Interview: Tito Dupret Grabs Hold of our Changing Landscapes Through Pano-photography

Submitted by owenjarus on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 16:23

It’s lonely out here in Tibet. The sun is shining down over a mountain and for miles around there is not a soul in sight. The sky is clear and at my feet I can see six layers of brown stones, about the size of baseballs, piled up by an unknown people.

These stone piles dot the landscape – only a few feet away I can see a pile of them shaped into what looks like a house with two or three rooms.

No, I’m not in Tibet. I’m also not reading an archaeological report, or even a looking at a virtual reconstruction. I’m immersed in a photographic panorama of an actual site in Tibet. The objects are real and were shot by a photographer – Tito Dupret – who was actually there.

I can look around in 360 degrees - I can see archaeological remains in the distance and stare at the mountains on the horizon. It’s real – there are no lines between the stitched together photos, or other giveaways – it looks like I’m standing right there.

I’m not certain who built these scattered remains. With all the turmoil Tibet has experienced in recent years, archaeology is difficult to conduct. Dupret says that they could be remains from the Silk Road that connected China to the western world – sadly it's doubtful whether this site will ever be excavated. But as long as this panorama experience is preserved future people will always know it existed – and what it looked like from this spot.

Dupret has created more than 2,000 of these pano-photographs from 273 sites – many of them from the ancient world. From Abu Simbel, to the mountains of Everest, to a Viking settlement in Newfoundland Canada – the site has spread its wings through a broad stretch of human history.

Not only does it cover the ancient world but it includes contemporary vistas, including modern day Lhasa, the Newfoundland wilderness and Ground Zero in New York – places that are undergoing change.

Creating Pano-photographs

The technology behind creating these panoramas is not complex – at least not anymore.

Tito Dupret told me in an interview that he uses a Digital SLR with fisheye lens, a monopod and a level – to keep the camera straight on the horizon.

When he goes to a site where a pano-photograph will be shot, he shoots six images of the horizon, one or two of the floor, and a shot of the sky – making sure that there is at least 25 percent overlap between the images. Assuming that there are no tourists in the area this takes only a matter of minutes.

“I’m trying to work as light as I can,” said Dupret. “I really want to not to impose myself on the site when I take photographs, but to integrate myself in the environment.”

He uses Autodesk Stitcher to turn the photographs into panoramas – a process that takes a matter of hours for each picture. They can then be uploaded onto his website - 1001wonders.org.

The simplicity of this process has its advantages. Most of the time Dupret shows up at a site as a tourist – there is no need to ask for special permission to deploy equipment.

Living as a "nomad"

Dupret has been shooting these panoramas since 2001. He got into it for a number of reasons. He loves to travel, and has a background shooting documentaries and working as a photo-journalist. But, in 2001, the Taliban blew up the Buddha statues of Bamyan. (As Helen Atkinson writes, this is one of many cultural atrocities they did)

Tito recalls that he was, “really really shocked. It (made) me aware that this world is changing fast and in danger,” said Dupret. “Nobody was documenting these places” he added, despite the fact that they are in danger.

So he decided to take action. He started travelling the world, living as a “nomad” - trying to shoot as many pano-photographs, of sites, as possible. He aims especially to shoot out of the way places –such as the Tibet shot I described – which are almost impossible for tourists to get to.

“The more I go the more I’m really really sure of the necessity of my work because nobody else is doing it.”

He adds pano-photographs to his website as he goes along. In 2003 he got financial support from the JM Kaplan fund – support which continued up until 2008. Today, in the wake of the financial crisis that is hurting heritage projects the world over, his project is struggling to continue work.

He’s starting PhD studies at Laval University in Quebec Canada. His studies will look at how to use these images to tell the stories of the sites. How do you integrate these images into a museum? Can you use them in a planetarium? What are some of the best ways to integrate them into virtual worlds?

“That’s the subject of my study.”

A New Era

In addition to his studies, Dupret is working with Heritage Key to put his pano-photograph of the Terra Cotta warriors

“This will be the beginning of a new era to express these fabulous pictures and sites around the world.”

into the virtual realm.

It will work like this: "People will enter the British museum - enter a dome - in which they will be able to roam with pano-photography of the terracotta warriors in China.” The pano-photograph will be combined with artefacts and information to create an immersive experience.

“This will be the beginning of a new era to express these fabulous pictures and sites around the world.”

He envisions this combination of virtual reality and pano-photography being used in other settings. One idea is to use planetariums to allow audiences to wander around ancient sites - on the big screen so to speak.

He imagines a trip to a planetarium working like this: you would go to one and see pictures of the galaxy, but, you would also see ancient sites.

“Just turn the virtual camera back to earth and zoom in, approach one of the sites - immerse yourself inside.”

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About The Author

Owen Jarus

Owen Jarus is a freelance writer based in Toronto ,Canada. He has written articles on archaeology for a variety of media outlets including The Canadian Press newswire (CP), U of T Magazine, The Mississauga News and The Guelph Mercury. Education: BA from the University of Toronto in History, Geography and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations. BJourn in Journalism from Ryerson University.

Last three pieces by this author: Nazis, Rockefellers and the Tomb of Seti I: the Adventures of Amice Mary Calverley Prepare to go Public, The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army Exhibition at the ROM - Full Details, Embassador or Slave? Researchers Mystified by East Asian Skeleton Discovered in Vagnari Roman Cemetery

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