Re: Are stereo slides worth anything ???

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. T. observes:

>Marc expressed surprise about the deamand for pictures of people unknown to
>us.  Apart from the good price ;), pictures of people always held and will
>hold interest.  I once got a lot here locally, mostly pictures of a family. 
>I loved them!  My wife expressed the same surprise why would I be
>interested in seeing pictures of people not known to me.  It is fascinating
>to intrude to someone's home through these stereo pictures.  You always
>wonder what would are these kids doing today in their 40s and 50s...

Yes, these pictures are like a (stereo) window into the past.  The
fashions, the hairstyles, the eyeglass frames, the furniture, etc.
are all real, down-to-earth representations of what middle-class
people owned and wore.  Contrast that with media shots from the same
era, which are typically of celebrities, politicians, etc., and such
day-to-day stuff is at best in the background, and certainly not
in stereo and on first-generation Kodachrome!

And why is having pictures of strangers so strange?  When you go to
an amusement park, or a zoo, or just take pictures on the street, you
almost inevitably get pictures of strangers, too; the only difference is
that you took it yourself.  Perhaps people are unconsciously reacting
to the fact that the *photographer* is unknown, and unknowable (not
being in the picture [unless taken with a self-timer, but then there's
no way to know that, either!]).

I used to try to avoid photographing people when I went out to shoot.
Susan (my wife) on the other hand has always liked taking candid shots
of people, especially children.  I began to notice that while my
photographs in comparison were at least equally pretty, hers often
had additional "warmth", attributable to the human element in the
picture.  Mine often generated the comment "Gee, that'd be a great
shot if there were a person right *there*".  I've since decided that
people in a shot, even total strangers, can be a positive element and
not a distraction (as I used to feel).  Of course there doesn't need
to be people in *every* shot. :-)

        -Greg W.


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