A Village Lost and Found

A Village Lost and Found

Still finishing off the suggested new theory of 3D vision, had a lot on. Shouldn't take too much longer, on the off chance anybody is interested.

In the meantime go out and buy Brian May's new book, A Village Lost and Found. May has been an avid stereo photo collector and student for decades, when he wasn't a rock star and physicist (the money from his music funded his collecting). As part of his collecting he discovered a pioneer of stereo photography, T.R.Williams, who had produced many stereo photographs at a time (the 1850s) when photography itself was very new. The book above shows an entire series Williams created of village life in the 1850s, and also describes the techniques and theory of stereoscopy.

As a huge bonus the book includes its own stereoscope, which May designed himself, that can be used to view any stereo photos, not just those in the book. Stereoscopes were invented in Victorian England, and still give the richest of any 3D experience. They're essentially not much more than a pair of lenses you might find in reading glasses, which are positioned so that the two images are combined to produce a 3D image. (May's stereoscope is revolutionary in that it can be folded flat, for easy carrying and packaging with a book.)

My copy of the book hasn't arrived, but apparently viewing the photos in the book with the stereoscope is like stepping back in time more than 150 years. The book is also a detective story as it describes how the village in the book was eventually identified, who the people are in the pictures etc.

All for $50 online, more than a bargain.

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