Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
I refuse to honor Columbus Day, as I have for decades. So in celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day, here's a lovely portrait of a Zuni War Chief from Timothy H. O'Sullivan, primary stereographer on the Wheeler Expeditions.
I love penguins. Even taxidermic penguins, such as these specimens from the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution in Paris. While bereft of life they rest in peace, they're still lovely (and quite lifelike!) specimens. Let's take a trip to the museum!
After attending an Iron Maiden concert last night, I was inspired to dig back into my archives and find this morality play in a single 3D genre image - in which a monk, having broken his fast, is visited by a demon and a spirit - which, coming back around, seems like it could very much be the subject of an Iron Maiden song!
Being delighted to receive this bizarrely-tall thin paper stereoview a few days prior, I failed at the time to realize that it was a more expensive stereo pair than any of the other 1,000+ that I had received during "Christmas in July". And it was totally worth it, because penguins are the best!
This dramatic Kilburn stereoview of a train climbing Mt. Washington is very dramatic - and very silly, when you realize that the camera was tilted to make the incline look much steeper than it was in reality. And it gets weirder - because at least 3 variants were printed, with the same series number!
Excerpt from rear of card: "This man has a clown dog. Clown dogs are very smart. They are trained to do many tricks. Most clown dogs like to be with the circus even though they do have to work hard."
In the final post in the Month of Remembrance series, we take a look at a merry band of soldiers preparing to "execute" what I've decided to call a "Snowboche" - a simple end to a complex series, much like the Great War itself.
A simple image of a skull intentionally staged in a "tunnel" (trench), accompanied by Wilfred Owen's most complex war poem - set in a tunnel... of sorts.
Included for free with a box of Veado Brand Cigars, this card features a man and his monkey - and might be part of the most prolific "freebie" line of gimmick stereoviews ever produced.
Marketed as the collection of a French Artillery Sergeant's personal photography before, during, and after the Great War, I was sold a disparate collection of mostly-junk by an eBayer who didn't know what he was talking about. Here's the story, and one of the few slides that likely had anything to do with the Great War.