Full circle

Book by Snelson, Kenneth, Wieder, Laurance

These fine and disturbing 360-degree panoramas subvert our notions about time and space and show us places we have visited but could never see completely, like the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Snelson, a sculptor, made most of these views with a compact 360-degree electronic 120mm "Hulcherama" camera. "Normal" human vision takes in about 50 degrees of space at one time, so these 21-inch-wide wraparound photos show simultaneously about three and a half turns of the head in two-page spreads. As Laurance Wieder points out in an imaginative essay, the pictures are "optically outrageous," turning straight lines into curves, and "transcriptively faithful," showing what is behind and in front of us at the same moment. He finds insight into the disorienting qualities of these images in Einstein's theory of relativity. Snelson discusses his early experiments, methods, and equipment. For general readers, informed laypersons, and specialists.
- Kathleen Collins, Great Barrington, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.