What is 3D photography? We interview Shawn Ray Harris to find out...

16th Dec 2010

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We as consumers are currently in a 3D frenzy, with 3D films frequently being released at the cinema, 3D TV's available to buy for our homes and even 3D cameras on the market, but many of us will not be familiar with the notion of 3D photography. One artist pioneering this method is San Francisco based Shawn Ray Harris, who we were lucky enough to meet during our World Photography Festival over in San Francisco last month. We came across Shawn'e work whilst he was participating in the Portfolio Review sessions and we were very impressed with his 3D photographs. We took the opportunity to find out more about Shawn's work and the medium of 3D photography in an interview:

Tell us about yourself and what you do...

I'm a pretty quiet guy who enjoys a small circle of friends, a constant diet of art viewing, and the occasional road trip in search of the slightly awkward. I'm an artist living in San Francisco, curious with concepts of diversity, play and possibility, spectatorship and the spectacle.

© Shawn Ray Harris / Balloon Seller

What exactly is 3D photography and how is it achieved?

3D photography can be so many different things. Traditionally it's defined as any imaging process capable of recording three-dimensional information giving the illusion of depth. To me, 3D photography includes old vintage photographs paired up and printed side by side on a card, then viewed in an antique stereoscope. The View-Master used the same concepts and was for many of us, our first introduction to 3D. The process that holds the greatest interest to me though, is the anaglyph. Typically, 3D processes used cameras with two lenses spaced eye width apart, shooting onto one piece of film. The anaglyph is different in that one image is being assigned a red value and the other image is assigned a blue value, then both images are overlaid and the illusion of depth is created when viewed with the red/blue glasses. To me, one attraction to the anaglyphs is the use of these old-school glasses. These glasses were such a novelty as a kid. There were times I remember putting them on to look at a huge 3D drawing of Spiderman. It was as if I had witnessed some sort of mad sorcery, Spiderman was leaping off the page. The challenges of blurring mediums from photography to illustration made the anaglyph process an intriguing one. Such a low tech process with a look that is so unique, I find it difficult to compare it to anything else. The impact of those 3D comic illustrations were early inspirations.

© Shawn Ray Harris / Castro & Market

Does the viewer need to wear 3D glasses in order to appreciate this work?

I like to tell people the glasses are optional, yet encouraged. One of the hurdles I had to overcome if I wanted someone to enjoy my work was to make the images engaging even without the glasses. There is a certain amount of blurriness and odd color shifting that happens in traditional anaglyphs that can get in the way. I think the way that I'm processing my images allows them to stand alone, without the glasses. I get a lot of comments from people who at first refuse the glasses, telling me they enjoy them as they are...  but yes, they eventually reach for eyewear. The artwork should hang and stand on it's own as something that draws us in. I think the glasses give us a way to experience a different perception of reality. That's what good art should offer.

© Shawn Ray Harris / Mission #10, The Vortex

Tell us about your photographic journey - when/why did you start taking photographs and how did you end up working on 3D photography?

My interest in photography started as a kid on a swimming team whose coach often had a camera in hand. At the end of the season the team would gather around a slide projector. Our coach had hand selected the smoothest music and cranked the volume to envelope us, projecting images that seemed larger than life. I think back on it as a kind of awakening, like the shaman of our tribe had gathered us around a fire and led us on a spiritual journey! When it was over, we had been transformed into something stronger. The power of photography was crystal clear. I studied photography in an art program that took me seven years to complete. My first two years were focused on painting and drawing, the next two years I studied printmaking, and in 1995 I finished with an emphasis in photography. I knew early on I wanted the photograph to be something more than a straight up 8x10 print. I blended photography with painting and drawing but that quickly morphed into photo-based wall sculpture. This, to me, was taking the photograph and changing it into an actual three dimensional object. Part of the appeal of having photos take up three dimensional space is the ability to move around and look behind objects in the composition. The viewer has the ability to navigate through the scene, seeing what exists behind the foreground. Problem solving with three dimensional space and objects opened up far more possibilities... which led me to using photography in three dimensional pop-up books. Reconstructing street scenes through pop up seemed a logical progression for my art. The anaglyph is the fourth progression of my work. While it uses some of the oldest concepts in photography, the digital tools definitely make it possible. The end result offers an alternative way of experiencing the photograph.

© Shawn Ray Harris / Mission #28

As an artist, what inspires you most?

I am inspired by people in general, by the city I live in and it's culturally diverse neighborhoods. I love street life, sub-cultures and public transportation. I'm interested in people gathering together to celebrate their passions, their heritage, music and dance. I think the absurdity of politics is a different type of inspiration. A poorly regulated economic machine, a chemically enhanced, bio-engineered, wrapped in plastic food culture... There are plenty of inspirations I draw from, but few recharge my soul like sitting in the desert with a good friend, making up stories of things that are completely ridiculous and impossible.

© Shawn Ray Harris / Mission #29

3D photography is not something that everyone will have heard about, but do you think it is a growing field, particularly given the current popularity of 3D movies and the introduction of 3D TV's?

I think the 3D thing is sticking around. I've traveled a bit the last couple years showing my work and doing the arts festival circuit. One year I was in a community and one or two people had experimented with 3D. The following summer I went back to that same community and students were talking to me about senior thesis shows done in 3D, college curriculums incorporating it into their photo programs. I'm not saying one thing led to another, but the amount of interest in 3D photography from one year to the next had grown surprisingly.

© Shawn Ray Harris / Wholesome Folsome

How was your experience at the World Photography Festival in San Francisco? What did you do there and did you learn anything?

The World Photography Festival was a fantastic opportunity to meet with other photographers immersed in their own projects. To me, the value of listening to other photographer's experiences and how they face different challenges is priceless. A couple topics that interested me specifically were 'The Future of Book Publishing' and 'The Power of New Media'. The panelists were very engaging, I especially enjoyed Deanne Fitzmaurice's presentation 'Family Kocktail'. Her insight into photography, video and the capturing of audio, was very inspiring. Another standout of the festival, was David McLain's commercial work with the Merge Group along with his Sony NEX-5 project... simply awesome. The festival's Portfolio Seminar offered a broad selection of reviewers. I met with a few of them and wished I had signed up for more. I was given some great suggestions and specific feedback that I have already incorporated into my work. One of the portfolio reviewers, documentary photographer Melanie Light, gave me solid, easy to follow advice on gallery presentations that could include audio for images. I'm really looking forward to the next WPO event.

© Shawn Ray Harris / The Neighbourhood Launch of the Raygun Gothic Rocket

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• Dolly H 23rd December 2010 09:41

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  This is amazing.