During the spring and summer of 1911, an unknown amateur stereographer captured a series of 3D views in a variety of locations across the North of England.
It’s a small collection obtained recently via Ebay that will feature in Pressphotoman posts over the next few weeks.
As described in last week’s opening instalment, these photographic expeditions seem to have been made possible by ‘X 1419’, a vehicle registered with Northumberland County Council.
This shiny motor appears in the earliest-dated stereo captioned ‘Feb. 12th 1911 at Bolam Lake … Miss Hamilton driving.’
Bolam Lake, a popular visitor attraction today, is about 15 miles north west of Newcastle upon Tyne.
By early March, the stereographer had travelled with their camera to the ‘North Tyne Valley, near Wark’ about 30 miles to the west of the city.
In a wooded glade, the camera was positioned so that various tree trunks featured in the immediate foreground of the shot, producing a heightened three-dimensional effect.
However, it was only on closer examination of the far distance that four figures revealed themselves.
Two young girls can be seen wearing matching coats with shiny buttons (far left and centre of frame) accompanied by two women (2nd left and far right).
All four appear to have been deliberately positioned by the stereographer with the woman on the far right standing at right angles to the others in an artful pose.
Exploring connections to the ‘Miss Hamilton driving’ stereo, the bonnet-wearing younger girl in the centre of shot resembles the passenger in the right-hand rear passenger’s seat of ‘X 1419.’
The following Saturday, 11th March 1911, a similar 3D composition was tried out by the stereographer in another wooded location near Newcastle.
‘Gosforth Park,’ home to its racecourse since 1882, was only a few miles away from the city centre.
This time, a single female figure with their back to the camera can be observed in the centre of shot, dressed in a three-quarter length coat and hat with fur stole.
Taken on the same day and at the same location, another (now slightly damaged) card illustrates the stereographer’s interest in capturing the starkness of a winter landscape complete with reflections and scudding clouds.
These excursions offer a glimpse into how someone with a good eye for 3D photography was trying out different compositional techniques.
What is also evident is that their travelling companions seem to have been all too willing to help create the desired results.
To Be Continued …
Pressphotoman 
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