P3D Viewmaster Format Philosophy

[John Bradley <JB3D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As on so many topics Dr T came in
quickly with most of the right anwers to Mark's 
reasonable question as to why some
of us favour the VM  format. 
Dr Ts logical reasons are certainly true for me.
Economy, simplicity and public familiarity with
the medium.
To this I'd add a couple of other personal 
reasons.
For me ViewMaster is stereo.
It was my first experience of stereo viewing 
as a child, and it has a magic for me still.
I also like the additional compositional 
element involved when you have to produce
not a single image to convey your subject ,
but a series of seven.
I've likened the discipline to a poet who
could use free verse, or an epic ballad form,
but deliberately chooses to restrict
themselves to a tight strict convention 
such as a sonnet. Working in that  format
isn't a limitation to the  poet, but rather it
pushes them to clarity of 
expression and  composition.
Pretention warning light flashing. Revert
to practical mode.
And most people can use a VM viewer 
without training, and can flick through my 
holiday pictures quickly, easily, and with
minimal handling of the slides!
Incidentally Mark, I often take some Realist
format shots as well !!
Kind regards.
John Bradley
JB3D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx




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