This panoramic image might be the widest
continuous photographic image ever made. It appears in the book Trading
Places, The Merchants of Nairobi: by Steve Bloom.
The photographer’s ongoing challenge is to encapsulate life’s
experiences in a rectangular, two–dimensional form. In reality, of
course, we perceive the visual world as an endlessly unfolding synthesis
of images, in which pieces come together and then disperse as our eyes
dart around and we move through time and space.This long photograph of Kitengela Road here captures the hustle and bustle of Nairobi's Langata neighbourhood in a naturalistic, unposed way, giving the viewer the illusion of walking down the road. Steve Bloom started at the Hotel Hilton at the far end on the right, and moved along to the Jeddy Hair Salon, taking a photograph every four paces.
The resulting images were painstakingly stitched together. As the eye moves along the photograph, the viewpoint changes continually, as if the viewer is physically moving down the road. Some of the traders, such as the knife sharpener, are seen repeatedly, going about their business in different parts of the road at different times. This image opposes the 'decisive moment' approach to photography, and is more cinematic in its structure.
In the book, this image stretches across the title page and sixteen pages of the introduction. When printed one metre high, the print is about forty metres long.
Learn more about Steve Bloom at http:/stevebloomphoto.com
Buy signed copies of the book at stevebloomshop.com
Licence images to publish at stevebloom.com/index.php
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