I Love Heights, I Love Cats, and I Need a Plan C!

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Plan C is what one does when both plan A and plan B don't work. In case plan C does not work either, there is always a plan D as in Despair. I got very near to plan D this time.

During the shooting period I traveled to the first Panoheads meeting organized by Mark Banas at Autodesk in Toronto.

Plan A: a pano of Toronto from an elevated location. That location being on private ground, I initiated a request for permission well ahead of time. Despite repeated emails and phone conversations, I am still waiting for an answer.

Plan B: Montréal is on the way to Toronto. A pano of Montréal from an elevated public location. Unfortunately it was pouring rain when I drove by the spot where I tested my first gigapixel pano in hugin. Moreover, Eduardo Hutter features already a wonderful panorama at that spot.

Plan C: The intention was to go out in Toronto with the Panoheads. But it was mostly raining during the meeting. After the meeting we went to a pub. Pubs in the area were meeting point for Dutch supporters. Holland lost to Russia that day at the Euro Soccer Championship - not an elevating sight. Did I mention Plan D?

After the Panoheads meeting and the pub I drove Mark home. On the way back it was clearing up. And then I saw an inspiring billboard of a cat saying "I love heights". Why not? So I executed on this.

The main topic at the Panoheads meeting was HDR. I wanted to help out a little with the development of qtpfsgui, an open source HDR tool, and here was a chance with a beautiful dramatic sky.

One thing still bothered me: the plan A property was close and visible. It may be legal to publish a picture of it taken from public ground, but I try to respect the subjects of my photography and felt it appropriate in this case, since I did not get permission, not to feature the property. Framing my shot I arranged for other objects to look taller and hide it.

NOTE: There is a significant difference in quality between the QTVR on this page and the fullscreen version. Click the "Open Fullscreen" button above for the best VR viewing experience.

PERSONAL NOTE: New beginnings will radically change my life in the coming weeks and months. At the moment I can't predict how this will affect my ability to continue regular contributions to this collection of VR.

USA-Canada / Canada-Ontario

Lat: 43° 38' 35.09" N
Long: 80° 24' 39.48" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.