TITLE
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
EPIGRAPH
INTRODUCTION
METHOD
ILLUSTRATIONS
APPENDIX
REFERENCES
Write us.
DISCUSSION
I like New York in June,
How about you?
-- Ralph Freed and Burton Lane (1941), "How
About You?"General Conclusions on the Collective Stereographic Photo Essay
This paper has proposed and illustrated one approach to probing a consumption experience in depth via the construction of a collective stereographic photo essay. Some aspects of this approach have previously been discussed and applied elsewhere in the literature. For example, the focus on consumption experiences has been advocated as a worthwhile extension of the decision-oriented emphasis on brand choices or purchasing behavior (e.g., Holbrook and Hirschman 1992). Similarly, other researchers have explored methods in which informants create their own visual records to portray their consumption experiences by means of photographic or related image-creating technologies (e.g., Zaltman and Higie 1993). Still others have occasionally presented their qualitative ethnographic findings or subjective personal introspections in the form of a photographic essay (e.g., Heisley et al. 1991; Holbrook 1987, 1988, 1996b; Rook 1991). And, recently, the use of three-dimensional stereography has been suggested as a route toward increasing the vividness, clarity, realism, and depth of our visual representations of consumption experiences in consumer research (Holbrook 1996a, 1996c). Hence, the novel contribution of the present paper stems not so much from our efforts to propose, apply, and illustrate these various aspects of our approach as from their combination in the form of what we call the collective stereographic photo essay. In this direction, we have demonstrated the feasibility of gathering insights into one general consumption experience -- life in New York City -- by means of verbal vignettes and pictorial photos created by a group of cooperating informants armed with stereo cameras, good eyes, and penetrating self-reflections on the meanings of their everyday world in the Big Apple.
Interpretation of these creative efforts by our informants has suggested seven key themes, discussed previously at some length under their respective headings: (1) Pleasures; (2) Opportunities; (3) Loved Ones; (4) Stress; (5) Distress; (6) Respite; and (7) Ambivalence. Though these motifs certainly do not exhaust the topics covered in the self-reports and pictures contributed by our informants, we believe that they crystalize the major thematic material revealed by their introspective vignettes and self-photographs. In this, we claim no more than to have distilled the insights implicit in their own collective observations. Taken together, we believe, these insights probe the depths of everyday consumption experiences for a group of well-educated and upwardly mobile young adults living and working in New York City.
Specific Conclusions on the Role of Stereography
Probably the most innovative aspect of our approach to creating a collective photo essay concerns its use of stereography to produce three-dimensional stereo pairs of photos that convey a true 3-D visual experience. This facet of our work, we believe, deserves some further comment in these closing remarks. Specifically, we wish to help the reader understand why and how the three-dimensional stereo photographs tend to enhance the vividness, clarity, realism, and depth of our pictorial representations beyond what one might expect from the more familiar two-dimensional monocular pictures. Toward this end, we shall briefly revisit each of the montages shown earlier, focusing now on only the insights directly associated with stereography.
(1) Pleasures. On the surface, when seen monocularly via either its left or right picture viewed by itself, either member of the photo pair in PHOTO 1A presents a dark and confused snapshot of some people standing and sitting in a dimly lit interior. Only when fusing the stereo pair into a true 3-D image do we experience the feeling that the informant says he wishes to convey -- namely, the length of what he calls the "obscenely long ... line" (which stretches from the foreground toward the back of the dark interior) and his implicit conviction that his reward in the form of bagel, lox, and coffee will be worth the wait (by virtue of the egg, tomato, and toasted almond flavors that he plans to enjoy). In PHOTO 1B, a three-dimensional view helps the bi-cultural "Szechuan Kyoto" sign protrude toward the viewer. Further, the stereo effect emphasizes the three bicycles in the foreground on the left -- these being the vehicles whereon employees of such take-out restaurants ride to all corners of the City, frightening pedestrians, making home deliveries, and depositing the menus that show up again inPHOTO 1D. Meanwhile, in stereo, both PHOTO 1C and PHOTO 1D convey different aspects of the sense in which the pleasures of food in New York are plentiful, abundant, or even "in your face." In PHOTO 1C, a wall of hanging cheeses at Zabar's seems to separate the viewer from a woman behind the counter piled with delicacies. What seems like an incoherent jumble of products on display (when seen in only two dimensions by looking at just one of the two pictures in the pair) sorts itself into an array of clearly distinct items awaiting our delectation (when seen in three dimensions by fusing both pictures into one 3-D image). Similarly, the pile of menus featured in PHOTO 1D appears as a meaningless clutter in either the left or right 2-D picture viewed alone; but in 3-D stereopsis, we clearly distinguish each separate offering. Indeed, in stereo, these offerings seem to reach out toward us as we contemplate the possibility of calling for the home delivery of food from Bertha's, Mughlai, or Pita Piper.
