A simple cross sits above a pile of German corpses - in a 1,000-year-old village that was completely leveled in a year, and finally came to be home to the largest military cemetery in France.
One-shot #19: A Cross at Ablain
Fasser Collection: More Belgian Ruination
A look at the next box marked "Belgium" in the A. O. Fasser, as well as a consideration as to why plates in poor condition still need the "deluxe treatment" as regards their conservation.
Acquisition: Brentano’s “Verdun”
A new box of slides from Brentano's - stamped "Verdun" on the front - gives me the opportunity to make some side-by-side comparisons of both duplicate and same-subject images from my collection.
One-shot #17: Fasser’s Triple Exposure
A double exposure can be accidental. But this strange triple exposure - found in one of A. O. Fasser's "Belgium" boxes - was almost certainly made on purpose. The question is: to what end?
One-shot #16: Post-War Ypres
An extremely brief post, mainly showcasing a very lovely stereographic image of the scars left upon the fields of Flanders after the cessation of hostilities in the Great War.
One-shot #15: GAS!
The Great War was notorious for many things, and one of the most prominent among them was the use of gas warfare. Herein is explained the main gas weapons used in direct violation of the Hague Convention, their effects, and the reason they were not used much after the War.
One-shot #14: Ambulance Parking Lot
While not as commonly represented in exciting sets of stereoviews, photographs and newsreels from the front - or any media really, standing around and shooting the breeze was as much a part of Great War life as ducking for cover during a bombardment or hastily fitting a gas mask. These were men at war, but foremost, they were men living their lives.
Fasser Collection: Reims Cathedral & More
Dr. Fasser's collection came with a twine-bound set of 8 slides marked "Rheims", a common alternate spelling of Reims. But given what's on the slides, he couldn't have made them all himself - so we must examine the evidence to try to suss out whether Fasser ever did photograph Reims.
Fasser Collection: Devastated Belgium
One of the items in Andrew O. Fasser's collection of stereo slides is a box, which originally held Verascope Richard 6x13 diapositives, simply marked "Belgium". Inside are 16 slides of Great War devastation; the best 8 are examined.
One-shot #8: At a Calvary Near the Ancre
In which Wilfred Owen's poem is paired with and analyzed beside one of the images from the A. O. Fasser Collection.