For me, participating in folios is by far the most rewarding part of MF3D.
A stereo folio is a traveling box filled with stereo slides from many photographers. It’s a continual loop — when you receive the folio, you remove the slides you submitted last time and replace them with some new slides before sending the next person in the loop. Comments are shared online. Why share images in such a seemingly old-fashioned way? There’s no stereo digital image viewing technique that really compares to viewing properly exposed slide film in a backlit handheld stereo viewer. Folios are just plain fun — it’s always such a thrill to receive a folio. You get to be part of a small community and get to know some really interesting and talented people.
I’m always amazed by the great variety of photography featured in the folios. There are cha-chas, long exposures, extreme hyper stereos, multiple exposures, homemade cameras, handheld shots, flash and more! All these different methodologies are used with a vast array of subjects. I have learned about so many different techniques by participating in the folio. Furthermore, it’s amazing source of inspiration to view others’ work and see subjects and compositions that I would have never considered. And of course, there’s also just the pure joy of looking at beautiful and interesting imagery in such splendid fidelity.
Finally, there’s the joy of sharing your own images. It’s fantastic to get feedback from accomplished stereo photographers on your images.
I am aware of two active MF3D folios. You can find out more details over on the each folio’s respective comments page:
- Folio A (managed by John Thurston)
- The Dragon Folio (managed by myself, previously managed by Brian Reynolds)
Currently they are both limited to Canadian and American members. If you are shooting MF3D in Canada or the US, you should definitely consider joining a folio. If you like elsewhere and are interested in sharing images, please contact me. I would be very interested in putting together an international folio if there was sufficient interest. I’m always happy to share images one-on-one too.