My love of panorama probably started with my admiration of a photograph that hung on Grandpa McFadden's dining room wall at the farm. It's a panoramic shot of downtown Oklahoma City in 1937 shot by E.J. Banks. It's one of those real long, skinny panoramas that came out of the Kodak Cirkut cameras. You can't take in this photo at a mere glance. You are drawn in to study it and thereby, willingly or not, learn something from it.
It didn't hurt that the photo has an interesting story behind it. Grandpa managed a tourist court in O.K. City and this one-armed photographer traded that photograph for a few nights stay in the motel. Mr. Banks traveled around the country with his camera, climbing any tall structure around to document history and to make a buck or two. The tallest structure in Oklahoma City in 1937 was an oil derrick. They dominate the scene in Grandpa's photograph and I love it.
That photograph hangs in my office, an everyday reminder of what a dedicated photographer will do for a buck. I wish E.J. Banks could have known how much I appreciate his panoramic picture.