Photography seems to be in the zeitgeist this week as I keep stumbling over photo news.

America in Color 1939-1943

First off, a gorgeous gallery of 70 color photographs taken during the war years in America; just pictures of life in small towns, carnivals, speakeasies and lots and lots of people. The Denver Post seems to be taking the cue from Boston.com's The Big Picture blog by featuring very large images on their gallery. Kudos to them too. The color really pops in these images or maybe life was just more colorful then. This is a treasure trove for costume researchers.

View the gallery here at the Denver Post.

Interview with Brian May on Stereoscopic photography

Last night on the way home from my parents I caught most of a radio interview by CBC's Jian Gomeshi of former Queen guitarist Brian May who is the definition of a polymath. Not only was he a rocker but he has a degree in astrophysics and is the author of a new book on the 3D photography of 'gentleman photographer' T. R. Williams in 19th century England. His book has a title that sounds frankly Hobbitish: "A Village Lost and Found", and features 59 images of the town of Hinton Waldrist in Oxfordshire and also includes a viewer so you can see them in 3D. Evidently, at the time, stereoscopic viewing was a craze and anyone who could afford them had viewers, bought and traded these images. According to May, stereoscopy predates photography. Really? I would like to see stereoscopic paintings, then.

You can listen to the interview on the CBC site here.

Amtrak Photographer - did it ever happen?

Then yesterday I came across an update on the Amtrak Photographer story. This was the amateur photographer who was arrested by police for photographing an Amtrak train when there was no such law preventing photographing trains in the U.S. and, it turns out, he was doing it for a contest promoting Amtrak. In Duane P. Kerzic's subsequent lawsuit against Amtrak he garnered an award said to be in the five figures. However, as part of the settlement it seems he had to take down his web blog about his experience and not speak to the media again about it (the Amtrak contest site material also disappeared). So that embarrassing episode never happened. Fortunately, there are things such as the Way Back machine.

More in the NY Times.