WEST SPHERE CAMERA FRAMES
In describing the panoramic views over the ages from Scots Church Spire I made this statement: “In 2017 we give you a modern view from the same location. SonyA7R2, Cmos sensor, developed in Photoshop”.
Ok, I have to admit that it was not quite that easy! Here, I take you on a 2017 tour of the Spire and Church https://www.hiddenmelbourne.com.au/buildings/scots-church/
The spire has (to my knowledge), only been accessed by panoramic photographers on 4 occasions:
1841: Samuel Jackson's highly detailed sketch from the scaffolding surrounding the low roof of the first church building.
1875: Paterson Bros wet plate collodion photographs from the scaffolding, when the new church was built with a tall spire.
1989: Val Foreman large format film photographs from the scaffolding, when the spire was being rebuilt after an earlier lightning strike blew it off. These images are being processed into a 360° view and will be added.
2017: no scaffolding to access the exterior. Hidden Melbourne made the climb up the tower via the narrow winding spiral stone staircase and captured a sequence of images which were then developed and joined into a 360° panoramic using a computer.
The Spire has small balconies on two sides, accessible from a very narrow stone spiral staircase. Here you can see the caretaker Rick at the top of the stairs. On sides 1 & 4 with the narrow balconies, my camera had to be held out at an angle using a carbon fibre pole, secured to my belt with a tether line. Here you can see the view down to Collins St.
On the other two sides there is only an inaccessible “faux” balcony. We had to go down the stairs then up into the central spire chamber to access two flaps in the wall, through which I had to carefully poke my camera (tethered).
The images captured all around the spire exterior were then joined to give a 360° view of the exterior.
That was the toughest part of the job.