World's Largest B&W Photo unveils in Pasadena on 9/06

Silverhead · Sep 4, 2007

Hey guys,

Just in case some of you fellow Southern Californians have missed it, the Great Picture Project (a.k.a. the World's Largest B&W Photograph) will be going on display at Art Center in Pasadena this Thursday, Sept. 6th. It will be on display through September 29th. For those of you unfamiliar with the Great Picture, it measures 31 1/2' x 107.5', and is now in the Guinness Book of World Records. Here's a local TV station's story (it even has a video link):

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=5625017

Hope to see some of you there.

Justin Cormack · Sep 4, 2007

confusing story (sloppy journalism?) - I remember when they made the neg, with the pinhole in the hangar. Whats this about using a digital camera to make a positive?

If you can do it once in a pinhole, surely you can contact print a positive through it? And if not what are they showing?

Silverhead · Sep 4, 2007

AKAIK, they made the digital positive because...well, just how does one successfully make a 32'x108' contact print? If you can imagine the enormous amount of effort that it must have taken to make the original negative, I think it's pretty understandable that they made the smaller digital print for display purposes. After all, it's hard enough to find a place big enough to show such a gigantic photo element (the negative)...just where are you going to find the space to display two?

Terence · Sep 4, 2007

Maybe they should have used Kodak's direct positive kit . . .

copake_ham · Sep 4, 2007

I am really disappointed to learn that they "digitized" the final positive of this project.

I remember reading with interest the whole set up. Wondering with amazement how they were able to coat the huge media with emulsion etc.

The project reminded me of the giant transparencies Kodak used to display in NYC's Grand Central Station on the east side of the main hall many years ago. [Up where the Metrazur restaurant now is - which opened after they took down the display and finally built the long forgotten east staircase.]

Those transparencies were billboard-sized. And they changed every month and certainly were not digital.

Seems like this "pinhole project" turned out to be just another foo-faw for the digi freaks.

donbga · Sep 4, 2007

copake_ham said:
Seems like this "pinhole project" turned out to be just another foo-faw for the digi freaks.

George,

Don't you ever say anything positive?

Jeez!

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 4, 2007

There's a good webpage on the Kodak website about the history of the Grand Central Colorama.

copake_ham · Sep 4, 2007

David A. Goldfarb said:
There's a good webpage on the Kodak website about the history of the Grand Central Colorama.

I'll have to check it out.

Those "Coloramas" were always a special treat. I didn't get to see them as often as the commuters out of Westchester and CT did, since I had less reason to pass through GCT then they did every weekday. But every time I did so - they were something to behold.

Oh, it's true that it was an ad medium for Kodak. But the Great Yellow Father kept the logo "discreet" in the lower righthand corner (as I recall?) so as not to distract one's eye from the actual image.

And what images they were. I remember one of a Kodiak grizzly bear in an on rushing stream, wagging off water beads from his coat with a salmon clenched between his teeth.

Talk about wild and wet - an image at billboard size I'll never forget.

Oh, and yes, 100% film!

MattKing · Sep 5, 2007

George:

There were actually a couple of Coloramas that were shot on 35mm film. They pulled out all the technological stops for those.

When I was a youngish teenager (in the mid 1970s), I attended a surprise retirement party for a gentleman who was known throughout western Canada as Mr. Kodak. Pursuant to Kodak policy, he was required to retire at age 65, which really disappointed him, because that meant his service with the company ended after 49 years and 7 months (yes, he was 15 when he started). During the late 1930s, he was essentially the only Kodak employee in western Canada, and travelled the roads as the western Canada rep.

Someone had taken a photograph of him in the early 1970s, wearing a Kodak shirt, and a Kodak hat. He was on top of a hill, hamming it up for all he was worth, in his Kodak "uniform".

The photographer used a disk camera, or 110 (I cannot recall which).

There were 100s of people there, the president of Kodak Canada presided, and there were very senior people from Eastman Kodak there as well.

The centerpiece on display was that 110 or disk photo, enlarged up to about 8x10 - not 8x10 inches, but 8x10 feet!

You had to get within about two feet before the extreme scale of enlargement caused the image to degrade. It seems they used the Colorama technology and techniques (among other things) to produce the print.

Matt

P.S. I was there, because they needed someone to take photographs. I got to use the Kodak lab's Retina Reflex for the task.

Silverhead · Sep 7, 2007

Saw the GP

Went and saw the Great Picture last night at the public unveiling. Let me tell you, it's one thing to read about this thing, but the feeling one gets when one is standing next to this enormous image is...very humbling. The video presentations describing the Legacy Project and the making of the Great Picture were very good as well.

Reuters was there and put together this video piece:

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=65794

Overall, a very cool presentation, well worth seeing.

kombizz · Sep 8, 2007

Thank you for news.
I liked the article. Try to view it on that date/

wildbill · Sep 8, 2007

It's one thing to make the largest photo but i'm not impressed by this one. I saw the display in the freestyle gallery when after they made it and then they sent a postcard to freestyle customers with the image on the front. I think they'd have been better off not showing it to anyone until they revealed it for the first time in it's original size. So it's a huge piece of material with an image on it, is it a great composition or was it a convienent spot to shoot in a hanger?

JBrunner · Sep 8, 2007

wildbill said:
It's one thing to make the largest photo but i'm not impressed by this one. I saw the display in the freestyle gallery when after they made it and then they sent a postcard to freestyle customers with the image on the front. I think they'd have been better off not showing it to anyone until they revealed it for the first time in it's original size. So it's a huge piece of material with an image on it, is it a great composition or was it a convienent spot to shoot in a hanger?

The hanger was the camera. The shot was what was available from the orientation of the hanger.

MVNelson · Sep 8, 2007

I think this was a worthwhile project...and happy to hear the member's report actually went there....maybe some would be more comfortable discussing the issue in the sister site @ hybridphoto ?

Miles

blaze-on · Sep 8, 2007

Anything that gets it out to people that there are other ways of taking photos aside from a cell phone is good.

World's Largest B&W Photo unveils in Pasadena on 9/06

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World's Largest B&W Photo unveils in Pasadena on 9/06

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