Description
Three-dimensional stereoviews were wildly popular in the mid-19th century. Yet public infatuation fueled highbrow scorn, and even when they fell from favor, critics retained their disdain. Thus a dazzling body of photographic work has unjustly been buried.
This book explores how compelling images were made by carefully combining subject matter, composition, lighting, tonality, blocking and depth. It draws upon the fine arts, the mass media, humanities, history, and even geology. Throughout, overlooked photographers are celebrated, such as the one who found extraordinary visual parallels within nature, anticipating Cezanne and Seurat--or the one who refused to play favorites during a bitter war and found humanity on both sides--or the one who took a favorite American glen and found menace all about.
Stereographers were actually more like film directors or television producers than large format photographers: the best ones fused artistry with commercial appeal.
About the Author
Douglas Heil is a radio-television-film professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he teaches media aesthetics, scriptwriting and filmmaking.