See The First Panorama From The Top Of The World’s Tallest Structure!

Architizer News

See The First Panorama From The Top Of The World’s Tallest Structure!

January 28, 2013

Photo: HIPA/Gerald Donovan

It’s being called “the greatest image on earth.” Whether or not you agree, you can’t help but awe at this panoramic image—the first of its kind—captured from atop the Burj Khalifa, some 2,722 feet in the air. It’s the “Cruise-Eye View,” so-called because it was made famous by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol. In the film, Tom sits perched at the edge of the Burj’s peak, exactly where photographer Gerald Donovan positioned his high-tech mechanized panoramic tripod that helped him capture the stunning shot. The shot, of course, is actually composed of 70 different high resolution (80 megapixels) photographs strung together to form the interactive 360 degree panorama. Click through for more.

Donovan’s image is being used as promotional material for the 2nd Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Photography Award (HIPA), which awards $389,000 in prizes to winning photographers from over 99 countries. According to the His Excellency Ali bin Thalith, the award’s General Secretary, the panorama “reflects the goals of HIPA, to extend the boundaries of photography and celebrate images of unusual beauty and quality that are truly outstanding.”

The picture, which can be be rotated, spun, and zoomed, can be found here.