Amazing 3D images from World War One..

There's something about the grainy, flat images from the Great War that give it a sense of unreality, however there have been a few times when i've seen images that are so vivid that I feel that I can step into the picture. Here's a really good example - a set of images taken by the French army with a special 3D camera that gives an incredible depth to the picture - see the example below..


Anyone who has visited the museum attached to Sanctuary Wood at Ypres will be familiar with these type of pictures (if I recall correctly, the collection they have there are very gruesome!)

Another example has to be the colour pictures taken by Albert Kahn, a French photographer. Considering the limitations of the technology of the day, there's something about the pictures bring the war to life in a way that the black images fail to do.  Perhaps it is also the subject matter - not always pictures of the horror of battle, but instead an ordinary 'poilu' (French soldier) having his lunch in the middle of a typically French courtyard..



The colour pictures almost make one feel that you are looking at a still from a modern recreation for a film, rather than an actual image of the First World War that is almost a century old..


I often wonder how far black and white images distance ourselves from the subject matter. I've even had kids ask if the past actually happened in black and white!