Munich's 850th Birthday: Pole Vault

Theme

It was not easy for me to choose one from the large number of panoramas I made during the last year. Now I've chosen one that started as an experiment. Pole shooting in crowds is not the experiment, as I've done this quite often last year. The experiment I tried in this panorama is to show the special time lapse of the sportsman in red while he is successfully performing a pole vault. Somehow I've done this once before, but the main subject in this panorama moved around quite fast, compared to the static building that I've already shot. I'm quite satisfied with the result and will try this again!

Trivia

In 2008 Munich celebrated the city's 850th birthday with lots of events and big parties throughout the year. For two days some roads in the city centre were crowded not by cars, but visitors who view live acts, performances, DJ's and sport events on 12 stages. They are located on the 7km around the "Altstadtring." This is the biggest birthday party Munich has ever seen. Organizers calculated with about 1 million visitors. From the people on the streets I guess there were more than that.

Making Of

The shooting was done with a 3.15 meter (app. 10.33 ft) pole to reach a more elevated viewpoint above the people. The lens was mounted with a custom made bracket which allows mounting the lens to turn around the no-parallax point of the lens. First I shot the "normal" panorama with four shots at 90°. Then I waited for the sportsman to start running. I followed him by turning the pole while he was passing by.

Europe / Germany

Lat: 48° 8' 27.37" N
Long: 11° 34' 59.27" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

• Camera: Sony Alpha 700

• Lens: Sigma 8mm f/4 Fisheye

• Mounting: Custom made lens bracket on two monopods

• Software: BibblePro, PTGui Pro, Smartblend, Gimp, Pano2VR

• Pictures: 4 pictures @ 90°, Additional Pictures for the athlete