(2) Opportunities. Further advantages of three-dimensional stereography appear in the second montage. For example, when seen in 3-D, the gargoyle in PHOTO 2A seems to lean out over us and to peer downwards in our direction with a compelling sense of presence that is missing from the two-dimensional view. Meanwhile, the photo of Father Duffy in PHOTO 2D presents a complex visual pattern that requires some disentangling to appreciate the details described by our informant. In the three- as opposed to two-dimensional view, these details emerge more vividly. One clearly notices the sign behind the statue saying "theatre development fund" and "tkts"; the clamor of tall buildings and a "Coke" advertisement in the background; and the celebrated pigeon sitting atop Father Duffy's head (with three more awaiting their turns to perch in this place of honor). Similarly, the 3-D effect in PHOTO 2H clearly conveys the sense of looking past the walkway and hedge in the immediate foreground; past the NY Waterway ferry boat in the middle range; and across the expansive Hudson River toward the panoramic New York skyline far beyond. Thus, stereography captures the informant's feeling of remoteness or detachment in that the distance from here (New Jersey) to there (NYC) stretches before us in three dimensions with a depth missing from either of the two-dimensional representations considered separately. Finally, 3-D stereoscopy helps us grasp the sculpturesque qualities of the Prometheus statue shown in PHOTO 2J. Further, the depth of the view from this low statue (below sidewalk level) to the tall buildings behind it (looming high in the background) dramatizes what the informant calls the "surrounding Rockefeller Center skyscrapers ... [as] a metaphor for what the city means to the world" (reminding us how tourists tend to walk around town with their heads tilted back and faces pointing upward).
(3) Loved Ones. The picture in PHOTO 3A -- our only photo shown as a two-dimensional pair (with the exact same picture on both the left and right) because one of the two cameras apparently failed to fire properly (leaving us with only one shot to work with) -- serves to illustrate how a visual display lacking in depth can fail to convey an informant's intentions in general and can betray this informant's attempt to represent "images of Cornell and nostalgic memories of time spent with friends" in particular. By contrast, in PHOTO 3B, we find the informant's girlfriend (Candy) surrounded by various possessions scattered casually on the bed. Via stereography, each possession stands out clearly -- the backpack, the NY Times, the handbag, the reading lamp (receding toward the background). These details give the stereo photo an intensely personal touch. In addition, when seen three-dimensionally, Candy's left arm appears to float toward the camera; and she seems to have thrust her face forward -- as if wanting to join the photographer on the other side of the lens -- a physical gesture that bolsters the theme of romanticism so prevalent in the informant's verbal account. By contrast with this intensely personal stereoscopic glimpse of Candy, PHOTO 3C beautifully captures the rather stark and coldly impersonal scene from the informant's bedroom window. Here, the sign for "Your Ad" -- barely perceptible in a two-dimensional monocular view -- appears clearly positioned in three-dimensional space and thereby conveys the otherwise problematic sense in which the informant can refer to this sales pitch as being located "on the wall of a nearby building." On a brighter note, the more cheerful aerial scene in PHOTO 3D makes the water tower described in the verbal account seem almost palpable in its elevated roundness. Further, in 3-D stereo, our attention is drawn into the distance where we notice a second water tower situated behind the first. By comparison, in just two dimensions, this latter discovery seems to disappear by blending inconspicuously into the background.
(4) Stress. The rather extreme depth effect found in PHOTO 4B clearly conveys the intimidating length of the lonely corridor in the informant's apartment building. Here, we share the disquieting feeling of being confronted by an endless succession of doors with strangers lurking behind them. On another stressful theme, the space shown in PHOTO 4D displays the "concentrated" living style described in the informant's account of cramming his and his wife's possessions into a couple of small rooms. Thus, the bicycle blocks our view of the desk, couch, and china cabinet; this bike even seems to crowd the cat out of the picture in the bottom left-hand corner. In PHOTO 4E, as explicitly intended by our informant, the "$1 Admission" sign appears clearly on the right, beside an opening that reveals the display tables under the tents in the depths beyond. When seen stereoptically, the people in the background stand out distinctly as individuals and thereby command our attention, as does the man emerging with his shopping bag through the exit. Meanwhile, a two-dimensional view of the scene in PHOTO 4F might seem to feature two men leaning against a railing. By contrast, the three-dimensional view helps us notice the stairway that plunges into the subway station below, with people descending into this atmosphere of "intimate anonymity and self-sufficient efficiency" that our informant takes as her main point of focus.
