Stereo Card Recolor--Rock of Ages Statue (c1870)

 

Here's another recolored stereoview. I don't have a physical copy of this one in my own collection, but I found a good scan of it on the Getty Museum website. The name associated with it on the museum website is the photographer James Cremer. It was originally in creamy black and white, like most of these old cards, but I thought it would be fun to add a touch of color. Anyway, this card has a similar theme to some I've blogged about previously, here and here, Faith personified and clinging to the cross. But instead of a painting or a girl in a costume, this is a stereo photo of a small statue. There seem to be a lot of statue stereoviews floating around eBay, and I've seen a few similar to this, but none at a price I wanted to pay. When recoloring I chose to remove the yellow shade from the statue itself and make the velvet background a deep red. I'm fascinated by how many different versions I've found of the same theme--there are a few more I haven't blogged about yet but might in the future.

Stereo Photo--Eclipse Totality

 

I'm sure everyone knows there was a total solar eclipse last week. It was harder than I expected to make it into the path of totality--my planned ride had car trouble--but it was totally worth it (pun intended). We did have clouds, but they cleared up enough to give a great view. My phone camera wasn't really up to the task, but I tried to take a 3D photo during totality. We could see Venus and Jupiter. Four minutes feels like a really long time when the sun has just gone dark in the middle of the day! I'm posting the same photo with and without the moon edited darker in Photoshop, since the light shining around the edges confused the camera focus and washed it out. The edited photo looks more like it did in real life. It's as close as I could get to bringing totality home to show my friends and family members who weren't able to travel there. 

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--The Last Supper and the Appearance to Mary Magdalene

 

Happy Easter! Today I thought it would be fun share a few more of the Life of Christ stereograph cards from my collection. I've already shown the full set of twenty-four that were printed in color, but it's interesting to see the difference between those and the hand-colored ones. Those twenty-four pictures can be found in both versions (as well as in black and white), but there are also a number of pictures that don't seem to have been reprinted in color. The hand coloring is a bit garish to the modern eye, but some of the scenes are quite interesting. Among these are cards showing Jesus washing the disciples' feet, the Last Supper, and the post-resurrection appearance to Mary Magdalene. It is easier to tell on the hand-colored cards that they were originally photographed from beautifully detailed dioramas. Unfortunately, they also seem to fade more easily. These have been color-corrected to be less yellow, but there's nothing I can do for the fading. They do look better in 3D, though.

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Between Christmas and Easter

 

Since it's almost Easter, I thought it would be a good time to share the last three of the twenty-four colorful Life of Christ stereograph cards I posted a while ago. These are the ones that didn't fit easily into either an Easter or a Christmas post. I used Photoshop to remove a couple of blotches that I found distracting, but otherwise these didn't need a lot of alteration. One shows Jesus at age twelve, talking to the teachers in the temple, and the other two show the wedding at Cana and the Sermon on the Mount. Earlier posts about this set are related to Christmas, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), and Easter. These cards appear to have been generally sold in a set of twenty-five (the box advertises twenty-five, and many different-themed sets of twenty-five cards were available in identical boxes) but the twenty-fifth card could be any of a fairly wide variety with some relevance to Jesus or the holy land. I think that means that these twenty-four were a proper set, but an additional card was added to give the original purchasers their money's worth; that would be easier than printing separate boxes for a set with one less card. These same views can also be found in black and white, sometimes colored by hand. There are actually several more scenes in the black and white set that I wish had been printed in color!

Stereo Card Recolor--Simply to Thy Cross I Cling (1900)

 

I found this lovely stereograph card on eBay a while ago, and I colored it in Photoshop but didn't post it right away because it was so tricky to sort out the boundary between the painted backdrop and the girl's hair. Finally I decided to check it over it one more time and then go ahead and share, so here it is. I really like this card and have not seen it anywhere else.

This stereograph has a strong resemblance to one I blogged about earlier, here, ultimately based on a painting by Johannes Adam Simon Oertel. It seems to have been a popular design to copy; several other companies put their own spin on it. I've collected a few of them and find it fascinating just how much variety there is even when they're clearly copying each other. This particular version was published in 1900 by Griffith & Griffith. Since it's a photo and not a painting, the 3D effect is much more convincing than in the 1896 card. The cross is not made of rock--it appears to be cloth-draped wood--but the title is still a line from the song "Rock of Ages." The girl is younger than in many other portrayals; since she's understood to be a personification of Christian faith, I suppose that makes this one childlike Faith.

Stereo Photos--Orange Daylily

 

I took these photos several months ago, but I just found them on my phone and put them together in 3D. I was very pleased at how well they turned out, too, especially since it was my kids' favorite flower that my husband accidentally cut down with a weed eater not long after I photographed it. They were all happy to see that I managed to save these pictures of it.

Stereo Photo--Venus Flytrap

My family bought a little Venus flytrap plant at Sprout's this week! My kids named it Speed Eater Buzz, or Buzz for short. Obviously I couldn't resist making a 3D picture of it, and that turned out pretty well, so I decided to share it. To view it in 3D, load this picture in landscape mode on a smartphone and put the phone in any device that would work with Google Cardboard (I do miss Google Cardboard). We're all enjoying our new "pet," though I have to dissuade the kids from watering it too frequently. It's even caught a couple of flies by now. 

