Alan Kikuchi

Golden Gate Park 150th Anniversary Exhibit

I was first introduced to stereo photography in the mid 1970’s. In 2013 I started seriously shooting. People and places and things in San Francisco and beyond became fascinating subject matter. The Kodak Stereo 35mm camera, which was produced between 1954 and 1959, became my camera of choice. This was a very popular camera and around 100,000 of them were sold. Today these cameras can be bought through online auctions. I’ve learned to completely disassemble them, clean all the parts and return them to working order.

The cameras have two lenses which expose two simultaneous images, creating a stereo pair which approximates what the eyes see in that instant. The developed film is then scanned and the image pairs are composited on a computer then inkjet printed. The resulting anaglyph 3-D image when viewed through color-coded red/cyan glasses creates the illusion of depth.

My photographs of Golden Gate Park were captured using these cameras. The park is a fantastic place to take random walks on unfamiliar paths in search of subject matter.