Book Review: 3D Disneyland: Like You’ve Never Seen it Before
3D Disneyland: Like You’ve Never Seen it Before
takes you on a grand circle tour of Disneyland. The book features almost one hundred 3D images from the collection of Ted Kierscey covering the years 1955 through 1958 and the 1980s during the parks 25th anniversary. They are supplemented with some contemporary photos by Patrick Swinnea to fill in some gaps. David Bossert is the primary author and there is a forward by Tom K. Morris.
The book is a coffee table size, 9.25 by 12.25 inches and each page is a heavy stock. Each image has its own page and is floated on a large white space to help frame it and enhance the 3D effect. On the opposite/left hand page is a brief caption. These captions say the year, photographer, what is pictured and in some cases a factoid. The book has a several page introduction that explains a little about 3D photography and a brief biography of Ted Kierscey. After this introduction the rest of the book is all images, no further narration beyond the captions.
When it comes to 3D images in print many of us do not have a lot of experience with them. We have seen 3D films and an occasional 3D TV show over the years but the closes to print most of us get are viewmasters. These devices allowed us to see a picture reel of a destination or subject matter and click through several images. Many of us had viewmasters growing up and some as adults of various travel destinations. For others your only experience may be seeing the oversized viewmaster and reels in the Toy Story Mania queue. The book utilizes traditional 3D Glasses relying on cyan and magenta lenses, one pair is included with the book and are stored on the inside cover.
I always enjoy seeing “vintage” pictures of Disneyland. I find it interesting to see how the park has evolved. Seeing some of the familiar original Disneyland images in 3D was a different perspective. The newer pictures brought back some memories of my first experiences in the park during the 80s and seeing them in 3D was a fun experience.
As with all 3D effects your impression and mileage may vary and some of the images really popped for me and the 3D provided a lot more detail and drew me in, others not so much. Overall though I found the 3D to add to many of the pictures beyond what I had expected before opening the book. Like with many 3D applications I had to limit my session time as I could feel some eye strain, but this is more me than the book, its one reason I usually opt for 2D over 3D feature length films.
If you are enjoy experiencing and studying Disneyland photography 3D Disneyland: Like You’ve Never Seen it Before offers a unique/new dimension to explore and would be a worthy consideration for your library.
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