click here to view Nadja Auermann at l'Oreal's Backstage

click here to view Elton

Sharon Stone, Sir Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Catherine Deneuve, Kelly Ozbourne, Eric Papilaya, Dirk Mach, Liza Minnelli, Kelis, Dita von Teese, Heidi Klum, Dennis Rodman, Naomi Campbell, No Angel, Randy Crawford and several others have supported and still support the event, promoting action against the discrimination against those affected by HIV and AIDS, in a charity event which is the largest of its kind in Europe.

click here to view Meinl

Artistic programs highlight the event, with live performances by renown artists such as Anastacia, Scissor Sisters, Kool & The Gang, Julian Rachlin, INXS, Cyndie Lauper, Simply Red, Grace Jones, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra or the Vienna Boys‚ Choir. And fashion isn't only the one in which the guests are wrapped into. Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, Roberto Cavalli, Duo Richie Rich and Traver Rains, alias Heatherette, Gianfranco Ferré, to name just a few, display their creations at the Life Ball, which is aired by the Austrian National TV in prime time, with a 25% market share, totalizing 450'000 viewers only on ORF (not to count other channels such as CNN,CNBC and Rai...). If there are those willing to watch the event on the screen, some other 40'000 Viennese gather on the City Hall square, which - for the occasion - is transformed into a huge stage, in the form of a red ribbon...

click here to view the Lifeball stage

Within the walls of the Vienna City Hall then, are allowed only 4'000 other people (the exclusive holders of the Life Ball tickets) and they enter into a celebration of life which is opulent, sparkling and lively, but even features thoughtful moments, when international partners of Life Ball raise their voice against AIDS.

click here to view l'Oreal's Backstage

click here to view the dinner hall

Gery Keszler, the Life Ball organizer, stated on Life Ball 2007 (in the occasion of the 15th Jubilee event) "We are thrilled that the 15th Life Ball has again managed to increase the net profit. Of course this would not have been possible without the great support from our partners and sponsors and again numerous volunteers who, as every year, worked with total dedication, as well as the wonderfully colorful guests, and of course the media who made this event accessible to everyone. My special thanks go to the Austrian Broadcasting Cooperation, ORF, who for the first time were on the scene at the Life Ball with live television coverage".
It would have been difficult to expect a poor coverage, since the theme of the Ball was "Once upon a time". Erotic, ironic and excessive, the ball gave the chance for a night to leave reality behind, becoming someone else, just by changing costumes and masques, in a game of truth and deception, longing for an happy ending among live stage acts, incredible performances, dancing, culinary delights and international stars.

This year the theme will change and the 16th Life Ball will blast off into the outer space, encouraging love for the alien other. Weightless and spacy, the ball will take place in the night of May 17 2008 and the collected funds will go - as usual - either to national relief projects or to international organizations, which are already operating against AIDS, such as amfAR. Children in South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have beneficed from Lifeball because, as the organizers state....Love is infinite. Life is universal.

VRMAG interviewed Stefan Kuzmanov of Vollwertmedia about this project:

How and when did you start shooting panoramas ?
I'll never forget the first time I saw a virtual panorama. It was in 2000, while attending a multimedia institute in Germany. Although the panorama of the reception area was poorly put together, uneven and not at all retouched, I was stricken with awe. I remember not being able to think of anything else the rest of the day and I was already planning virtual projects. Soon thereafter, I purchased my first 2 MP digital camera (a top-notch model at the time) and made my first steps in that direction.
The panoramas I was making were horrendous but I was happy! I've remained infected with the virtual panorama virus ever since.

How did you become image sponsor for the Lifeball ?
Lifeball has been around since 1992 and is Europe's largest AIDS charity event. It's a grandiose show, a magical night where the participants celebrate life. At Lifeball, everyone is part of the noble initiative to help those sticken by AIDS as well as to seek a remedy against this terrible illness. Millions of euros are raised annually and then distributed to various anti-AIDS charities or used as direct assistance for the ill.

Stars and glitterati from all over the world, such as Sharon Stone, Sir Elton John, Catherine Deneuve, Liza Minnelli, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, Randy Crawford, Kelis, Dita von Teese, The Scissor Sisters, Anastacia, Earth Wind and Fire, Kool & The Gang, Thierry Mugler, John Galliano, Paco Rabanne, Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Roberto Cavalli, Gianfranco Ferré, Angela Missoni, Heatherette and numerous others attend and participate each year. They all do it on a charitable basis! We had long been impressed by Gery Keszler's vision and courage (the organizer and founder of Lifeball).

We noticed the numerous photographs, commentaries, films etc. about Lifeball, but no one had made a panorama. A panorama is the ideal medium for an event of its kind, because, in a panorama you can scan every angle and capture the atmosphere of the event. This is where we spotted an opportunity to make a contribution of our own, and that by doing what we enjoy doing the most.

Nadia (my wife) called Lifeball sponsoring manager and presented our product. She offered to tell the world of Lifeball in virtual panoramas. While still on the phone, he checked out our home page. "Wow!", he exclaimed, "This is awesome! How come we never thought of this before..." And thus, we became the first to launch a virtual presentation of Lifeball.

