Januarylfebruary 1989 Volume 15, Number 6 STEREO
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JanuarylFebruary 1989 Volume 15, Number 6 STEREO- NATIONAL STEREOSCOP'IC ASSOCIATIONI Three Reviews by T.K. Treadwell ince there are so few books on though only part of it will be of journalism; and there are biogra- S early stereography, we must interest to most of us, this little book phies and examples of the work of often draw on general histories of is certainly worthwhile if you have the more important photographers. photography for the fragments they stereos of Greece in your collection. A general bibliography is provided, contain about our specialized field. (Hellenic Historical Institute, plus a detailed listing of materials Often, even these are few and far $32.00.) vublished in Istanbul. the capital. between; a good example is the east- overall, this is a good general refer- ern Mediterranean, roughly from ence, though its limited use to stereo Greece to Egypt. Although this area enthusiasts and the rather high price was well-stereographed from the may discourage all but those with a earliest days, due to its historical sig- deep interest in the area. ($68.00 nificance and imvortance to several post-paid from Hashet Kitabevi religious groups, books about it are A.S., Box 219-Beyoglu, Istanbul, rare. Indeed, White's book about Turkey. U.S. checks OK.) Frith, published by Dover, is the Finally, Focus East is another only one which leaps to mind. quarto, hardbound volume. The 268 It's noteworthy, then, that in illustrations are superbly reproduced, recent months not one, but three the credentials of Mr. Perez (Chief books on the subject have appeared, Curator of Photography at the Israel two specialized, one more general. Museum) are outstanding, and the These are History of Greek Photog- writing is excellent. The first half of raphy, 1839-1960, by Alkis X. the book is a fascinating analysis of Xanthakis, published by the Hellen- the primary types of photography ic Literary and Historical Archives done: As documentation for histori- Society of Athens; Photography in cal research, and as tourist souven- the Ottoman Empire, 1839-191 9, by irs. In the latter case, photographers Engin Cizgen, from Hashet Kitabevi Ms. Cizgen's quarto-sized, hard- both resident and visiting produced A. S. of Istanbul; and Focus East - bound, 230 page look at Photog- views to meet the preconceptions of Early Photography in the Near East, raphy in the Ottoman Empire is a their customers, and these were of- 1839-1885, by Nissan Perez, pub- mixed bag. Many of the approxi- ten posed and captioned with mini- lished by Abrams of New York City. mately 200 reproductions of photos mal relation to reality. The second While all of these are welcome, they are of mediocre quality, and both half is a listing, with capsule biogra- do vary in both basic quality and the writing and translation are occa- phies, of all the known workers in their interest to stereo scholars. sionally eccentric The emphasis is the area, and examples of their National in scope and modest in on local photographers; some (but work. While most of this section is size is the History of Greek Photog- not all) foreign workers are includ- excellent, there are some notable raphy, in paperbound octavo, 248 ed. Although the geographical blind spots. B. W. Kilburn, for ex- pages. This is the third edition; the coverage is primarily of modern Tur- ample, who as early as 1874 issued first two were in Greek and not key, the Empire included much of copy views of the area, and whose available here. The approximately the Near East, and there are several staff photographers later took 100 photo reproductions are gener- references to other areas. An in- hundreds of fine stereos, is dis- ally good, and the translation is teresting analysis is made of the reli- missed with a couple of cribbed sen- fluent. Particularly fascinating is the gious constraints which discouraged tences about the general operation account of the interactions between both Moslems and Jews from engag- of his company. But these are minor the many foreign photographers ing in photography, in spite of which flaws in a generally excellent work. (usually transients) and the resident rulers like Sultan Abdulhamid I1 Since the geographical coverage is Greek workers. The coverage of for- were strong supporters of the art. the Grand Tour Mid-East from Tur- eign workers, while not in great Equally useful is a summary of key to Egypt, and the time frame is depth, seems reasonably complete; historical events of the Empire, a the heyday of stereography, it is a all of the Greek photographers are subiect little-known to most of us. "must have" general reference for unknown to me, even though two first section of the book places stereo students with any interest at are shown operating stereo cameras. he photography into the social context all in that area. ($52.60 post-paid The latter half is given over to the of the region; the next follows the from A Photographers Place, Box 20th century; while interesting, it development of various fields of 274, Prince St., New York, NY will be of little value for those work- coverage such as travel and photo- 10012.) m ing with vintage stereographs. Even Copyright 01989 by the STEREOa NATIONAL STEREOSCOPIC ASSOCIATION Volume 15, Number 6 IN THIS ISSUE JanuaryIFebruary 1989 Following the Frontier from Arizona to Alaska ................. 