Screening Building, Wastewater Treatment Plant

Every resident of Freising is connected to this place – daily and invisibly. And yet, almost no one has ever actually stood here.

The panorama shows the screening building of Freising's wastewater treatment plant: the point where the city's sewer system ends and the treatment process begins. Below the catwalk you can make out the large mechanical screen that catches solid waste, and the retention basin that buffers the overflow during heavy rain. The standpoint itself is directly above the open incoming sewer – the combined wastewater of 50,000 people – before it disappears into the pumping station.

The photograph, by its very nature, captures what light can carry. What it cannot transmit is the smell. Whether that is a loss or a relief for the viewer is worth considering – because in this particular space, the olfactory dimension is not incidental. It is the perception.

You see everything in this panorama. But you know nothing of what it is like to be here.

Europe / Germany

Lat: 48° 24' 11.032" N
Long: 11° 45' 36.441" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

• Camera: Canon EOS 650D

• Panohead: Nodal Ninja Ultimate R10

• Tripod: Manfrotto

• Stitching: PTGui 12.27

• Editing: Adobe Photoshop

• Shots: 4 plus nadir, bracketing 2 apertures