Democratic National Convention Stands Still for 22 Seconds for Photo with 100-Year-Old Camera
A photographer assigned to take the official panoramic photograph for the 2024 Democratic National Committee (DNC) used a 100-year-old camera that requires the delegates to sit still for 22 seconds.
It is now a tradition for Iranian photographer Abbas Shirmohammadi to step up and take the photo each year at the DNC. However, it does require the delegates to sit perfectly still or parts of the photo will come out blurry.
Happening now: The DNC has ground to a brief standstill as a photographer takes a picture with a 110-year-old camera. He’s begging delegates not to move, since the slightest movement can blur a chunk of the picture. The delegates are (mostly) behaving. pic.twitter.com/K9yjJMJXVg
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) August 20, 2024
In this video from the Associated Press, Shirmohammadi can be seen telling the audience “Do not move” and “It’s an extremely sensitive camera.” Jezebel editor Lauren Tousigant writes it felt like he was “speaking to a room of first graders.”
She says at one point Shirmohammadi spotted a woman who was not standing still and sternly asked her to “please put your hands down, ma’am.”
“This was the moment I started to hold my breath, out of fear of persecution,” adds Tousigant. “I only let myself breathe again once I realized that holding my breath could potentially result in some sort of a cough, which obviously would have caused a facial movement, which would have seemingly branded me a dumb, muscle-moving, democracy-hating piece of s**t.”
A photographer shooting the floor with a 110 year old camera #DNC pic.twitter.com/t6greRbsTd
— Susan Swain (@cspanSusan) August 20, 2024
After the camera has completed a 360 spin, Shirmohammadi says “I congratulate all of you. Thank you for your patience.”
Kosmo Foto notes that Shirmohammadi runs Panoramic Visions, his photography business that began in Baltimore in 1985.
It’s not clear exactly which camera Shirmohammadi uses but it is likely to be akin to a 1915 Cirkut which captures 360-degree panoramics on film.
Cirkut are the largest large format cameras ever commercially produced with negatives reaching 70 inches long and 16 inches wide.
PetaPixel featured a photographer who still uses a Cirkut Number 8 camera in 2022 and he explained the camera has three different motors and three different batteries, each one gives a different rotation speed for the camera. It can take up to one hour to shoot one photo.
