Week 5
Equipment ready to start taking photos.
“You’re going to take photos with a Giga_what robot??” As I have discussed before, CoDA has a fun tool in their photographic arsenal that involves gigapixel panorama technology, has a robotic device that sits atop a tripod and cradles the camera of your choice, and has exciting interactive capabilities and limitless applications in the finished digital product. In this Anthro 136E Recap of the past week, I will be focusing mainly on the work accomplished on Tuesday, because that is when the class did its field work and got to get out into the park and put some dirt under their shoes – literally! And what better way to give you a behind-the-scenes view than with a photo essay of the events of that day.
There were two teams: one that went into El Polin spring (Tennessee Hollow Watershed) restoration area to shoot a gigapixel panorama project, and the other was positioned in the hills above El Polin to shoot time-lapse photography that captured the activities and environmental conditions at the site over the course of an hour. As I was a member of the gigapixel panorama team, I will focus on their work. Here is how everything happened:
Geared up and ready to shoot a gigapixel panorama (we used equipment from GigaPan) at El Polin restoration area, which is currently under construction and closed to the public, the students walk to the site. Their work at the site is important and time-sensitive because it will show the area as it was before it reopens to the public on September 15, 2011.
(Click on the link for more information on GigaPan.)
Intern Connor Rowe (left) and student help Michael Ashley (center) prepare a camera before he and his team enters the El Polin restoration area. Connor led another team that shot a time-lapse photo set of El Polin from a different vantage point.
Once the students enter the hard-hat construction area, Presidio Trust archaeologist Kari Jones (background) takes them on a tour of the site, where archaeological excavations have already taken place, and where the future nature trail and other landscape features will be once construction is finished. The students then scout the area for a place to set up the gigapixel photography equipment.
El Polin has several unique ecosystems with endangered plant species. The final interpretive site will be constructed in a way as to preserve the nature and showcase the native flora.
This well was built in the 1930s and is a centerpiece of the restoration area. The team decided to set up the photographic equipment nearby because of its central location.
Michael Ashley (far right) uses a compass on his mobile iPhone to orientate the team as they prepare to set up the equipment.
Michael Ashley does some fine tuning to ensure that the tripod that the gigapixel photography equipment will rest on, is properly balanced.
Michael Ashley sets up the robotic device (by GigaPan) that holds the camera.
The equipment is now ready and off to work. Gigapixel technology takes many photographs (469 for this project) that are later digitally stitched together in a software program (we use Kolor's autopano giga), and then rendered and made viewable in another program like krpano.
(Click on the link for more information on Kolor’s autopano giga and krpano.)
- After several hours, Michael Ashley and team head out of the construction area pleased with their work. The sky seemed to be in agreement with them as all of the iconic San Francisco fog that had covered the area when they arrived, has now dissipated and given them blue skies on their walk back to the classroom.
And as always, the students of Anthropology course 136E have a few things to say themselves about the class, their current projects and anything in between:
Luke Morris - At the end of Week 5, the penultimate, we finally start to see everything come together. Our stories are laid out in context and their respective locations are plotted on a map. As diverse as the multitude of topics seem to be, it’s fascinating to see how the work and ideas of everyone in the class are so closely interrelated. Though, as much as the final product has already taken shape, there still is much work to do — and only a single week left in which to do it!
Cyrena Giordano – Still freaking out a bit about entering all of my media correctly.. got to get on finishing milestone 1… but turned in Milestone 3! Still chugging… we have our locations placed on the map now which is nice. Hopefully our stories will compliment each other. I can’t wait to make and film some of the recipes I found. They all look so good. I am in the process of creating a recipe log.. thinking about posting them to a blog and having the blog link be available in the microhistory on the gigpan.
Ioan Chelu – With a week left of class, we’re chugging along down the last bit. As others pointed out, it’s all starting to come together and it’s getting kind of exciting. The narratives are a bit of work, but as daunting as they may be, I’m sure we’ll come out of next week with a stellar product. I’m a little curious as to what the presentations are going to look like, and how they’ll go over, but I’m very confident in our work as a group, and am looking forward to the application of the final product.
Adam Grab – I’m proud of myself for understanding the equipment list. I tend to get confused on the technical details of stuff like this, but I actually seem to be understanding all of the data-entering fairly well. I want to my narratives engaging, but I keep second-guessing my attempts at writing the vignettes. The project as a whole is really starting to come together, and I feel myself getting more excited about the outcome than I originally was.
Chris Fussell – It has been a lot of work and there is still so much to do. I remain excited while slightly exhausted. I will be learning Google Earth tour functions, attempting some panoramic shots of important historical places relevant to the resources of El Presidio with the Giga Pan rig and writing relevant narratives that tie this all together over the next four days. I look forward to our finished product. I have already learned a lot about various technologies and so much more about what life was like at El Presidio San Francisco during the Spanish colonial era. It has been truly fascinating.
Francesca Favila – It was not until this week that I was really able to see that we were making progress. When we shot the gigapan of El Polin Springs, I started to see everything come together, and I was absolutely thrilled with the result. Not only is everything finally coming together, but it is really exciting to be part of this team of people who all seemed to be really excited by what we are doing to create this interpretive trail. Only one week left!
Work hat at El Polin construction site.
For more images of the class at work and insights into what it means to study digital documentation of cultural heritage, see our Flickr page or follow us on Twitter.
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