My wife recently changed her Friday blog post called "Blast From The Past" to "Think Back Thursday." The old blog was designed to get people to think back to things of the past in their lives. The new blog is theme oriented, which I think is much better. Last week her theme was "water" and anyone could post events envolving water such as visits to theme parks, the ocean, or even faulcets and running water, (like kids playing in a in the yard with a hose). This weeks theme is "visiting historical sites."
To help her out, I decided to post pictures taken with a stereo camera of our visit to Williamsburg Virgina in 2000. The stereo camera was built in the 1940's by a company called "David White" and was a popular camera. Many movie stars and famous people actually owned one so mine may have been owned by a famous person. Who knows? The camera is designed to take side by side pictures on 35mm slide film. It is more difficult to use because it is a manual camera, (manual focus, manual f/stops and shutter speed), but I love to use it. Slide processing is expensive however, so I have not used it for a while. The lens does not compare to modern lenses but seems quite sharp when used for the purpose for which it is designed. Pictures are two 1/2 frame shots, meaning they use 1/2 of the normal full 35mm frame, one for the left eye to view and one for the right eye.
I include two enlargements, (at the end of the post), of the full stereo images so you can get an idea of what I mean. The two pictures taken side by side are then mounted into a cardboard frame and viewed in a viewer, (similar to a viewmaster set only larger). The two side by side picture scans I included can be viewed on a computer screen by slightly crossing one's eyes, similar to those "magic stereo images" seen in books and posters. If you have seen those and know what I am talking about you may be able to master seeing these in stereo by focusing your mind on the center image between the two when your eyes are crossed. It is best accomplished by viewing the image smaller then enlarging it until you can view it bigger. To reduce and enlarge the image in your browser all is necessary, (usually), is to roll your scroll button back and forth.
The first pics are crops from the original stereo slides and are not viewed in stereo. They are only the view from one eye. Click on the pictures for a larger view.
The Windmill at Williamsburg.
Someone was naughty and ended up in the stocks!
The Governor's Palace - front gate. No, we weren't invited for dinner.
The glass blowing shop in Jamestown, not far from Williamsburg.
Inside of a small church that was built at the settlement.
Not out of those stocks yet?
Governor's Palace - Front gate in stereo.
I hope you have enjoyed this short trip to Williamsburg. There are many more images but these are some of my favorites.
Visit my wife's "Think Back Thursday" post by clicking on the button below.
