Vintage Japanese Stereoviews

Photo: T. Enami

Pink Tentacle has an awesome collection of gifs culled from Okinawa Soba’s Flickr set- called the mother lode of online photos by enigmatic photographer T. Enami (1859-1929).  These particular photos were taken for a stereoscope (kinda like a View-Master) that made them look like 3-D.  Coincidentally, the geishas in the photo above are enjoying some stereoviews.

A stereoview consists of a pair of nearly identical images that appear three-dimensional when viewed through a stereoscope, because each eye sees a slightly different image. This illusion of depth can also be recreated with animated GIFs like the ones here… Follow the links under each animation for the original stereoviews and background information.

These animated images are worth the click.  Check them out! Link.