Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
Raumbild is most closely associated with Nazi propaganda produced between 1936 and 1945. But after the war, Otto Schönstein's images were much more benign - and I needed a break from heady stuff. So enjoy the lovely animal stereoviews of Tiere aus aller Welt!
An awful mood turned pleasant due to some of my VistaScreen 3D collection - most notably Eastbourne Model Village from the late 1950s.
Of all of the Raumbild albums created by the Nazi regime, "Aus der Lebensgemeinschaft des Waldes" might well be the most innocuous. Come take a stroll through the German forest - in 3D!
As the British Aristocracy fell into decline, they were forced to open the doors to their stately historic houses to the common person. Here's a look at some, from 1956 in VistaScreen 3D.
On the 101st anniversary of the Armistice, we take a look at 101 unique stereoscopic 3D photos - taken by amateurs, and not sold commercially.
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 we look at the Isle of Man, or Ellan Vannin as it's known to the speakers of its native zombie language, Manx Gaelg. A small island in the Irish Sea, this self-governing Crown dependency was the first place in the world where women could vote in national elections - and boasts the world's oldest parliamentary body. Come take a look!
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".
The Free City of Danzig was created at the end of the Great War by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. This was intended to be a slap in the face to Germany - and two decades later, 80 years ago to the day, Germany fired the first shots here to jumpstart the Second World War.
Douglas Adams hated Heathrow Airport. My wife likes it. Somewhere in between these points of view, there was the 1950s "London Airport", as captured here by VistaScreen. In this essay, we'll explore the nature of documentary stereography that was probably boring when shot but has become more interesting with the passage of time.