Paths – March 16-25, 2012 — A World Wide Panorama
Culture – January 1-December 31, 2012 — A World Wide Panorama

All images will be copyright by the individual photographers. Use in any way other than viewing on this web site is prohibited unless permission is obtained from the relevant photographer. If you're interested in using a panorama, be it for non-profit or commercial purposes, please contact the individual photographer. The WWP can neither negotiate for, nor speak on behalf of its participants. The overall site is copyright by the World Wide Panorama Foundation, a California Public Benefit Corporation.

• The usual guidelines on format, dimensions, and files sizes will apply. Refer to the section on Rules.
• Shooting for this event must be done between January 1st, 2011, starting at 00:01 through 24:00 on December 31st, 2011, in the time zone where you shoot the panorama, not the time zone where you stitch it (if you're on the road and crossing time zones).
• The preparation server will be open for contributions and editing from December 16th through December 31st. You can request your own account/profile page on the server during this period. It will then be closed for final editing.
• The final site will be made public as soon as the administrative check is complete.
• Open to all panoramic photographers. We don't want to exclude anyone who wants to join in, or to miss a potentially great panorama by a new entrant. So, welcome all - spread the word and bring a friend.
• To get started we ask that you join our group and get on the mailing list. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wwp/ and sign up. You don't need to be registered on the Yahoo group to participate in the event, but it is a good way to keep up with what's going on.

More information:

Rules and Restrictions

Dimensions and File Sizes

How to Upload and Edit

VR Photography Resources

Although all submissions that meet the technical and content requirements will most likely be accepted, the organizers reserve the right to refuse any individual submission.

About Themes
We expect our themes to do several things. Some participants view them as a challenge – they go to great lengths to find and execute the most perfect and challenging expression of the theme. That is great, and we have had some amazing examples of this – the epitome of the theme.

Others of us simply need some ideas, a few suggestions to get our creativity engine running. Theme essays such as this suggest a lot of possibilities, plus most people as they read will think of more. Discussion of the theme on the WWP list is encouraged – share your ideas, spur each other on, help each other out. It’s a collaboration, not a competition.

Sometimes that brilliant idea you originally had turned out to be too hard, or impossible, or illegal. Or you didn’t have the time you needed. Or you’re a beginner and need a straightforward subject. The theme gives you a chance to shoot whatever you can, then tie it into the group endeavor with the caption.

About the Themes:

Paths

by Pat Swovelin

noun, plural paths [pathz, pahthz, paths, pahths].
1. a way beaten, formed, or trodden by the feet of persons or animals.
2. a narrow walk or way: a path through a garden; a bicycle path.
3. a route, course, or track along which something moves: the path of a hurricane.

Initially that may sound pretty boring but once you start to think about it as it relates to where you are on the planet all sorts of possibilities open up. Paths involves both paths of the present world (e.g., freeways, roads and sidewalks, insect/animal trails, contrails (they show the paths in the sky planes fly in), star trails, rivers, glaciers) and of the past also (e.g., where Hannibal crossed the Alps or the paths that Asians used when they migrated across Beringa and wound up populating the western hemisphere or where ships sailed from the Marquesas and later discovered Hawai'i or all roads lead to Rome or the scarring left in cliffs by glaciers as they moved towards the sea or an old lava flow). There are paths all around you if you just have the eyes to see them.

Be creative.

Show us some.

Culture

by Boštjan Burger

"Everything started in Greece…" said the spokesman at the opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia. There was a short silence in the audience then the spokesman continued "…and thanks to Melina Mercouri, former actress and Greece’s Minister of Culture, who got with her French counterpart, Jack Lang, in 1985 and formulated the idea of cultural capitals by designating an annual Capital of Culture to bring Europeans closer together by highlighting the richness and diversity of European cultures." In 2012 the Capitals of Culture are Guimarães, Portugal and Maribor, Slovenia.

But culture didn’t start in Greece, it has existed since the start of human society. Culture is the product of the relationship among the people of an extended group, how they treat each other and themselves. How polite they are or how merciless they can be. As much as human societies are varied around Gaia so are the various cultures and culture is changing with time, faster in some societies slower in others. Street photography can very quickly capture what kind of culture is in certain geographic area, but is that true? Not very much anymore. Now we can find people wearing Nike or Adidas shoes or T-shirts everywhere, even in tropical forests on the equator or in the deserts of Arabia. Yes, globalization is hiding the street culture and making it uniform. It is the same way with food. The way we prepare and consume food is also a part of our culture and that, too, is being changed by globalization.

Confused, about my not mentioning art, museums, rock concerts, the classics, libraries, architecture, heritage, or cemeteries? The way we treat and respect our ancestors is a big part of the world's culture too. Culture has many different meanings, so feel free with your interpretation of it. Try finding the lost cultures in your area or find the same global culture across different geographical locations. This is a year-long event and you have a opportunity to find 4 “cultures” and present them to the world. Culture is in your hands — panography is a part of culture too.

Organizers

The World Wide Panorama events and web sites have been organized and created by Don Bain and Landis Bennett. They both participated in the early "Wrinkles" and maintain large web sites of their own panoramic images. Both are current or former members of the IVRPA (International VR Photography Association) board of directors. Original graphics by Kat Bennett and Markus Altendorff. Maps, database, and programming by Markus Altendorff. Thomas Rauscher, keeper of the coordinates. (More information about the organizers.)