Remember that year the View-Master was under the Christmas tree? Dan Plummer never got over the fascination with clicking through from one landscape or cartoon to the next. That experience influenced his current exhibit, “In Depth,” on display now at Gallery by the Lake, 809 Kirby St., Lake Charles.

Kids today might expect a virtual reality headset. In the 1800s, the stereoscope was all the rage. Visit “In Depth” to not only enjoy the photography, but to engage in putting dimensional images into perspective, literally and figuratively. The artist pairs photographic images captured side-by-side and displays them next to one another. The audience views the images digitally or with red and green plastic glasses.

“Images come to life when viewed and merged through stereoscopic lenses,” Plummer explains. “In the realm of photography as art, stereoscopy is usually viewed as a gimmick or novelty, but what I love about stereo images is the undeniable inclusion of depth as a major compositional element.”

Stereoscopic photography dates to 1832, just a few years after the beginning of photography itself. The process involves the making of two similar photographs, referred to as a stereo pair, from slightly different vantage points next to one another. Images are viewed, one with each eye. The brain interprets the images just as it does the images from our own eyes during normal vision, according to Plummer. While the human binocular vision is a result of eyes spaced a few inches apart, Plummer’s cameras are spaced inches, feet or even yards apart.

Subject matter includes natural landscapes, man-altered landscapes, local scenes, architecture and icons.

Plummer hopes the audience enjoys the photography and the novelty.  But he has another motive, the creation of a reminder of how much more of life one can see and understand by literally stepping to one side to gain an additional perspective.