Stereoscopic Vision
By Beata Patricia Pac
A curious mix of technology and photography were behind the unusual 3-D viewers on display at Broadway Gallery from March 4th to 13th. Rocco Alberico’s Stereo Images re-created rich and juicy nature-inspired images and brought them to life through the three dimensional illusion of his stereoscopic slide viewers.
All of the pictures in the exhibition were shot with a 3-D rig that Alberico built with two 35mm cameras. They were mounted side by side, capturing left and right eye vision, linked by synchronal cord and fired at the exact same instant. The images were developed into 35mm slides and placed inside of the viewers mounted in a 12" x 12" black Plexiglas panel. Alberico used a 7-watt florescent bulb as the light source behind the panel. The final effect mimicked the way we see objects in a three dimensional space.
The themes in Alberico’s exhibition mostly dealt with desert and mountain landscapes and his clever compositions enhanced the 3-D experience. Structure (Monument Valley, Arizona, 2003) depicts a warm orange desert terrain featuring a cone shaped pile of thick beige and brown branches set against a cool crystal clear blue sky. Seagull (Schoodic Point, Maine, 2000) centers on a massive cliff with a seagull pointing its beak toward a deep blue sky with silhouettes of trees in the far background. Alberico paid equal attention to the details of foreground, mid-ground and background. In Cairn (Sedona, Arizona, 2003), the sand and the gravel up close are just as clear and sharp as the large rocks held together in a wire net-like cage in the mid-ground center. A prevailing motif in all of these landscape slides is a cool blue sky juxtaposed by a warm and textured ground. Hogan (Monument Valley, Arizona, 2003) perfectly illustrates the contrast between the smooth sky and the reddish coarse land while the rounded hut in the mid-ground is strategically positioned slightly off-center and adding to the overall tension.
Alberico’s stereoscopic slide viewers serve as a contemporary metaphor engaging the viewer on many levels. It is eerie how realistic these images seem – one virtually could smell the parched desert or the fresh breeze sneaking through the forest. Alberico succeeds in bringing his audience into his own world, paradoxically both surreal and real, through meticulous detail and a sense of the narrative moment. For more information about Rocco Alberico’s work, please visit http://www.roccoalberico.com/.
