STEREO NEW YORK features the photography of 3DMick, a New York-based stereo hobbyist and comic book collector. PHOTO GALLERIES display images inANAGLYPH format.

A LITTLE HISTORY:
Stereoscopy, stereoscopic imaging or 3-D (three-dimensional) imaging is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image. The illusion of depth in a photograph, movie, or other two-dimensional image is created by presenting a slightly different image to each eye. It was first invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838.

Modern 35mm Stereo Cameras came on the market in the US around 1948. By 1953, a half dozen manufacturers were turning out stereo cameras, and 3D was sweeping the country: via home photography, via the movies, and via the comic book industry. which in the late Summer of 1953 saw the debut of THREE DIMENSION COMICS starring MIGHTY MOUSE.

Sadly, by 1954, 3D was gone from the movie houses, from the comic book stalls, yet held on in the home photography industry for a few more years. Everything but the small format Viewmaster, relegated to the toy aisle, disppeared underground into the hands of dedicated hobbists and collectors,

With 3D now returning to movieplexes, introducing new generations to the art and technique of 3D, it's only a matter of time before Stereo Photography again resumes its place among viable photographic formats.

Today, 3D images are created by several means: by surviving stereo cameras from the boom years; by specially engineered twin or joined cameras, either digitial or conventional, and by a new generation of medium format (120 mm) stereo film cameras now appearing from Japan (at a dear price). Stereo pictures can also be taken by a single digital or film camera taking two pictures in succession from two different vantage points, or by the use of an attachment in front of the lens that splits the film image into two views by the use of prisms and mirrors.