Some history...

I never met my grandfather. He died in 1959 before my parents were married. He was born in the late 19^th century in Constantinople and came to Athens before the mass migration of the refugees during the wars of 1922. He was an educated man, travelled a lot, was able to speak several languages, play music and teach both music and photography. Photography (and cinematography) seems to feature in his life since the beginning of the 20th century. I’m sure that a lot of his work has disappeared over the years but a lot of it still exists and is today in my hands. Stereo photography features quite prominently in the mix, although in the later years most of his work had moved to 35mm.

For those not familiar with Stereoscopic photography, the concept is based on the camera taking two pictures simultaneously, by two different lenses, at a slight angle to each other – the same angle that our eyes use. Once the pictures are developed, viewing each picture separately with each eye, recreates the 3-dimentional impression that our eyes naturally generate. Although 3-dimentional photography has moved on since the beginning of the 20^th century, these early methods gave the most striking results. Using a more modern paradigm, if you have ever seen a View-Master™, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what stereoscopic photography is about.

If you are interested, the following sites give a good introduction to Stereoscopic Photography:
http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/stereosc.htm

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~kswiatek/StereoIntro.html

The Planox has been there as far back as I can remember. I know they were manufactured around the early ‘20s and I guess my grandfather must have bought it mid-20s or early ‘30s. It seems to have been in my grandparents’ house ever since it was built in 1932. I always remember the Planox sitting in the corner in the front room of my grandmother’s house. Occasionally, my father would plug it in and switch it on to show it to visitors and I would get a chance to have a peak as well. As the pictures were all on glass plates and the mechanism relatively complicated for a toddler, it was always off-limits for me until I re-discovered it in my early teens when I also caught the photography bug. Nevertheless, from these early glimpses of the pictures, the glass plates and the fascinating mechanism I was captivated.

When the original house was demolished in the ‘70s to be replaced by a multi-storey apartment building, the Planox moved along with us. When my Grandmother died it moved to my parent’s apartment and when my father died a couple of years ago it came to my hands. I will describe the complete setup later, but at the moment, only the main unit has found its way to the UK. The rest will follow slowly…