At Hever Castle
in Kent, among the various artefacts and historical exhibits, is a letter
written by Sir Thomas Boleyn, father of the ill-fated Anne, addressed to Margaret
of Austria (the consort of the French King Francis). Anne was then a Lady-in-waiting
to Margaret at the French court, and Sir Thomas requested the return of his
daughter to the English court of Henry VIII. As it is both common knowledge
and historical fact that Anne was Henry’s mistress in 1527, this letter was
written in the first quarter of the 1500s. The missive begins ... “
This is a hologram...”
Sir Thomas chose a word, which gave a precise definition of the letter contents
to follow...a true, exact picture of facts in their entirety, the whole picture.
A few centuries later the word was coined to describe the reconstruction with
a light source, of an exact complete three-dimensional image, the whole picture
in its entirety.
The Stereoscope was the first three dimensional image but it was, and is,
an illusion of perspective created by the brain’s perception of visual focusing
aided by corrective glasses or simply by crossing the eyes (not everyone has
this ability!)
Dennis Gabor made the first ‘real’ 3D image, or hologram, in 1948. Like most
discoveries it was an accident, Gabor was actually trying to improve the
efficiency of microscopy - which, incidentally, he failed to do. It was
generally acknowledged as a great invention but without a future, so put on the
“back burner” until the invention of the pulsed ruby laser, which was built by
Theodore Maiman in 1961 and gave a source of almost pure light.
David Pizzanelli took us through the sequence of events from launch, progress
and development of the Hologram to the present day - and new technology.
Holography actually has unique applications in industry: quality control;
non-destructive testing; particle physics; aerodynamics; vibration analysis;
air pollution; medical measurement analysis and diagnosis; archiving - to name but
a few.
In Art, holography is not only a medium for subjective creativity but also for
art restoration and exhibitions. At the excellent ‘Art and Science of the
Soviet Union’ exhibition in the ‘80s, staged in London, USA and mainland
Europe, the exhibition comprised holograms of artefacts, never seen before
outside the USSR, too precious to be taken on a world tour.
In Design the hologram is becoming an integral part of the presentation or
sales pitch. A three dimensional visual of a building, shopping centre - town
planning in general or domestic interior design, furniture, kitchen appliances,
garden landscaping and dress or fashion design. These are produced digitally
and are holograms in the sense that they have parallax in all directions - but
they are not made using holography. When I discuss marketing this subject will
be expanded.
Agfa-Gevaert, Ilford, HRT and Slavich have produced holographic film and/or
plates in the past, with the exception of Slavich, none of these companies now
manufactures holographic materials. Currently the only commercial manufacturer
of high quality holographic emulsions is Slavich, they have been established
producers for many years. Geola uab, international wholesalers for Slavich film
and plates, in turn, have their distributors worldwide. HMD are the
distributors for U.K. and Eire. Holographic Recording Technologies (HRT),
manufacturers of holographic plates, unfortunately, ceased to trade in December
‘99.
There
are four or five companies in France; East Germany; Japan; Canada/China
endeavouring to develop suitable emulsions for holographic use but to date
their products have not been accredited and are not available for commercial
distribution.
Independent holographers, especially those who wish to become or continue to be
artists in this medium, grouse about the price of film and plates. Their
purchases are erratic and minimal. What they fail to appreciate is that, while
HMD imports the material, which is classified as a consumable product because it
has a shelf life, HMD is a business not a social service or charity and there
is an accounting term called cash flow. The holography market is (quoting a
representative from Agfa before they ceased production) tantamount to a piss in
the ocean regarding emulsion-coating sales. HMD took on this area of import
despite the total disinterest of supposed holographers who chose not to reply
to the questionnaire that was circulated in ‘96.
HMD needs information of possible requirements, so that suitable stock levels
can be maintained. HMD is in the process of ‘resurrecting’ an emulsion suitable
for use with ruby lasers. We are in negotiations with two companies but neither
will agree to test an emulsion until they can be given a forecast of possible
uptake. Therefore anyone who has a requirement for this product, however small,
please let me (Amanda) know so that we will be able to ascertain that the ‘en
mass’ order is a viable project.
However, digitalisation is the way forward... but to reproduce a digital image
you must have a computer and an operator. IBM and Mac are still at odds...
incompatible. You, therefore, need the correct software and again an operator.
The information given to the computer is reliant on human input, which is not
infallible. The image may be manipulated to show different views/angles and
give the stereoscopic illusion of depth - but... A hologram made
holographically is the complete real picture in three dimensions, unadulterated
by possible human error - it is true virtual reality.
The real dissertation begins now... Marketing.
Being over half a hundred and a Daily Mail reader I enjoyed the weekend
features covering the decades (five in all) re: the reign of Queen Elizabeth
II. However, I was angry and frustrated when I read the piece devoted to the
60s... I quote... “Giant leaps for mankind: Non-stick pans, computers,
barcodes, disposable nappies.” “Lasers were invented, first as near-mystical
devices for slicing through metal and doing things to James Bond; now as
universal components in every CD player and barcode reader, too unexciting to
comment upon. Holograms followed and seemed like magic; today we don’t even
bother to look at the shiny, floating 3-D images that act as security tags on
credit cards”...unquote.
What this uninformed person had written was true - the public, or rather almost
everyone who is not a holographer, do not know what a hologram is. They really
do believe that a hologram is a colourful card you get free in your cornflake
packet, or the security square on ‘the
plastic’. Neither of these images is a hologram. Unfortunately, when the
embossed image was taken up by enthusiastic agencies and their clients as the
latest promotional give-away they called it a ‘hologram’ and regrettably no-one
appears to have pointed out to them that this is not so. In my experience
people also refer to a lenticular image as a ‘hologram’.
A hologram has parallax in all directions - up, down, side-to-side and round
about. A lenticular image and an embossed image both have parallax in two
directions, vertical or horizontal. Is it perhaps time to clarify the
differences? As the word hologram is popularly associated to an image with
two-directional parallax, should we not consider re-launching the real hologram
with a new name? A suitable analogy, I believe, is the vacuum cleaner - universally known as the
hoover! It is listed in the Oxford Dictionary and has also been absorbed into language
(not just ‘English-roots’ language) as a verb - to hoover. No other brand
named vacuum cleaner holds this status. Possibly, Dyson might achieve the
equivalent as a noun but to dyson does not have the same ring as to hoover.
Real holograms have never been marketed, the mysticism and alleged complexities
and problems regarding stability and imaging procedures has virtually killed a
wonderful innovative hybrid. Although considerable specialist knowledge is
required to understand the science involved in holography it is not difficult
to understand the processes in making a hologram.
A hologram, whether holographic or digital cannot be marketed in 2D, brochures
and photographs only do them disfavour as the images are blurred and
unrealistic - they look like very bad photographs! It is up to the individual
holographer to select venues, and naturally there will be no money in it for
you - initially - but try: restaurants, trade exhibitions, shopping precincts,
reception areas i.e. car dealers, casino/night clubs etc… The only way to
promote holography is to exhibit.