Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself. So we're all going to wind up as prisoners in Portmeirion, the North Wales village designed by a mad visionary and used for the exteriors of "The Village" in ITV's 1967 sci-fi allegory "The Prisoner". Shown in VistaScreen 3D and in annotated screengrabs from the series,
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland, and thus, the Second World War. And of course, Heinrich Hoffman and Raumbild were there to capture it. While we can't celebrate this anniversary, we can study it - with 80 stereoviews split between two posts. This one focuses on "Die Soldaten des Führers im Felde Band I: Der Feldzug in Polen".
In the 100th post (!) on Brooklyn Stereography, we take a look at the road behind us - as well as the journey ahead. I'll present stats, feedback, site news, and of course - stereoscopic 3D photography! And everything related to Nazi-era Raumbild is contained in a second section at the bottom, so no need to avert your eyes. Come see what's cooking at Brooklyn Stereography!
Out of love of all things circus, my very first series of images on this blog was VistaScreen C.62 "Bertram Mills Circus". This is more or less a redux of that series, revamped to greatly improve the image quality, display options, and anaglyphs, with some new information. This is the first in a series of three posts focused on 1950s VistaScreen stereography of Britain's answer to RB&BB - Bertram Mills Circus - because who doesn't love the Big Top?
My opinion that Finland is a weird and wonderful place is not tempered by this Mikro-Kino filmstrip, the first I'll be posting of seven I currently own. A barely-known competitor to Tru-Vue, if they can be called a competitor being that they began producing their "filmseries" after Tru-Vue was bought out, Mikro-Kino offers a 3D look at the world of Finland and beyond through Finnish eyes.
It's not surprising that the newly-formed Tru-Vue company of Rock Island, Illinois decided to try their hand in the advertising market. Nor is it surprising that they chose a local institution for one of their first advertising filmstrips. What is surprising is that this early subject was a girls' Catholic school run by the Salesian Sisters - and that the stereo photography is actually pretty darn good, considering!
1933 in the finest borough of the greatest city in America is brought to life, in sepia-toned 3D in a rare second strip from Tru Vue. See the Botanical Gardens, Prospect Park, the industry on the Gowanus Canal, the Red Hook Grain Terminal - and more - all in stereo pairs & anaglyphic 3D!
On 1 April 1915, an MoS-3 piloted by Sergeant Jean Navarre took to the skies - where it encountered a German Albatros B.II. Some sharpshooting by the observer, Lieutenant Jean Robert, brought down the biplane - leading to the capture of the craft and its occupants, and the first victory for the MS 12 Escadrille, and medals for Navarre and Robert.
While much is made of Pittsburgh's once-thriving steel industry, the importance of the city's glass industry cannot be understated - in 1900, a single Steel City firm produced 60% of the nation's plate glass. Take a peek inside the PPG facility in Tarentum, PA in 5 fantastic stereoviews from U&U!
In the spirit of the holiday season, I present the Carnaval de Nice from 1933, from a fantastic set of glass positive slides in my collection. I hope that these pictures of joy, jubilation, and celebration will bring happiness to my readers, regardless of which (if any) holidays they are celebrating around this time of year - and that they will transform these feelings into kindnesses towards others. Because that's truly in the spirit of any joyous celebration, is it not?