For the Oct. 10 meeting of Wesley LIFE at Wesley United Methodist Church in Bryan, Peg Lavoie brought her collection of stereoscopes and cards. She shared the history of stereoscopic photography, and then provided attendees a hands-on experience.

“From the 1830s,” she explained, “when photography first came on the scene, photographers have been trying to bring images to life.” Stereoscopy was first described in 1832 by English physicist Charles Wheatstone, and, a few years later, David Brewster improved the process.

Peg further explained that instead of one lens, the stereo camera has two, about two and a half inches apart, to mimic the distance between human eyes. The first stereo cameras were big, bulky and heavy. The negative made of glass had to be coated with a light sensitive solution, put in the camera, exposed and then processed in the dark. These cameras were mainly used in portrait photography.”

After Queen Victoria looked through the lens of a stereoscope in 1851 and was impressed by 3D images, the stereo craze began. Stereoscopic photographic views were immensely popular in the United States and Europe beginning in the mid-1850s.

By the 1860s, photography had gotten easier. Scenes were taken with a camera that produced double-image cards. When two images taken from slightly different angles were viewed with a stereoscopic device, they would present as one fused image, giving the illusion of three-dimensional depth.

Soon, American Oliver Wendell Holmes further modified Brewster’s device, introducing a smaller, handheld model. His viewer had a tin hood with a slide for cards mounted on a wooden base. By the 1930s, nearly every home had some kind of hand viewer in the parlor.

Peg added, “Before television, radio and newspapers with pictures, the stereoviewer was a person’s ticket to the world. Companies such as Underwood and Underwood and the Keystone View Company manufactured sets of cards to purchase. Popular scenes were the Civil War, natural wonders, cities, U.S. Presidents and even travel sets around the world.”

“Radio and television caused the old-fashioned stereoscope to fall out of favor,” Peg concluded. However, today, The National Stereoscopic Association keeps stereo photography alive by holding an annual convention and producing the magazine, Stereo World. It covers topics such as historical images, mid-century photography, digital stills, 3D video and computer generated images.”

The Oct. 24 Wesley LIFE meeting at 1:30 p.m. will feature Denver Henderson as he portrays the American poet, Edgar Allen Poe and recites some of Poe’s poetry. The public is invited.

(Information courtesy of the club.)