H. H. Bennett's Stereo Photographs

A girl with a stereoscope gets a
three- dimensional look at one of
H. H. Bennett's photos of the
magnificent Wisconsin Dells.

Hand-held stereoscopes gave people sitting in their living rooms a means of enjoying the scenic wonders of H. H. Bennett's Wisconsin Dells. The entrepreneurial Bennett did not let the popularity of stereo viewers and stereo photography pass him by. He produced thousands of stereo photographs, mounted on cards imprinted with the name of his studio, and sold them nationwide through agents who traveled the Midwest.

Stereo photography relies on the principle that each eye sees a slightly different view when looking in the same direction, and Bennett chose scenes for his photographs accordingly. He selected views with a distinct foreground, background and mid-range, often using elements such as trees and rocks in the foreground to frame a central figure that would appear to stand out from the rest of the picture. The H. H. Bennett Studio & History Center uses both traditional hand-held stereoscopes and the latest in computerized, stereo-imaging technology to re-create the illusion of seeing flat objects in three-dimensions.