Philip Steinman: This is an exciting time for your stereo photography. Particularly with your success at the NSA Riverside exhibitions. Your shows “Orchid and other Floral Wonders” and “10 Years of Burning Man” earned you best new presenter and put you in the award arena with stereo hall of famer Robert Bloomberg and his wonderful (movie epic of a) show “Lost Temple of Angkor”. What did you take away with you from that experience?
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- Philip Stienman: You have successfully developed a vision of beauty in your orchid photography as well as your Burning Man experience. What advice would you give someone who has never put a show together, but wants to make their first show?
James Comstock: Focus on what the show is about. Some people may be able to meander successfully all over the place. But clarity of vision helps answer a lot of questions about what direction to take, and what to include or exclude.
What’s your favorite way to introduce someone to stereo photography?
My 3-D viewer. Its intimate and startlingly clear. But I also love to project a private show. The viewer gives the clearest image. But the psychological effect of a huge projected image is stunning.
Favorite stereo viewer?
I love my lighted H.de Wijs viewer.
Favorite stereo camera?
I have a couple Realist cameras and an RBT. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. I can’t say I love either of them (but you sure couldn’t take them away from me!).
Most used film stock?
Each film has its own characteristics that I would consider using depending on the purpose of the shot. But generally I use Fuji Provia F.
Favorite light?
Probably about 4400 angstroms.
What future way of seeing stereo excites you most?
I adore the quality of 3-D Imax. I can’t image anything better unless they increased the frame rate. I fantasize about doing an Imax film. Most 3-D video at standard resolutions leaves much to be desired. But if someone developed a 3-D hi def system at an increased scan rate so there was no flicker. Hopefully that would also help with alternate fields problem with fast moving objects. My dream is for some 3-D Hi Def video glasses. Then there would be no dealing with the problems of alternate field or the ghosting of projection. All video glasses I’ve seen have very poor resolution. But I think they keep getting better. There’s a new one on the market that I’m trying to find to test out. But what excites me the most are the claims of the new Foveon chip. I would love to shoot electronically, but film still surpasses digital for my purposes. The Foveon chip, a so-called analog electronic chip, may finally change that. It will affect both still and motion imagery.
What film do you wish was originally shot on 3D?
If it were as easy to shot and project a 3-D movie as it is a 2-D movie, no one would ask this question. 3-D is how we see, and everyone would prefer everything in 3-D if it wasn’t such a technical challenge. Someday , I hope that will happen. When sound or color was introduced in film, the first films that employed them were extravaganzas designed to show off the technology. But now all films (with obvious exceptions) have color and sound. Do we say,’ Well, did that film really need to be shot in color,’ just because the color was not an obvious star of the film. No, because color is how we see and we expect to see films that way. Most 3-D films feel they have to justify the fact that they were shot that way. If every shot in the film was unexciting as far as a 3-D composition goes, people would say, ‘What’s the point?’ But until 3-D becomes so commonplace that we don’t think about it, we won’t be able to appreciate the power 3-D has in ANY setting, even the most subtle. We are used to dramatic 3-D compositions in our club competitions and the shows we see. I generally select my slides for show or competitions based on their impact. But I also shoot quite ordinary or pastoral or empty that are still more powerfully conveyed in 3-D. But they would never win a competition. The power of 3-D to me is to increase the sense of presence to the viewer. And that power would help any film- from a small budget drama to a special effects ridden extravaganza. I would love to see a classic Bergman film in 3-D (except it’s black and white too) just as I would love to see ‘Lord of the Rings’. People love 3-D. Some are just stymied by the technology. Imagine if color was a hassle to produce. We would probably all be members of the Color Club of Southern California, because that’s the way we see!
What filmmaker would you most like to see make a 3D movie?
Well, the answer to the previous question is wishful thinking. More pragmatically, (as if they would really do it) I think Terry Gilliam or the Coen Brothers would have fun in 3-D.
What moment hooked you on 3D photography? (The moment that said, I gotta do this)
Our club, for years, used to have a booth with a carousel 3-D viewer in it at the L.A. County Fair in the photography building. I used to go to the fair just to see that viewer every year. I took the club’s card and said someday I would go. It took 15 years. I kept that card in my wallet. And one day I found a realist at a camera shop, bought it, and decided now I better go to that club. The one image I remember from the carousel viewer was a cactus in flower. It’s clarity was stunning, better than I could see it with my naked eyes. It was probably an Earl Colgan picture. But even then I thought the lighting could be better. At the Riverside Conference in July, I came upon a Viewmaster reel vender. By chance, I found the one VM reel I remember from my childhood, Santa and his reindeer. The image was of Santa and his crew flying in the sky, trying to get out of the way of a passenger airliner bearing down on them. This wacky, surreal scene had such a sense of presence. What effect could it have had on such a young, developing mind?