P3D 3D/stereoview sitings in LA and vicinity (longish)

["Susan B.F. Wageman" <swageman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently returned from a convention in Los Angeles. Before everything
started, I had a couple hours in the late afternoon, so I wandered around
"downtown." There are lots of great buildings with ornate details. Pershing
Square and the library also appeared to be good subjects. (I'll know when I
get my film back.)

My first 3D siting was at the new California Science Center. There is an
exhibit about how people see, with a giant cross-section model of an eye.
Nearby, were a selection of stereoviews. One was pseudoscopic. Since there
was no interpretive label explaining this, I guessed it might be a mistake.
I asked the staff person in the gallery about it. They said it wasn't
supposed to be pseudo, as far as they knew. I find it especially annoying
when museums get it wrong!

That same night, I got to see the 3D IMAX film, Into the Deep. My guess is
that the producers of that movie thought that the effect of having the
image begin about 1-1/2 inches from your face would be really realistic --
like scuba diving. It's too bad. The footage is glorious, but having
seaweed and stuff floating by within inches of the face all the time is
really tiring. Perhaps they think they can ignore the window, because the
IMAX screen nearly fills your view? I mentioned my concern to one of the
Science Center staff -- They said that children really love it. (I am
please to say that my own museum's IMAX specialist said that that wasn't a
very satisfying response.)

I didn't see any more 3D stuff for a couple days, but did get a chance to
photograph Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House. One person came up to me
and said "Is that a Realist?" (On the occasions when anyone says anything,
it's usually something like "Is that a stereo or 3D camera?") Actually, I
was using a Revere, and I explained some basic differences between the
Revere, the Realist and the Kodak. He said his father used to have a
Realist and thought he might be interested in doing some stereo
photography, too. I told him about taping one-time use cameras together,
cha-chas, and dual SLR's, and that he could probably find a 1950's camera
on the Internet. (Sorry, the photo-3D and sell-3D addresses just did not
come tripping off my tounge.)

My final siting was at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage. They have
several stereoviewers and views in their exhibits, and a viewer and view
reproductions in their children's house (a hands-on reproduction of a ranch
house). All of the views were exceptional. I asked a staff person about it,
and she said some views were taken by the curator's husband on a recent
visit to the original ranch, and that others were in their collection. She
said that they had a major exhibit of stereoviews a few years ago and that
a couple great collections were donated to their research library. I didn't
have time to follow up, but if you are in the area, there might be some
treasurers there!

Oh, and I saw one-time-use Image Tech camera for sale at the Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art. I asked if they sell many. The salesperson said
they were very popular...  and that she has bought many of them, too.

There is hope for our passion!


Susan Wageman
swageman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
suewageman@xxxxxxxxxxx



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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 2747
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