Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
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?
Unlike our previous "Christmas present" from Tru Vue, this 1933 filmstrip is not a creepy, low-budget romp through a garage and then a weird scene in a little girl's darkened living room. Rather, it is a fairly interesting peek into messaging for kids during the Great Depression, with MUCH higher production value.
VistaScreen had the opportunity to create some historically interesting stereoviews when they finally sent one of their photographers out of the United Kingdom - and down to Southern Ireland. Sadly, but predictably, they opted instead to show some rather standard (if well-taken) views of some rather standard tourist destinations in the "rebel county".
Probably the best repository for stereoscopic photography of the Exposition Internationale Paris 1937 is a book published late in the year - with stereoviews by notorious Nazi photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, and some text that just drips with propaganda. This post takes a first look at this Raumbild album, and the context and subtext surrounding it.
Colombia is a beautiful country that can be visited via Colombian Steamship Lines! This Tru Vue filmstrip features 3D photography of Colombia: the ruins of a fort, passengers disembarking from a steamship, a man selling a monkey, the home of the President of Colombian Steamship Lines, a torture house of the Spanish Inquisition, and more. Steamships!
In 1935, neither the phrase nor the concept of "politically correct" was in existence. Nowhere is this more evident than in this set of 14 stereoviews from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus - in this case, the Greatest Freak Show on Tru Vue 3D.
After the shoulder strap broke on a dress during a usually-innocent dance routine, Gypsy Rose Lee was propelled into the world of burlesque - where she became one of its most legendary performers. Here she is in wonderful 3D!
Since someone recently told me that it was "impossible" to properly digitize Tru Vue 3D photographic reels, I went ahead and digitized #809, "Petrified Forest and Painted Desert" - and they actually turned out pretty great! Here are all 14 images as stereo pairs & anaglyphs.
First used by man in the Paleolithic era, the interconnected Wookey Hole Caves stretch far into the earth, through vast, flooded chambers created by the underground River Axe. Used as a Doctor Who shooting location in "Revenge of the Cybermen",
The post-war Raumbild-Verlag Siegfried Brandmüller series "Denmark" shows a number of great views of Copenhagen, as well as a couple of terrible ones.