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Yup, that's me hard at work at MacWorld Expo a
couple months ago. I was shooting a picture of Jook Leung, a
master of VR photography.
I was surprised to return home in early August
and visit Jook's website (http://www.360vr.com/macworld/vr2/02.html)
where I found myself in the round, 360 degrees worth.
At a time when QuickTime VR seems relatively
common — quick, dirty but not cheap real estate property tours
and the like — Jook Leung's work stands head and shoulders above
the others.
His "Tribute in Light" spherical VR of the World
Trade Center memorial won Jook FujiFilm's Masterpiece Award. The
copyrighted image above was downloaded from FujiFilm's news
release but to obtain the full effect of the product, you must
visit the website (www.360vr.com)
for a 360 virtual tour.
Jook uses a variety of cameras and lenses for
his commercial and personal work. Typically, the photographer
with more than 20 years of professional studio experience,
approaches commercial assignments with meetings, pre-planning,
storyboards and all the necessities of pleasing a client.
It is in his personal work where Jook Leung
shines. For many projects, he has abandoned the tripod and
calibrated pano head to handhold his fisheye cameras.
(http://360vr.com/fultonlanding/)
Even at dusk and after dark, Jook's 360-degree
virtual reality tours have the gritty feel and spontaneity of
the best of street photography.
He gets close and enjoys people peering into the
fisheye lens (one of which resembles a half cantaloupe in size).
He steadies his camera and rotates it around his body — a living
monopod.
Jook's tabletop panos of friends enjoying
festive occasions are a special delight.
They are made with a Nikon CP 990 with a fisheye
attachment mounted on a special pano rig made from a binocular
mount and a wine bottle cork. Jook doesn't mention on his
website whether it's best to use a full or empty bottle. |