New York Stereoscopic Society

Elliott Swanson's delight is obvious as he views the Lucifugia Thigmotaxis reel. Vladimir is seated behind the table at the trade fair of the National Stereoscopic Association annual convention in 2004. Stereo photo by Greg Dinkins

There is an interesting article from the New York Times on "Vladimir" - who publishes and manufactures her own ViewMaster reels without a viewmaster camera, blank reels, or cutter. Everything is hand-made and cut with an exacto knife, etc.

The article talks about the "performances" she gives while the audience members each look at their wiewmaster reels. You can see the complete article here.

The artist's website is here.
A Portland Tribune article on the artist Vladimir can be found here.

What I find most interesting is the drawn image of the audience members. Look at the person at the lower left. The artist either:

1) Never had a Viewmaster viewer
2) Flunked out of Art School or
3) Is trying to make some philosophical statement.

Check it out,
Sheldon Aronowitz

The connection between stereo photography and erotica goes back to the dawn of the commercial photographic age, circa 1850.

But only with today's niche marketing could you launch a magazine with "Full Color 3D in Every Issue" that proclaims its about "women, celebrities, sex, 3D, dating, advice, cars, poker, hot fashion, networking, romance and," (redundently) "chicks."

If this describes your interests to a 'T' then you'll no doubt want to go here for more.

NYSS friend Barry Rothstein, publisher of Phantograms from Nature and a whole line of amazing 3D note cards will be here for the National Stationery Show at the Javitz Center May 20-23. This trip celebrates the release of his new book Pop-Up 3D. Barry has conducted workshops at the National Stereoscopic Association conventions and his books contain instructions for making your own phantograms. I have Phantograms from Nature and it's wonderful. Barry is planning to be at the Third Friday Stereo Dinner May 18 at La Cocina, 217 West 85th Street (just off Broadway) starting around 7.

Follow up: Mick Andreano sent in this picture from the 3rd Friday Stereo Dinner. Thanks Mick!

Acclaimed directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are collaborating on a 3D trilogy featuring Hergé's Tintin, the perennially youthful reporter/adventurer who is, outside of the US, one of the world's most famous comic book characters.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chief executive of DreamWorks Animation, gets my vote for being the biggest promotor of 3D cinema around today.

Take just two statements from this New York Times article: “I believe that this is the single greatest opportunity for the moviegoing experience since the advent of color” and his prediction that after 2009 “consumers will own their own 3-D glasses in the same way they have sunglasses for going outside.”

For the complete article, go here.

Multi-media artist and NYSS member Doug Skinner suffered a terrible flood in his studio. He is a frequent participant in Carousel series of "Cartoon slide shows and other projected pictures" curated by Robert Sikoryak. This week's event at Dixon Place is a benefit for Doug, who contributed generously to the Victorian Television slide show at the New York Public Library in 2005. Jerry Marks will present a 3-D segment in the event.
Directions to 258 Bowery. Buy Tickets.

Joe Liptak working on one of his sets for the View-Master reel of "Peter Pan."

"The Magic of View-Master will take a stroll through the history of the View-Master company. The exhibition will included numerous pieces of View-Master history, such as cameras, viewers, reels and projectors."

"A highlight of the exhibition will be original sculptures from View-Master artist, Joe Liptak. Mr. Liptak hand-crafted many of the best View-Master sets in the 1970's including Cinderella, the Jungle Book and the Flintstones. A selection of Mr. Liptak's creations will be on display in the Gallery." -- from their website.

For an article on this exhibition from the Portland Mercury, go here.

For the 3D Center of Art & Photography's website, go here.

Sheldon Aronowitz and Gary Schacker have just released UNSEEN ELLIS ISLAND - A National Landmark Abandoned: The South Side in 3D. The 3-reel View-Master pack features 21 stereo photos drawn from their extensive documentation of the island in 2003, and their research into historic 3D photos about Ellis Island immigration. The whole project started with a chance meeting of Sheldon and Ellis Island media specialist Eric Byron at a New York Stereoscopic Society event in 2000. Sheldon and Gary put together a team and produced the award-winning slide show that premiered at our Spring 2004 meeting and was shown to great acclaim at the National Stereoscopic Association convention and several times on Ellis Island.

Sheldon and Gary have some information and a special offer for NYSS members:

Reel one shows 7 vintage images of Ellis Island and the immigration process and reels 2 and 3 show the state of the South Side (or - Islands 2 and 3 as they are also referred to) of Ellis Island after 50 years of neglect and abandonment. Just now the South Side is being stabilized and restored and the Ferry Building was the first section of the South Side to be completed - taking well over a year of dedicated restoration work (There are 28 buildings yet to complete - so this will be quite a long process). These images can never be captured again as we shot them just before the stabilization process.

These View-Master packs are selling for $12.99 on Sell 3D, from various 3D dealers, eBay (coming soon), etc. They will be sold at the NSA convention for $12.99. BUT - for any NYSS member, the price will be $10.00! Any NYSS member can pick up the packet from Sheldon at the next meeting (June 7th) or any future meeting for the special NYSS member price. As an added bonus - I have a very limited number of a 2.5 by 4 inch 2-phase lenticular showing a vintage image of immigrants waiting to be processed in the Ellis Island waiting room - changing to one of the large abandoned rooms in the Baggage and Dormitory building. (both images can be seen in 3D in the pack). If you want the lenticular piece it's an additional $5.00.

Photo by Norbert Schoerner ©2007 The New York Times Company

If you're planning a vacation in the Mediterranean this summer, you'll apparently see some lovely ladies wearing stylish 3D glasses and carrying bright red 3D lorgnettes. Maybe those girls were looking at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue?

The glasses were supplied by NYSS friend David Burder.

At the 2007 Society for Information Display conference in Long Beach, CA SeeReal, a German firm demonstrated a new holographic 3D video display.

The idea here is that the monitor uses an eye tracker to follow your eye's movement. It then displays a 30 X 30 pixel image that contains the complete image, a separate view for both right and left eye. This would reduce the huge amount of data normally needed for stereoscopic display.

Its only in prototype phase now and the images it displays are in red tones, not full color, as the image they provide clearly shows.

Would you be happy with 1,800 pixels of resolution? How effective is the eye tracking software? What if I had an epileptic seizure? How soon do they project being able to do this in three channels of full color?

For more on the news release. go here.
For the company website, go here.