I have a wonderful antique stereo camera called a Rolleidoscop and the images I took of my kids when they were younger are beyond belief. You get such a strong sense of reality. There is still a magic about analogue and it’s the same in music… analogue has a different quality that you can’t quite get in digital.’

Brian May says : This is a thrill, and a first, to do a book signing session in my own store. I’m hoping this will lead to stereoscopy having a permanent home in London for the first time since the 19th century. The British Library and Kings College here: https://www.bl.uk/events/stereoscopy-the-dawn-of-3d-brian-may-and-denis-pellerin We are analogue creatures. We’ve gone into this digital world, but there’s always a bit of discomfort about it. You’re looking at approximations to analogue waveforms in sound and also in vision. We have a yearning to hear things from a vinyl record, because there’s something in your head which just loves that smoothness of a real analogue signal. The story begins in 1832, when Wheatstone, a true Victorian genius and polymath, discovered why creatures such as humans have two eyes instead of one, and how this enables them instantaneously to perceive their surroundings in depth – a massive evolutionary advantage. “STEREOSCOPY” for the very first time tells the full story of how this discovery became a world-wide sensation.”

This show exhibits new 3-D photography from the LSC’s latest publication “Stereoscopy Is Good For You: Life in 3-D”. But the presentation also includes a dazzling array of historical images communicating the excitement of Stereoscopy in Victorian times, and a selection of Brian May’s own stereoscopic work depicting QUEEN from the inside, as well as his own history in stereoscopy. Proud Galleries, in collaboration with the London Stereoscopic Company, introduced a new audience to Stereoscopy with a talk by Sir Brian May and Denis Pellerin on the history of 3D photography, which started in Victorian times. To be honest, yes, I didn’t realise how far the message had got. As I say in the introduction to the book, this is a kind of evangelical effort. I still believe we can properly put stereoscopy on the map. Brian also delighted his listeners with a story about how his next-door neighbour introduced him to the Stereoscopic Society, which created opportunities for him to make stereoscopic friends around the world.

Visitors will view the visuals in the splendour of 3-D through the stereoscopic OWL viewer designed by Brian May himself. I only use one, i3D Steroid for the iPhone (for Android phones, it’s called 3D Steroid). This is a very nice app and is very cheap, considering the developer, Masuji Suto, updates it for free. Suto-san is always open to suggestions too, a proper genius, and his pictures are also featured in Stereoscopy is Good for You.’ See the app store for your phone: i3DSteroid on the App Store/ 3DSteroid on Google Play. Major new exhibition 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. 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 I worked with my “great accomplice” Denis Pellerin, spending hours and hours editing the images into a format which would be both beautiful and comfortable to look at.’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 And there must be something in us which makes us yearn for the old kind of photography. Digital can I want to 3-D: stereoscopic images that come alive in Brian May’s book and exhibition from Andrew Lauren, New York Contains previously unseen stereoscopic (3-D) images of Bennu that provided vital information for the current OSIRIS-REx mission. While getting books signed by Brian May, visitors will also have the opportunity to explore the wonders of the exhibition - Stereoscopy Is Good For You: Life in 3-D. For the next 5 months, the exhibition will offer visitors the chance to experience 3-D first-hand, using May’s patent OWL viewers, in three areas channelling the new SIGFY book, the Birth of Stereoscopy, and Queen in 3-D.’

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. Proud Galleries in collaboration with Brian May’s London Stereoscopic Company present STEREOSCOPY IS GOOD FOR YOU: LIFE IN 3-D

Days of their lives

Brian and Denis pose with the antique stereoscope which has never been seen by the public before: Photo credit: Paul Harmer 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. 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.”