Paul Wing peering through 3-D print viewer at ISU Congress, Buxton, England 1983 by Susan Pinsky
www.3-DLegends.com Preserving stereoscopic history of extraordinary people who have enriched our lives |
Paul Wing peering through 3-D print viewer at ISU Congress, Buxton, England 1983 by Susan Pinsky |
PAUL WING, JR -
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It's been a tough year for stereography. Within the past year we've lost several important long-time stereographers. Charles Piper, author of the "The Technical Page" for the 3D News of the Stereo Club of Southern California (SCSC), left us late in 2001. George Skelley, veteran stereo photographer and maker of stereo mounts as well as a NSA, SCSC and ISU member followed shortly after Charlie. Then Earl Colgan, a beloved and very active international stereo photographer, passed away 2 weeks prior to his 98th birthday in February 2002. |
JohnDennis, PaulWing & SusanPinsky at NSA 1990 by Thomas Atkins Gillam |
Now, Paul Wing, a true giant in the field of stereography has shuffled off the standard mortal interocular for hyperstereo glories elsewhere. Paul passed away on March 7, 2002 two days before his 89th birthday. The importance of Paul Wing in contemporary stereography cannot be overstated. Paul was a veteran of more than a half century of stereoscopy and was one of only four Lifetime Members in the Stereoscopic Society of America (SSA). Member number 385 in the SSA, Paul was an internationally recognized master stereographer and the author of |
"Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years," (Transition Publishing: 1996), the definitive history on the subject and one which will undoubtedly remain so for a long time to come. In 1997 Paul graciously inscribed a copy of his book for me: "To Ray Zone, 3-D Enthusiast!" "If 3-D is involved, I am interested," wrote Paul in the 1999 - Year Book of the SSA. "As a photographer I have enjoyed making pairs with other than normal eye spacing from close up (birds and flowers) to miles away (aerial hypers)." Despite six decades of experience in stereography Paul was never limited in his approach. In a recent SSA folio I sent around a stereocard that was a "blinker," in which 2-step animation could be created by alternately closing and opening the left and right eyes. Some stereographers might consider this a radical or inappropriate use of the medium. But Paul enthusiastically responded by sending in the next folio historical notes and a blinker that had been created in 1870. |
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Summit Mt Cook by Paul Wing |
Paul was first intrigued with stereocards in the early 1920s and by the time he finished high school during the Great Depression he was making "cha cha," stereo photographs using side-step with a [2D] Kodak Brownie camera. In the 1940s, Paul met Dr. Philip Batchelder, a stereo collector and a member of the American Branch of the Stereoscopic Society of Great Britain. "It opened a New World," Paul wrote in the foreword to his book on stereoscopes. "After a visit to his home, I couldn't sleep all night. His collection of [stereo] views and viewers, neatly presented in a special room, overwhelmed me." |
As a collector of stereographic views, viewers and cameras, a stereo historian and a practicing stereo photographer, Paul was unique. When it came to 3-D, Paul did it all. A few years ago, along with Ron Labbe and Dan Gosch, Paul exhibited his stereo photography at an art gallery in Boston. I remember a great stereo slide-show on Old China that Paul presented at the NSA Convention in San Diego in 1997. The images were copied in a pristine manner from old stereoviews and Paul's commentary was a delight. |
A Morsel From Papa by Paul Wing |
Chinese chefs from old stereoview |
I first contacted Paul in 1987 at the suggestion of Susan Pinsky. Paul graciously lent me dupes of French tissue 'Diableries' which I printed in a comic book called "3-D Danse Macabre." Paul has written several definitive articles on the subject in the pages of Stereo World. Paul has also unfailingly assisted me with research into the history of stereodrawing. His fund of historical information on stereography was practically limitless. |
Most recently, I was delighted when Paul joined the SSA Speedy Alpha I and II folios where everybody benefited from the views Paul enclosed as well as his informed and funny comments on their work. Some of the views Paul sent around were stereocards of his children that he had made in the 1940s! Of course, they were very well executed and composed. |
LEEP image of 4th of July parade by Paul Wing |
Snow Capped Mountain by Paul Wing
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The Speedy folios are limited to only 12 participants so the views make a rather quick circuit. I treasure the stereo view sleeves on which Paul has inscribed his comments about my views in a rather spidery hand. "There are a number of things I could say," wrote Paul regarding a hyperstereo card with wide separation I sent around in 1999. "I free vision pairs with even wider separation, but I think butting two 3 1/2" squares together is going too far!" |
For another radical hyperstereo card I had sent, Paul actually made a corrected version of the card and enclosed it in the sleeve. "I marvel that none of you mentioned having a bit of trouble viewing this," he observed. But Paul's comments were always instructive and encouraging. "I look to your envelope for something really different," he wrote most recently. |
Ice Sculpture by Paul Wing
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LEEP image of Irish Coast by Paul Wing |
We all looked to Paul Wing for something really different. He was a stereographic fount of invention and history. He will be more than missed. He is irreplaceable in the pantheon of stereography. As I write, it's very likely that Paul is now setting up a stereo photograph (in some radiant new medium). And he is undoubtedly creating a stereo base that is measurable in light years, parsecs instead of inches. |
Set up for Daguerrotype image by Susan Pinsky |
Inverted Parasols by Paul Wing |
Stereoscopes |
Author Paul Wing has more than half a century of experience as a stereo photographer and collector of unusual stereoscopes and stereoscope patents. In "Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years" he shares with us a cornucopia of 2-D and 3-D photos of rare stereoscopes, patent drawings, engravings, and early advertisements. The easy-to-read text is enhanced by numerous examples scarcely known outside a small group of collectors and museum curators. |
This book embarks upon a marvelous journey in time, from the earliest simple model stereoscopes to daguerreotype viewing cases, stereographoscopes, Taxiphotes, and more elaborate viewers resplendent in materials representing the technologies and styles of the period examined. More than 700 superb photographs (many in 3-D), engravings, patent drawings and period advertisements illustrate the variety of forms that this optical instrument has taken. A fascinating and detailed text, extensive captions, appendices, glossary, and index provide a complete history of the stereoscope, its technology, its variatio ons and its collectors, and for the first time, presents a comprehensive history of the 3-D viewing device, the stereoscope, rather than the stereo image. To the rest of us, it may provide an inspiration to begin our own collections (or to know more about what we have already collected), and the opportunity to own the world's finest collection of stereoscopes - if only on paper. For the historian, librarian, collector, or enthusiast, this book will become an invaluable and enjoyable reference on the subject. |
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Susan Pinsky and David Starkman
Proprietors, Reel 3-D Enterprises, Inc.
Culver City, California October, 1996 |
www.3-DLegends.com Preserving stereoscopic history of extraordinary people who have enriched our lives |
