Stereoscopy is Good For You: Life in 3-D

Product Information

I worked with my “great accomplice” Denis Pellerin, spending hours and hours editing the images into a format which would be both beautiful and comfortable to look at. I have thought of some ways to make the process smoother but at the end of the day, you still have to sit and edit everything to the accuracy of a pixel. Please be mindful that Brian has limited time and will only be signing copies of “Stereoscopy Is Good For You” that have been purchased at the gallery. The images, from Brian’s personal archives, were taken using the various stereo cameras which Brian carried throughout his life. Ah, that’s easy – TR Williams, who was a master of his craft during the first stereoscopy boom in the 1850s.

Brian May, creator of the 21st-century incarnation of the London Stereoscopic Company, became an Internet evangelist for 3-D photography during the recent lockdown period, and fired up a whole new community of stereoscopists, all sharing their 3-D pictures on Instagram. The immersive realism of 3-D beckoned to them to experience the far-flung wonders of the world without ever leaving their fireside.A lot of people go through almost their whole lives without realising they have this wonderful depth of perception. A book for not only those into stereoscopic (3-D) photography but for everyone interested in nature, photography and the human condition.

I encouraged people to capture in a 3-D photograph what hope they felt, what beauty they could find in that tough situation. The response was overwhelming, and as Covid continued to take its toll on the world, the fast-growing stereo community kept on snapping away, spreading beauty and hope through the uniquely powerful 3-D photographic medium. For Brian May, a 10-year-old boy who would grow up to become a rock superstar with Queen, it resulted in a lifelong fascination with stereoscopy. When David Hurn set up his documentary photography course in 1973, the idea was simple… half a century later, its legacy continues. I'm hoping this will lead to stereoscopy having a permanent home in London for the first time since the 19th century.In an uncertain world, Stereoscopy Is Good For You (SIGFY) a project two years in the making, shines light, beauty and hope in 3-D through the pages of a book created by Brian May and a new stereoscopic community centred around the Instagram social medium.

Here we reveal for the first time the front cover, the beautiful image taken by the very talented Jane Sabini.It’s quite shocking that nobody has undertaken to tell this story in its entirety until now, and some of the revelations you will find in the book are in themselves shocking, because so many falsehoods have been perpetuated over the years about what actually happened. After the Victorians, it enjoyed a revival during the first world war, and again in the 1950s when the young May became enraptured. Brian, creator of the 21st-century incarnation of the London Stereoscopic Company (LSC), has become an Internet evangelist for 3-D photography in recent years. These people were actually using their art to say things like that," May says, "to undercut the ruling class, particularly Napoleon III, whom they obviously hated.