Can you describe your experience shooting the Lifeball?
As soon as I set out for Vienna City Hall, I sensed that I was in for something special. There was a lot of energy in the air. I arrived 2 hours before the general admission because the organizers had asked me to shoot the decorated halls while still unoccupied. That is where the panoramas without people came from. The ceremony in the square in front of City Hall began shortly thereafter. I started shooting the costumed guests as they were filing in down the red carpet and were being applauded by the audience of around 45,000. The atmosphere was fantastic and unreal.

Earlier I had been sitting in my car going over my everyday problems, and now I was here, among those crazy-headed people who somehow had a different outlook and seemed all the wiser for it. All in fairy-tale costumes, they walked, conversed and laughed as if it were the commonest thing on earth. From this moment on I became one with the crowd and I kept shooting non-stop for nearly 9 hours. I took approximately 2000 shots that night, enough material for 40 panoramas. For me, the L'Oreal backstage hall proved to be the most attractive. This was where all the actors, musicians, models, speakers and luminaries prepared for the stage. It was the source of the liveliest panoramas, e.g. the one with Nadia Auermann, before she got on stage. I was able to capture the moment of her departure, with the photographers in wait. Once the program was over, the big party commenced throughout Vienna's City Hall, which is enormous, with many gorgeous ballrooms specially prepared for this unusual event.

Everyone danced and celebrated till morning. I hardly stopped at all. A very surreal experience! One thing I'm certain of: this year we'll participate again in this unique ball.

What equipment did you use?
For this project, I used a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II with Canon 15mm Fisheye lens and a Manfrotto 058 tripod, which is quite heavy (over 6kg), but can be adjusted very quickly to any position or height. It can extend to a height of over 2 m, which is important in such cases because it allows you to photograph from above people's heads.
I used a 360Precision panorama head: probably the most precise head on the market, but unfortunately also heavy and not very flexible (difficult and expensive to adapt for other camera-tripod combinations). I used a levelling device between the tripod and the head.
As for the CompactFlash cards, I looked for fast writing speeds and large size. In this particular case, I used SanDisk Extreme III and Lexar Professional with 4 GB each.

What technical and other challenges did you face ?
The difficulties I encountered had to do mostly with the lighting, because there were lots of projectors flashing in sync with the music. I lost several good panoramas in this way.

The other problem was the overcrowding that is inevitable when lots of people gather together to party. I always need a little time to stretch out the tripod, level the head and adjust the camera. I then shoot 3 times in every direction with three different exposure times... with the stream of people, by the time I completed one full revolution I faced different people standing in front of me. But there's always Photoshop...

Several times my lens or camera settings changed inadvertently with so many passers-by. Unfortunately I only found out about it when I returned home, reviewed the photos and found that, for instance, the focus had changed. Stitching and retouching were very laborious, too.

How have the panoramas been used, and what was the feedback on the panoramas ?
I created about 15 panoramas, which I then loaded on my web page www.vollwertmedia.at and in MySpace, from where I received a very large and positive feedback from all around the world. People from America, Africa and even Japan contacted me to let me know they had also attended Lifeball or had simply liked the panoramas.

I had a relatively unpleasant experience with Wikipedia and the article about Life Ball, where I had added a link to the Life Ball Panos, but it was removed on the grounds that it constituted linkspam.

When we showed the panoramas to the organisers of Lifeball, they were enthralled. While we were giving our presentation, suddenly Gery Keszler showed up and was deeply impressed. He said, "Super! Can we use them on our web page?" To my knowledge, the panoramas will be used in the CD advertisements and published on Lifeball's web page shortly before the next ball.

At any rate, we will finish generating the remaining panoramas and will publish them about a month preceding the ball. Several among them are particularly noteworthy, so look for our Lifeball part 2!

What professional services do you offer?
We do not sell panoramas, but rather a way of being seen. Technically we offer virtual panoramas and tours under the name Vollwertmedia, as well as virtual objects and HDR treatments, but in reality we assist our clients to position and define themselves in their segment in a unique fashion, since we always meet the client ahead of time in order to understand his wishes and why he wants a virtual panorama.

Good advice and thorough explanation by us are as important as the perfect implementation of the order. When designed and implemented correctly, a virtual presentation bears immense potential and is a good investment. We always strive to capture the energy and atmosphere of the location or event and present it to the public.

Virtual panoramas are the only means to invite someone to look around before he or she has actually arrived. I recently spoke with a dentist for whom we had generated a virtual tour. He told me that he'd had an increasing number of clients, and they were now less apprehensive because they had the opportunity to tour his practice without actually taking a seat in his chair. I concentrate on the creation of virtual panoramas and tours, to create unique panoramas that each tell their own story.

We had a short interview with Mr. Stefan Söllner, organizer and Business and Sponsoring Director of Life Ball 2008, who underlined the great work made by Kuzmanov.

How did you use the panoramas created by Stefan Kuzmanov ?

During the last months, the panoramas were extremely useful to us. We used them not only to discuss with the artists creating the setup for the upcoming Lifeball 2008, but also during the negotiations with our partner and sponsors.
We even used them for the internal planning, since these images render so much better the mood of the event than traditional photography.

Can you tell us more about the feedback on the panoramas ?
Everybody who saw the panoramas was impressed. At the very beginning, when we authorized the panoramic shootings we had not a clear idea about what we would get. Today we are very happy with the results. In our office, very soon, everybody knew where to find the coolest images of Lifeball, and we are using them intensly. It seems to me that the combination Lifeball and panoramas works particularly well.

Links:
Lifeball panoramas
Vollwertmedia.at
Lifeball.org
Lifeball 2008