell's find. This is one for you cirkut folks...

cirkut print frame

 

[df cardwell]

That showed 'em, Bill.

Wings win in a shootout.

G'night, folks.

d

 

[FoxNewsCritic]

I wish this business model would work today. But it seems pretty hard to motivate people for a large group shot. I know they still do this kind of thing in China.

Also, Cirkuts and other panorama cameras were used for decades at The Capitol, taking photos of high school groups coming to Washington along with their Senator or Congressman, usually lined up in 3-5 rows.

My parents' living room has one of these when my mother's high school class (Morristown (Tennessee) High, class of 1954) travelled to D.C.; and as part of the joke about them being a bunch of hillbillies, the guys in the group were barefoot for the shot.