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Over the past few years, there has been a great increase of interest in 3-D images. Spurred by movies like Monsters vs. Aliens, Up, and Coraline, the general public has begun to embrace this new wave of digital technology.
 The two lenses produce slightly different images, which appear 3-D when viewed together.
However, many people today are totally unaware that 3-D imagery pre-dates these movies by many decades! In fact, stereo photography-the producing of 3-D still images-was one of the first forms of mass home entertainment, before the movies, radio and even sound recording. First developed in the 1840s, stereo photography was immensely popular throughout the second half of the 19th century. It was not unusual for families to have a stereo viewer in their homes, for looking at black & white stereo cards of usually far off, exotic locations...remember, there were no airplanes for one to fly off to those places in! And even though stereo photography's popularity began to wane at the beginning of the 1900s, it has continued to amaze and astound adventurous photographers to this day.
 Viewing stereo images at home looked something like this.
So how does stereo photography work? Well, very much like human vision does, actually. As you probably know, we see in 3-D because our eyes are separated, creating two images with slightly different perspectives. The brain processes these two images together in real-time, and presto...you get visual depth. Stereo photography works very much the same way: two lenses produce two slightly different images, side-by-side. Looking at the film of these images through a viewer (or by learning eye-relaxation techniques without one) produces that same sense of depth. People seem to reach out literally right at you, objects look like they're floating in the air, and textures sometimes take on an almost "hyper-real" sort of look. It's definitely an ambiance that can't be found in conventional, 2-D photography.
 One of the variants of the Stereo Realist camera.
If 3-D seems like something that's out of reach, don't worry-it's not. There are actually numerous options for shooting analog and digital 3-D. The easiest way is to use the Holga 120-3D Stereo plastic camera, which uses medium format film. However, there are also many vintage 35mm stereo cameras available on the used camera market (usually from the 1950s or 1960s, like the famous Stereo Realist) that are built better and have better optics. If getting a stereo camera isn't an option, that's OK, because you can shoot 3-D images with a conventional single-lens camera as well. Just take the camera and shoot two pictures side-by-side, and then print them up later. Naturally, your subject will need to remain still with this technique, and action shots are pretty much out of the question.
 Vintage stereo card featuring Westminster Abbey.
 This vintage card harkens back to the glory days of the British Empire.
If you're interested in viewing vintage stereo cards, there are plenty of them available on the used market. They're a great way to jump back in time to look at people and places that no longer exist. There are also numerous books and web sites devoted to stereo photography, with plenty of information to get you started. So what are you waiting for??
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