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Christmas

Merry Christmas! Here are some stereo cards from the same set as the ones I posted around Easter. Other cards from this set can be found here (Palm Sunday), here (Maundy Thursday), here (Good Friday Part 1), here (Good Friday Part 2), here (Good Friday Part 3), and here (Easter). These are the Christmas ones, called "The Shepherd's Adoration," "The Adoration of the Wise Men," and "The Flight Into Egypt." I really love these. I framed them to view well in my Google Cardboard viewer and touched up a couple of scratches on the stable wall in the first picture, but they were already so beautiful that I didn't do much to them in Photoshop. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! 

Stereo Photos--Flower in the Street

While I was out walking yesterday I saw this little plant growing through a crack in the street, and I thought it would make a fun 3D photograph. There are two views of it here, one that shows more of the surroundings and another that is a closeup. They should be viewable on any smartphone in a Google Cardboard or equivalent viewer.

 

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--The Resurrection and The Ascension

 

Happy Easter! The Resurrection stereo card is my favorite from this set. I did Photoshop a few funny orange specks off it before posting, but it would have been fine as it was. Oh, and I'm throwing in the Ascension card with it because, while I'm sure there is a liturgical day for that, too, I don't think I'll remember to post it at the correct time. Other cards I've shared from this set can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Good Friday Part 3

These are the last three stereo cards I have to share for Good Friday, corresponding to Stations of the Cross numbers twelve through fourteen. Earlier cards in this set are are here, here, here, and here. The last of these cards actually needed a bit of repair work done in Photoshop--there was a distracting bright yellow streak across the middle of the rock ceiling. I think it edited out nicely enough for 3D viewing, though. And that's all until Sunday!

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Good Friday Part 2

 

Here are some more stereo cards for Good Friday. These correspond to Stations of the Cross seven through eleven. Earlier cards in the same set can be found here, here, and here. 

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Good Friday Part 1

A disproportionate number of the cards from the colorful twenty-four-card Life of Christ set I found are related to Good Friday. The numbers printed on the cards themselves don't make much sense to me, so I numbered them in chronological order from the Nativity to the Ascension, with the Stations of the Cross in their traditional order inside that. But I thought it might be hard for some internet connections to load all fourteen of those in a single post, so I decided to split them up. The first one was actually posted yesterday, so these five cards correspond to stations two through six. Earlier cards from this set can be found here and here. 

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Judas Betraying Christ and Jesus Condemned to Death

 

Since today is Maundy Thursday, I'm sharing a couple more of the stereo cards from this set. The second one is technically more appropriate to the early morning of Good Friday, but since there are plenty of Good Friday cards I thought I'd put this one here. These were also in good shape and only needed to be given a frame in Photoshop. 

Here is a link to the card I posted earlier, for Palm Sunday.

Life of Christ Stereo Cards--Jesus Entering Jerusalem

Since today is Palm Sunday, I thought it would be an appropriate time to share this stereoscope card. I bought a whole set of these on eBay--twenty-four in all--and while mine are not dated, I have seen otherwise identical cards with a 1925 copyright date. This particular card was in lovely shape, so all I needed to do in Photoshop was add a frame to get it ready for my Google Cardboard viewer.

Stereo Card Recolor--Rock of Ages: The Rescue (1896)

 

Here's the other 1896 stereo card I bought on eBay along with The Resurrection. It's titled "Rock of Ages--The Rescue," and I love its dramatic allegory. It was originally in sepia, of course, but I thought the ocean scene would be beautiful in color. Trying to match both sides of the water splashes was really tricky, but eventually I got them close enough for 3D viewing. I also added some blank space to the edges to help my Google Cardboard viewer focus on it correctly.

I think this card was intended to be part of a set with two other cards called "Rock of Ages--The Wreck" and "Rock of Ages--The Ascension," but it's hard to find specific information. There are at least two versions of each card; I like this 1896 one better than the 1875 version I found a scan of here. Actually, when I tried to look these up I found a dizzying variety of related artwork--everything from paintings to tattoos to a music album cover, dated any time between the late 1860s and, well, right now. There is an interesting explanation of the original painting's history here, on what appears to be a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan site. 

Stereo Card Recolor--The Resurrection (1896)

 

I bought a couple of antique stereograph cards on eBay the other day, and since they were sepia-toned I thought it would be fun to try recoloring them. This card is titled "The Resurrection" and was originally published in 1896. Since it has a lot of details in the background, I decided to leave most of that sepia and only decorate the central figure and the palm branches at the top. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It's better in 3D, of course; I view these on my smartphone using a Google Cardboard headset. It's not necessary to use a phone that will actually run Google Cardboard, either--all the phone needs to be capable of is showing a picture full screen and in landscape mode. Theoretically it should also be possible to print this out at the correct size and view it in an old-fashioned stereoscope, but since I don't own a real stereoscope I have not tried that.