P3D Re: Good Old Henry

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>1.  Good old Henry is suggesting that the highest function of
> stereography is to replicate reality (as it is perceived by us humans with
> approximately 2 1/2" interocular depth perception).  If that is the case
> then we don't need stereography at all!  Why not just look at "nature
> itself" or directly at "a view through an open window" without the use of
> any "medium" or "instrument" of any kind?

Come on Ray!  OK, so we see the scene with our eyes... What is next?

How about our desire to capture the scene in a more permanent manner 
than just a memory?  Isn't this desire that has motivated a lot of work 
in photography and the arts (painting, sculpture, sound reproduction)?

One of the biggest "claims to fame" of stereo photography from day 
one has been the incredible realism of the medium... 

Just to copy a few sentences from the book "A Trip Around the World 
through the Telebinocular" published by the Keystone View Company in 
1930... The chapter is titled "The Third Dimension Gives Reality to 
the World Tour"... A few abstracts: "The advantages of (stereo
photography) over any other kind of photography is giving the
observer the consciousness of being present in the scene depicted...
(It is what) psychologists say, 'The person in the place seen,'
or 'The person is really seeing the place itself'... The Keystone
World Tour thus furnishes the means for travel experience almost
equal to that of a real trip around the world..."

That was the time when stereo photographs were used as a means
of a realistic trip through lands that most people would never 
visit.  A few decades later, the Realist stereo camera offered a 
tool for people to capture this "reality" in places that they visit, 
offering the best possible instrument for this purpose, the stereo 
camera, "the camera that sees the same way as you" (most all of the 
advertisement of stereo cameras stresses this point - this was 
always the biggest selling point of stereo photography)

Why did hundreds of thousands of people got into stereo 
photography in the 50s?  From the pictures that I see from
that era, not for the artistic value, but to capture memories.
Their friends & relatives, their houses, cars, neighborhoods,
occupations, trips, vacations, special events...

And, come to think about it, most of us, amateur photographers,
got into stereo for the same reason... We were impressed with the
depth and the sense of "being there" in VM reels, stereo views,
our relatives' stereo pictures, our own first stereo pictures.
And many of us are still here for this reason... To capture
our memories in a way we feel it is far superior to ordinary
(flat) photography.

In the process, many of us discovered "photography" and "art"...
Yes, there is much more to stereo photography than a "faithful
record" but still I believe the realism was, is, and will 
remain the number one virtue of the medium.

George Themelis, stepping off the podium :-)


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