6 by Jeremy Rowe 14 NSA Board of Directors A Pulfrich 3-D History. ..................................... by Abram Klooswijk CHAIRMAN Louis H. Smaus Stereo Drawing, Part Three: Drawing Spheres and Ellipsoids ..... 16 MEMBERS by ors st Hoyer Paul Wing T.K. Treadwell Stereoclues ..............................................22 Susan Pinsky by Laurance Wolfe Dieter Lorenz A Precision Camera Shift Platform ...........................32 by A1 Meyers NSA Officers PRESIDENT T.K. Treadwell REGULAR FEATURES SECRETARY John Weiler Editor'sView ............................................. 2 TREASURER William Eloe Letters .................................................. 4 VICE PRESIDENT, REGIONAL AFFAIRS Newviews ...............................................25 Tom Rogers GENERAL BUSINESS MANAGER Theunknowns ........................................... 28 Linda S. Carter Thesociety .............................................. 34 Stereo World Staff Classified ............................................... 36 EDITOR Calendar ................................................38 John Dennis ART DIRECTOR Mark Willke Stereo World is published bimonthly by the National Stereoscopic Association. Inc. Annual dues: $22 third class US. $30 first class US. Canada. and foreian surface. 540 international airmail. All memberships a6based on the nublishlno vear of Stereo World. which beams in ~archaniendhtthlhe~anuary Febr~ary ~ss~cof the -"-m-p next year All new membershops rece ved will commence w~tntne Marcn,Apr!l IssLe of fnecurrent calendar year If you have not received y'our Wnen applylnq for membersn~p,pleaseaav~se us 11you do not deslreihe back Issues of the current volume new NSA Membership Diret Mater~alIn th~spubllcatlon may not be reproduced by the time this issue arrive w~thoutwrltten permlsslon of the NSA, Inc please contact John Weiler, NSA Secretary, PO Box ' Columbus, OH 4321 National Stereoscopic Association (Memberships, renewals, address changes, classified ads, display ads) PO. Box 14801, Columbus, OH 43214 Stereo World Editorial Office (Letters to the editor, articles) 5610 SE 71st Ave., Portland, OR 97206 "Newviews" Editor David Starkman PO. Box 2368, Culver City, CA 90231 "The Unknowns" Editor Dave Klein 14416 Harrisville Rd., Mt. Airy, MD 21771 "3-D Movies" Editor Bill Shepard 17350 E. Temple Ave., #399 LaPuente, CA 91744 Front Cover: From Laurance Wolfe's feature Stereoscopic Society, American Br. "Stereoclues" on page 22, speculating Jack E. Cavender, Corresponding Secretary 1677 Dorsey Ave., Suite C - - -,---- on this and similar views' influence East Point, GA 30344 PC- on General Douglas ~ac~rihurin the photo coverage of his World War 11 MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL STEREOSCOPIC UNION return to the Philippines. Pulf rich Bamboozled f you think Cincinnati was the I loser in January's Super Bowl, you're only half right. The other loser may well have been that elu- sive but wide potential enthusiasm for 3-D images among the general public. It somehow never completely disappears, despite its repeated exploitation by hopeless films, videos and advertising gimmicks. But this time the audience was the biggest ever - a captive of the super Bowl, network TV's most Easily the most impressive 3-0 aspect of Super Bowl Sunday was the opening animated promoted and profitable production segment of ,,gebop gamboozled,,, of the winter. Ever since the announcement late last year that the 3-D Coke commer- as 20 million) Coca Cola even limit- tention easily exceeded that given to cial once scheduled to sponsor a 3-D ed in-store promotion, and some any other 3-D presentation in any segment of u~oonlightinguwould stores had to remove glasses from format, and the resulting audience instead bring us the Super Bowl shelves and ration them at the cash of millions was prepared for some- half-time in 3-D, the news spread register to Coke buyers (often Diet thing truly impressive - something across the country with relatively Coke only) who requested them. in a class with the Super Bowl. little need for paid promotion by The glasses shortage itself became What they actually saw between Coca Cola. The media, from video with segments on NPR's halves of the game probably magazines to newspapers to TV "Morning Edition" and several TV amused, confused and disappointed news, seemed fascinated by the idea, news shows drawing yet more atten- them in varying proportions. Things and provided a large part of the tion to the first-of-its-kind 3-D event started out well, with the visually game's potential audience with through the added incentive of the dramatic 3-D effects in the Diet generally positive accounts of the need to actually search for the sud- Coke commercial being maintained Nuoptix approach to Pulfrich effect denly scarce glasses.