My friend Shaun recently pointed something out to me about old style [non-digital 2x2] passport photos: They are ready-made stereograms! Since each of the four images is taken by a different lens [using a special passport camera], each one offers a slightly different viewpoint of the subject, enabling two stereoscopic images to be constructed [one from the top pair, and another from the bottom].

Here I have created an animation from the first two shots of my own most recent passport photo [circa 2000?] to illustrate the depth effect achievable.

If you’ve got two good eyes [I don't] you should be able to get the effect manually simply by looking at either the top or bottom pair of images and crossing your eyes such that the left eye sees the right image and the right eye sees the left [a standard technique for viewing stereograms]. Unfortunately, because of my bad eye [nothing to do with color blindness] I am as incapable of this as I am of seeing those damn random dot stereograms that were so popular ten years ago.

Sadly, like so many twentieth century things, these kinds of photos are probably going to become very rare, as chemical photography is made redundant by digital technology. Powerful, ubiquitous and boring digital technology.

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK, when I lament that the words "ShELL OIL" and "BOOBLESS" will be virtually meaningless to future generations.