Unlike our previous books,’ he continues, ‘these images came in with every conceivable kind of alignment, framing etc, so it was an enormous job editing each one to get it to the optimum point. The most important consideration was to avoid giving the reader a headache. You need to keep a firm watch on the convergence of the images and now they are aligned to avoid straining the readers’ eyes. At the Meet and Greet afterwards Brian was keen to talk to the audience about their thoughts on Stereoscopy and chat about how people can get help starting their own 3D photography journey. Later that day we see Brian and Denis in the grand chapel at Kings College ready to launch the book to the world with a live virtual 3-D presentation of the book.

And for those unfamiliar with it, this is the story behind one of our most thrilling titles to date –The instruments were advertised in the Times “at unprecedented low prices”, starting at sixpence, under the heading “No home without a stereoscope”. Cards were given away with magazines and circulated through special libraries. Proud Galleries in collaboration with Brian May’s London Stereoscopic Company present STEREOSCOPY IS GOOD FOR YOU: LIFE IN 3-D The majority of LSC’s books have been historical,’ he says, ‘but this book is about photography for the common person, just as AP has set out its own agenda over the years. These are all amateurs who took part. They take stereoscopic pictures because they get a thrill, or a feeling of comfort or connection, or want to capture something that will evoke very strong emotions when they look at it later in life.’ It’s a hard life DENIS PELLERIN: “This book has been in my head for so long and has involved so much research that I am thrilled it is being released at last, thanks to the efforts and dedication of Dr. Brian May and all of our team. It is a dream come true ! This publication should set a few things right about the history of the first thirty years of the medium and should put stereoscopy once more in the limelight, where it rightfully belongs.”

Proud Galleries is currently exhibiting a selection of 3D images from Brian’s latest 3D book Stereoscopy Is Good For You, featuring 100 stereo photographers worldwide, until March 25th, with free entry. That May is occasionally ill-at-ease with the modern world became clear earlier this week (after our interview), when he criticised the Brit Awards for making its categories gender neutral in a bid to become more inclusive. May told The Sun he thought the Brits' decision was "ill-thought-out" and claimed it was a "knee-jerk reaction" to cancel culture. “I feel very uncomfortable about some of the decisions that are being made, often out of fear. Because people are so afraid of being called out. It is a horrible atmosphere,” he is reported to have said. "I worry about cancel culture. I think some of it is good but it also brings bad things and injustices. We think in different ways but they weren't necessarily worse ways.” Proud Galleries, Sir Brian’s The London Stereoscopic Company are pleased to extend gratitude to those who came to view the show. They are happy to share the news that, due to popular demand, the stereo exhibition will be extended until Saturday 8 April 2023. Proud and the LSC want to thank the public and press for your extraordinary response, and for helping spread the wonders of stereoscopic (3-D) photography to a worldwide audience. We highly recommend experiencing the magic of stereoscopy if you have not had the opportunity to visit us yet. The whole of the bottom floor of the gallery is dedicated to the Queen photography taken by Brian.

Major new exhibition

Last month, Brian May revealed Queen are currently talking about heading out on tour with singer Adam Lambert next year – possibly for the last time. It’s the same with music. With Queen, we have always tried to play to the people and disregard the political situation. Music is about connecting people, and that’s our job, and it’s the same with photography. That said, none of us wants to put any kind of approval on what Russia is doing as a country right now. It’s an incredibly painful situation.’ A real eye-opener Brian can also be seen holding the first stereoscope alongside the 21st century stereoscope that he designed in 2009 and named an OWL. Photo credit: Paul Harmer Queen legend Brian May and OSIRIS-Rex chief scientist Dante Lauretta cooperated on a book about asteroid Bennu. (Image credit: The University of Arizona Press/London Stereoscopic Company) Brian then talks about his love for analogue photography. He first got the bug when developing and printing images with his father in the family darkroom. He has also memorable stereo images on analogue gear.

Visitors will view the visuals in the splendour of 3-D through the stereoscopic OWL viewer designed by Brian May himself. As mentioned at the start of this interview, Brian developed his own viewer for stereoscopy called the Owl. While it works well, he finds it frustrating that phone makers are not building a similar functionality into their phones.I did a design to turn an iPhone into a stereo camera instantly,’ he reveals, ‘but nobody took me up on it. Yes, we now have the crowdfunded Qoocam, which is a nice stereo stills and movie camera, but it would be nice to have something built into phones. The London Stereoscopic Company is delighted to announce the publication of the highly anticipated – STEREOSCOPY: The Dawn of 3-D, by Denis Pellerin, edited by Brian May – on 10th November 2021 Victorian Virtual Reality: Photographs from the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy will present highlights from the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy to explore the 19th-century photography craze that, for the first time, enabled pictures to appear in 3D. The British Library and Kings College here: https://www.bl.uk/events/stereoscopy-the-dawn-of-3d-brian-may-and-denis-pellerin There’s a strong possibility that we’ll be going out together again,” Brian May told Variety. “We’re talking about that as you and I speak, making those decisions.

Wheatstone was one of those all-round Victorian inventors and academics, for whom the distinction between art and science didn’t exist. Interesting things were just interesting things. So as well as being Professor of Experimental Philosophy at King’s, which is now the home of his archive, he invented the concertina (and another musical instrument called the symphonium). Those Victorians knew how to multitask. Wheatstone first demonstrated the stereoscope in 1838 after he realised that humans’ perception of depth is mainly due to a thing called stereopsis, when our brain takes the different images from our left and right eyes and combines them into one 3D image. His machine simply replicates this process. May and Pellerin point out that stereoscopy actually predates photography, a term that wasn’t even coined until 1839. “He was a true polymath,” says May. “Wheatstone was a true genius and, yes, should have his place on that pantheon [with Edison and Bell].” The surface gave almost no resistance as the probe touched down, retreating with the smoothness of water. In fact, Lauretta admitted that OSIRIS-REx could have been lost during the sampling operation, swallowed up by Bennu like by a swamp. It is a dream come true! This publication should set a few things right about the history of the first thirty years of the medium and should put stereoscopy once more in the limelight, where it rightfully belongs.”A wondrous immersive exhibition celebrating the magic of stereoscopic 3-D photography in the 21st Century – 3rd November 2022 to 25th March 2023 A couple of images came from Russia too,’ Brian reveals, ‘and we debated whether to include them. In fact, the book had already gone to press by the time of the Ukraine invasion, but we wondered if we should have taken them out. But I thought, hey, these are images made by common people like us, and they have no influence on their government. A collaboration between Sir Brian May and University of Arizona Professor Dante Lauretta, leader of the [NASA] OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx wasn't fitted with a stereo camera. May, however, knew a way around this limitation, as he had previously produced 3D images of Comet 67P, the target of the Rosetta mission, and of Pluto as seen by New Horizons, by carefully selecting and aligning images taken by a single camera from different angles. The “ghost in the stereoscope” refers to a craze within the craze for phantoms to appear in photos. They were a sort of spooky novelty. Global landmarks, such as the pyramids at Giza, were also popular. “You are in Egypt, you are in China, you are in Japan. By 1859 you could see the whole world in 3D,” says Pellerin. But it was pictures of famous people that the public really wanted to see.