The first time I visited the place, more than three years ago, I had thought that the colours which are visible there can only be found in a big - extremely big - box of Caran d'Ache pencils. Let me tell you all the truth...I was not at the best of my shape: I had just lost my lover, heartbroken and actually quite...depressed. Well, to say the least. But, the place was able to ease my heart and - still today - I hold very dear memories of a week which...soon transformed into a three weeks stay, since I did not wish to come back home. I used to go out by car, by bike, horseback riding and - one day - I stepped into a bustling village, where melodies coming from bagpipes could be heard and I felt as if...I was being called somewhere. Yes, I was stepping into one of the several Highland games...I felt a kind of attraction for the gathering which was taking place. I could not help but being fascinated by the crowds of men in their kilts (and yes, they're extremely sexy), by the sound of the bagpipes and...by what the competitors were doing. I could not fully understand the games which were taking place, I could not understand if a participant had danced well or not, and neither if a piper had used the bagpipe correctly. Anyhow, I just got up from the place I was sitting in...at the end of the event, with a smile painted to my face. So said, as soon as I saw Bill Ward's panos of the Cowal Highland Gathering, memories of a past gone by suddenly cropped by and I immediately fell in love for what I was seeing.

If the first gathering took place on August 11th 1894, Cowal Gathering soon became a world famous institution, where Highland music, tradition and dance mingle, to offer a performance which is breathtaking. No wonder then, that it attracts more than 3500 competitors, coming from all around the world, which usually share a common root: they have Scottish blood running into their veins...
Well, now your turn has come to be enchanted by the Scottish atmospheres...

click here to view Dunoon's Cowal Highland Gathering, Pipe Band Competition

click here to view Dunoon's Cowal Highland Gathering, Caber-tossing

click here to view Dunoon's 41 street

Now, when we at Vrmag decided to publish Bill Ward's panoramic images, we even held a short interview, by which the artist explains why he chose this project, his emotions, and the technical difficulties related to the shootings.

How did this panoramic project come to life ?
Living here in Scotland this subject, Highland Games, is something which is quite familiar. I've taken photos at a couple of these events years ago, as famliy days out, and fancied takling the subject with panoramas, to add to my web site, to which I've tried to add a subject each month as a kind of blog. So I emailed the organiser and asked for a Press Pass to allow me onto the arena. I used as an example, to illustrate the possibility, my previous pano project of Gourock Highland Games, for which I also managed to get a Press Pass. Gourock is my home town and the local council organiser was happy to oblige with a Pass for that event too. Many thanks to the organisers of both these events for the fantastic opportunity.

What were your impressions/emotions on the event ?
These events are thoroughly by the people for the people, sometimes at the very end there are more participants on the field than there are spectators, and many of these spectators will be relatives of the participants!
Highland Games have a season, and traditionally Gourock has been the first one each year. The Cowal Highland Gathering, Dunoon lasts for four days, and has the biggest number of entries and biggest audiences. The end of event march down through the town of Dunoon is incredibly atmospheric, especially if you've had a couple of drams.
http://www.billward.org/pages_dunoonh/panos/dunoonh_51street.html my favourite from this project.
The Games are more or less synchronized so that Bands and compeditors (and spectators) could attend one each week for about 4 or 5 months, if they had the energy. http://www.albagames.co.uk/Highland_games2000.htm
The biggest groups of competitors are the Pipe Bands and the Highland Dancers. Many people will come from abroad (Australia, Canada, America, other English speaking countries) to Scotland to compete in their various specialities, in what is really a significant, local cultural get-together. There is always a significant attendance by Police Pipe bands from the various police forces (noteably Strathclyde Police), and other works sponsored Pipe Bands.

What equipment did you use ?
Nikon D70s and a Signa f4, on a monopod, with a self made bracket. A technique I like to use is to lift the monopod and place it onto my shoulder bag (round my front) for support, then turn the monopod at 90 degree intervals, firing the shutter with a standard 1 metre release. The viewpoint is about 3 metres up. This is awkward at first but easily mastered, I keep thinking I'm going to let it topple over, but it's not happened yet. This is excellent in crowds and for a different viewpoint. Amazingly no-one has ever said anything to me about this odd technique, and only a few people in my panos seem to notice. I'm sure the general punter doesn't know what a fisheye lens is, what do they think I'm (we're) doing?
I recorded some sound with a minidisc recorder, something which I'd like to do more of.
At the Gourock Highland Games I used a 360Precision Absolute with the Nikon D70s and Sigma f4 - a different approach, but I found the heavy tripod and the solid nature of this amazing head meant I could spin 360 degrees really fast, actually it's really good for this kind of subject (that event was my first outing with the 360Precision, it having been delivered that morning).

What technical challenges did you face and how you solved them ?
Images are shot in Raw and converted using ACR to 8 bit tiffs, then stitched using PTGui, with Smartblend which does an amazing job in crowds. I output blended panorama and individual layers, then fixed anomalies in Photoshop (what else?) using the layers, and made use of the indispensible PTEditor. Sometimes it's time consuming, but always worth it.

Can you tell us about your panoramic background ?
A good few years ago I first noticed the possibility of QuickTime object movies while listening to a radio program (!) which was talking about an online exhibition at a museum of antiquities - I checked out the site and was hooked. That must have been around 1998, and I started doing the same thing, scanning prints for a while till I got a D100 (at £1500.00). I've picked up all my knowledge online, particularly Yahoo group PanoTools, now, of course PanoToolsNG - what an amazing online community! - thanks to all there.

Do you offer professional VR services?
My website is purely for my own interest, but there have been a few small spinoff jobs entirely through people seeing it, remarkable really because I'm not actively looking for work.

2008 Dates will be Thursday 28th, Friday 29th and Saturday 30th of August.

Links:
BillWard.org
Dunoonh Games virtual tour
Cowal Gathering official site
Email: billward at talktalk.net