In the Daisy Field - "Sweet flow'ret of the rural glade" 1897

This stereoscopic image, "In the Daisy Field," was published by Underwood & Underwood around 1907, printed on a card with two nearly identical albumen prints. The process here is critical: stereoscopy involved a specialized camera with two lenses, mimicking the distance between our eyes. When viewed through a stereoscope, these paired images merged to create a single, three-dimensional view. This was a hugely popular form of entertainment, almost like a Victorian version of virtual reality. The commercial nature of the image is also important, because mass media photography like this changed our relationship with the visual world. What was once special and singular became easily reproducible and widely available. It democratized visual culture, but also commodified experience, transforming even a simple daisy field into a product for mass consumption. Think about the labor involved – from the photographer and technicians to the factory workers who printed and assembled these cards. This image, therefore, isn't just a charming scene; it's a document of early consumer culture and the industrial processes that made it possible.