Stereo Photography

If you have never tried 3D photography, you are really missing out on one of the finest aspects of photography.

It enables you to view places and people as they really were.

Not just flat representations on paper, but real images showing the original depth and roundness as it really was when you pressed the shutter.

I have a large collection of 19th century Stereo Cards which allow me to see Victorian England as it really was all those years ago.

I can see Westminster Bridge in the rush hour with horse drawn cabs as it was on one day in 1889.

The only other way to see the true depth of the scene, was to have actually been there at the time!!

Stereo Photography has always been my time machine, and I think that it is the only one we are ever going to get.

I have some stereo photographs of family and friends who are no longer with us, and it allows me to see them as they really were and sometimes, almost be able to reach out and touch them.

No other art form can give you that ability.

Stereo Photography has been in existence since photography first began.

Stereo photographs can be taken with any camera, but there have always been very specialised cameras made for the job of reproducing a scene in 3D.

The camera that really started the general popularity of 3D photography was the Realist Stereo camera that was made in the USA around the late 1940's and was produced until the 1960's.

This camera is still being used by thousands of photographers worldwide.

Have a look at some of the links on this page which will take you to other sites throughout the world dealing with 3D.

The Group photograph of the Stereoscopic Society 2000 convention in York

Photograph taken by Bernard Makinson, our convention organiser

The Stereoscopic Society, based in England, holds regular monthly meetings and if you visit their website, you will get a wealth of information.

GO ON, give it a try - if I only make one convert then I will have done well.

Being the photographer in the family, the only pictures of me are as scarce as hens teeth. They are generally taken by my wife Jane, who uses either a Canon Sureshot or my Nikon. These were taken specifically for the website, hence the same windcheater.

Click on a photo to see a larger image: