Official 2016 DNC Photo Was Shot with a 100-Year-Old Camera

On the first day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, attendees were asked to pose for an official photo. The video above shows how that photo was captured by photographer Abbas Shirmohammadi using a 100-year-old camera.

Shirmohammadi is the 4th generation photographer behind Panoramic Visions, which has been in business since 1984. The camera he used has captured many past Democratic Conventions as well as the past 6 presidential inauguration ceremonies.

For the panoramic group photo, all the attendees in the Wells Fargo Center were asked to look toward the center of the hall at Shirmohammadi and completely freeze. The camera, mounted on a tall tripod, was then panned in a circle to capture the entire hall.

“I need your cooperation, please,” Shirmohammadi says. “There should not be any movement in the hall. If you are moving, the people behind you, they will be completely blurred.”

Shirmohammadi’s official photo of the 2012 DNCC Convention is available on his company’s website for $179 (a simple panoramic photo) to $469 (an 18×55-inch panorama matted in a frame).

“Panoramic Visions has captured some of the most memorable historical events of the last twenty-five years,” the photographer’s website says. “We have visually documented the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the 50th Anniversary NATO Summit, and in the Spring of 2004, officially photographed President Reagan’s Funeral procession and viewing in the Capitol Rotunda.”

“We at Panoramic Visions are constantly looking out for the great events that make world history, and seizing these opportunities to richly document the human drama for generations to remember.”