(5) Distress. By coincidence, as stress gives way to distress in PHOTO 5A, we find another stereographic photo (from a different vantage point) of the same subway station shown in PHOTO 4F. In two dimensions, we would be hard-pressed to identify the main thematic subject of this photo in PHOTO 5A. However, in three dimensions, the target of the informant's comic tirade -- namely, the parking meter -- stands out in bold relief at the front and center of the picture. The stereo effect also helps to depict the seedy shabbiness of the poster peeling from the surface above the subway entrance. Speaking of seediness, apparently captured at dusk with the lights of a passing car already turned on, the image in PHOTO 5B conveys the bustle of activity at our informant's old street corner from days of yore. Across the intersection, we see the delicatessen whence emanated the "bugs and mice" about which she complained in her vignette. The 3-D effect also helps to isolate the shadowy figures who circulate near what the informant called "the wild and infamous St. Mark's Place." Pursuing an even more distasteful aspect of distress, the stereo pairs in PHOTO 5C and PHOTO 5D present two different views of the pigeon problem (also pictured earlier in PHOTO 2D, as noted previously). Specifically, in PHOTO 5C, the stereography makes the three birds at the left appear to hang in mid-air -- suspended between the viewer and the rest of the flock behind them, fluttering their wings (which seem to move because they changed positions between the two camera exposures). It might be difficult to achieve this sort of dynamic effect on purpose; but, presumably by accident, our informant produced a 3-D image that captures the ceaseless motion of the pigeon population. Meanwhile, the clear spatial definition in PHOTO 5D gives the viewer a well-rounded sense of this lone bird's corporeal bulk. In stereo, this pigeon seems to stand out against its flat background near the depth-defining juncture between the sidewalk and a wall behind it.
(6) Respite. The picture in PHOTO 6A conveys a well-defined spatial sense of the "cozy" corner and the comforts of the rocking chair in this NYC apartment. Here, an important component of this stereograph involves the way in which the corner appears to recede into a region of safety that seems to shelter the rocker. In PHOTO 6B, stereoptically, we experience the depth of the Riverside Park benches stretching into the distance as a framework for the supine relaxation of the man laid out on one of them. Meanwhile, even in two dimensions, we can feel the energy of the figures swirling on roller blades in Central Park as shown by PHOTO 6E. But, in the three-dimensional view, each individual seems to separate from the crowd and to stand out distinctly. Notice, for example, how the stereo effect clearly shows a second couple, skating arm-in-arm and appearing between but far behind the couple dancing at the right of the picture. Still in Central Park, some small children and their fathers seen in the foreground of PHOTO 6F tend to arrest our glance when viewed monocularly. But in the 3-D experience, our gaze extends past the people and across the pond, where we observe the spatial relationships among the miniature sailboats in the distance. Thus, as promised in the verbal vignette that accompanies PHOTO 6F, this scene does indeed appear to "come alive" in its stereographic representation.
(7) Ambivalence. Shown in PHOTO 7B from Morningside Heights at the top of a hill overlooking the scene below, Harlem appears to stretch out as a broad expanse of flatness between this vantage point and the East River beyond. The 3-D effect gives a clear sense of the downward drop between the fence and trees in the foreground to the tops of the buildings below. This feeling of distance emphasizes our informant's ambivalence in describing the vista before him. As also portrayed rather poignantly in another informant's verbal vignette, the homeless man in PHOTO 7C huddles against the wall of Carnegie Hall near an opening that leads downward into the subway. Further enhancing this plaintive effect, when seen in stereo, his column of paper cups reaches outward and upward, detaching itself from the background and extending toward the viewer. And in three dimensions, each cup appears distinctly as a separate entity unto itself. In PHOTO 7D, our informant seems to have managed to detach herself from a similar scene of poverty contrasted with wealth, as described so articulately in her vignette. Specifically, she has created a symbolic representation of her ambivalent feelings, which she has erected in the corner of a patio or driveway and which she has photographed from a considerable distance. In three dimensions, we experience the space between her vantage point and the assemblage of symbolic objects. A wide expanse of cement separates the stereoptical viewer from the dollar bill, trash can, Sunday NY Times, scales of justice, barbecue, beer, and chips mentioned in her verbal account. Finally, our presentation of visual illustrations ends with an especially powerful stereographic effect. As shown in PHOTO 7F, a wire fence separates this young woman from the soft grass beyond, while the NYC skyline recedes into the background far behind a row of trees on the other side of the lawn. Thus, the expanse of natural grass and trees intervenes between the artificial structure in the foreground and the human-made metropolis in the distance.
Envoi
We hope that the reader who has stayed with us this far has gained some appreciation for the proposed approach to studying consumption experiences via the collective stereographic photo essay. We believe that the vignettes provided by our informants convey insights not likely to emerge from either a more pedestrian set of qualitative ethnographic interviews or a more conventional array of quantitative survey results. Further, we believe that the proposed use of three-dimensional stereography enhances the vividness, clarity, realism, and depth of the photographic illustrations far beyond what one might expect from the more traditional two-dimensional monocular pictures sometimes included as documentation in ethnographic studies. In both senses, we believe that our collective stereographic photo essay has enabled us to probe -- in depth -- the consumption-related phenomena associated with the experience of "What New York Means To Me."
Do you ever run into that guy
Who used to be you?
Tell me, do you miss New York...?
Me too!
-- David Frishberg (1981), "Do You Miss New
York?"
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