In the early days of holography, which is where I spent the 1980s, holographers were obliged to choose subjects which would not move during the long exposures which were required with low power lasers. Early stereo photographers, particularly if they were taking sequential views rather than using a twin lens camera, were faced with similar problems, hence the abundance of table top photography. Sculptures and figurines, which will form the subject matter of Part 3, are ideal but the following subjects worked pretty well too.

Glass, China, Silver Plate, Vases of flowers, Cornucopia, Skeleton Leaves, Vegetables, Coral and all manner of things that stay still for the photographer.

In the Victorian era, many notable sculptures were reproduced, in reduced size, in the form of Parian Ware figurines, so named by the Minton porcelain factory which developed it, after the fine white Parian marble from the island of Paros. Copeland, another factory working in the same style, called it Statuary Porcelain. Wealthy art lovers could purchase these figurines or statuettes but, for the less well off, stereoviews of sculpture presented an affordable opportunity to view the same works in 3D and stereoviews taken in foreign museums allowed the viewers to travel overseas and experience a sort of Grand Tour via the stereoscope.

It will be observed that a high proportion of the sculptures photographed for the stereoscope depict the nude female form, so it is clear that these stereoviews presented an acceptable form of titillation to the male Victorian viewer in the guise of art connoisseurship.

Including works attributed to W.H. Mason, C.E. Goodman, Samuel Poulton, Toby and the London Stereoscopic Company.

19th century England was a much more religiously minded country than it is today and church-going, prayers, priests and monks feature regularly (and not always respectfully) in the staged Genre scenes that were so popular in the 1850s and 60s.

Some, mostly unidentified, photographers also produced still life compositions featuring copies of the Bible open at significant passages, accompanied with candles, watches, spectacles and other symbolic elements. Here are a few examples: