P3D Books vs. stereo images

[fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Dr. George A. Themelis)]

John Roberts writes:

>If it hasn't already been done, perhaps it would be useful for 3D photography 
>to advance to the 19th century :-), by development of some analog to the
>Dewey Decimal System. When I go to the library, I don't have to search through
>every book in the place to find a particular topic. With keywords, and
>multi-dimensional computer indexing, finding a slide you want should be
>hundreds or thousands of times faster than an exhaustive search.

Interesting thoughts John but let's face reality here.  Personal images and
books are two completely different things.  Books are published material. 
Personal pictures are... well, just personal pictures.  Unless our society
decides that storing and indexing stereo images is a top priority for our
survival and advancement as human beings, something that by the looks of
things is not likely to happen, these ideas (cataloging stereo personal
slide collections) will remain a dream...

>As to how far it can grow before it becomes unmanageable, I don't know,
>but I suspect the current system for books handles more items than there
>are stereo photographs (at least photographs that have been viewed publicly).

Do you know of any person who has authored 300,000 books and all these
books are handed to one person or library to catalog  (case of Harold
Lloyd's stereo slides)?  In Lloyd's case, the pictures were organized
(cataloged?) by his granddaughter and other relatives.  I don't know what
system they used but I suspect they gave emphasis to the pictures with
known movie stars that had commercial value as manifested by the
publication of the book "Hollywood 3D".

Again, it makes no sense to compare existing library systems (built because
of the recognition of the importance of books in our society) to
preservation of stereo images which are in the hands of a few volunteers
right now and of interest to a very small group of people.

The most important question is who's stereo images are of interest to the
general public?  Some Harold Lloyd's images were of interest since they
dealt with known personalities (great shots of Marilyn Monroe are among the
best).  The rest of Lloyd's pictures are of some interest to others because
Lloyd was a public figure himself and also to collectors of stereo images. 
Same for pictures by President Eisenhower, John Wayne and a few more. 
Well-known stereo personalities like Seton Rochwite (Realist) and William
Cruber (VM) are of interest to us (stereo fans) mainly and of little
interest to anyone else.  Mr. Average Joe's pictures are of interest to
very few people right now (but I see an increasing recognition among us -
stereo photographers & collectors) because of the "accidental masterpieces"
that Ron mentioned and the glimpse of the past in stereo that we have
learned to appreciate.  This work belongs, IMO, to the hands of people who
appreciate stereo and not libraries.

Today I take pictures.  Tomorrow I die.  Who will care about my work other
that people who knew me, or appreciate stereo photography?  I estimated
that if I continue shooting at the present rate for 40 more years
(optimistic? :-)) I will have some 50,000 stereo pictures accumulated. 
Unless something drastic happens with the public's appreciation of stereo
images or my public recognition, I don' t think that my work would be of
interest to anyone beyond our small circle of stereo enthusiasts.

Dan gave the most sensible solution:  A couple of hundred slides
(representative of my life and work, including some potentially valuable
historical images) to the NSA library, the rest to collectors and people
who appreciate stereo (including, hopefully my family).  And why wait unit
you die? :-)  I am sure people could sell interesting groups of images
right now (a few people are doing it - but it helps if your name is Stan
White or Bill Walton :-))

The point that I tried to make with this thread is that stereo slides are
worth money to a few of us and we should let this be known.  This way, the
person who inherits a couple of thousand slides from a relative but has no
interest on them might decide to sell them (=preserve) instead of tossing
them away.  Judging from postings in sell-3d (and accidental responses to
the list) the business of selling 50s stereo slides is going well.

George Themelis


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