So about that 360-degree tour of Pullman Yard...

What’s the best way to show readers a fenced-off, awe-inspiring place? Words work. Still photographs can easily do the trick. But if you can give people the option of touring a space themselves from the comfort of their laptops, tablets, and other doohickeys, then why not use it? For this week’s cover story about the future of Pullman Yard, CL partnered with Dan Smigrod, an Atlanta-based freelance photographer who specializes in spherical panoramas and the chief marketing officer of TourWrist, a website where people can record, view, and share 360-degree spherical panoramas, or “panos.” In the Pullman Yard photos, viewers are placed in their surroundings and can “explore” the area. We chatted with CL Photo Editor Joeff Davis and Smigrod about the experience. To view larger versions of the images, check out “The future of Pullman Yard.”

Why this approach?

Davis: We were in the cover meeting and thinking about creative ways to show people this tremendous space. It’s tremendous in terms of size, texture, and its environment. And we hit on this original idea. I was trying to think of a new and fresh approach to this story. We’ve seen these 360-degree images and you had this contact... All credit goes to Dan, who worked tirelessly on this project, and Thomas, who helped with the vision and provided the connections.

I’ve been to Pullman Yard and it’s an impressive space. Nature and rust have combined into one gigantic canvas. And then you have this gritty artist element of people going in there for years and creating powerful and intense murals. One thing that separates this space from almost any one that I’ve been in is the light. It filters through the buildings in so many ways. You can have a black hole next to the most intense, saturated colors you’ve ever seen. This was the opportunity to allow people the feeling of walking through there and walking around.