Panoramas (Without A Computer)

Explore panoramic photography the old-fashioned way with a panorama-format camera

Text And Photography By Robert Glenn Ketchum

For most of my professional career, I’ve been a 6x7 medium-format photographer. Organic details are an essential part of my work, and the sharpness that I get from a big transparency and my Pentax 67’s lenses has made me reluctant to change a winning formula.

On the other hand, there are times when I’ve felt boxed in by the 6x7 frame. I broke out of that box by working with multiple frames in diptychs and triptychs. But when Fuji and Hasselblad collaborated to create the XPan panorama-format camera system, I was inspired to try something new.

Shooting in a panorama format has challenged me to break out of the comfort zone I have with my Pentax 67 and learn a new way of working. One of the first things you realize with the panorama format is that even with telephoto lenses, your image has an almost wide-angle feel. I’ve had to learn to deal with sky and more foreground differently than I’m used to because of this.

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