Mirror Man

[Lawrie]

Has anyone any information about a hologram entitled the "Mirror Man".

My research has found only one copy held in MIT Mirror Man

Neither they nor myself know little about it.

Who created it?
How many copies were made?
How much is it worth?

All we know is that it was created in 1977 and I was told that the original template was broken so no copies could be made.
That's all the info we have, can anyone shed a light?

[Dinesh]

It was shot by Adrian Lines in London. I was told it was shot at London Holographics, perhaps Kaveh can confirm/deny this. I believe that Adrian shot some of his holograms at Icon's studio; he was a familiar face around Icon in Notting Hill Gate in the early 80's. Sadly, he died around 83 or so in South Africa. Appaently he went off a bridge in the dark during a rainstorm. I do know, or at least I'm fairly certain, that we had a copy of "Mirror Man" when London Holographics became Icon Holographics because I made a copy from an H1that was lying around at Icon. The H2 was shot on 11 x 11 inch film, which is we used to do at Icon. Unfortunately it was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake of 1994, because my house collapsed, destroying a lot of holograms. I think (very big "think") that I may have an H1 lying around somewhere since I haven't looked at my old H1s in many a year.

Adrian also shot "Portrait of an Artist as a dead Man", which won an award. This was a montage of several 8x10s which, when put altogether, showed a full body. Adrian placed the montage in a coffin.

Another story I like to tell about Adrian is that he had some pieces at a holography showing in London around 1983. I was helping man the front counter, so I was there earlier than the public opening. Anyway, Adrian was standing in front of one of his pieces when the public was let in. Some guy walked up to Adrian's piece, looked at it, and then said, "That's a hologram, you know. They do it with lasers" Adrian looked amazed and said, No! Really! It's a hologram? How do they do that with lasers?" I was standing next to Edwina and we were both cracking up!

[Lawrie]

It was shot by Adrian Lines in London. I was told it was shot at London Holographics, perhaps Kaveh can confirm/deny this. I believe that Adrian shot some of his holograms at Icon's studio; he was a familiar face around Icon in Notting Hill Gate in the early 80's. Sadly, he died around 83 or so in South Africa. Appaently he went off a bridge in the dark during a rainstorm. I do know, or at least I'm fairly certain, that we had a copy of "Mirror Man" when London Holographics became Icon Holographics because I made a copy from an H1that was lying around at Icon. The H2 was shot on 11 x 11 inch film, which is we used to do at Icon. Unfortunately it was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake of 1994, because my house collapsed, destroying a lot of holograms. I think (very big "think") that I may have an H1 lying around somewhere since I haven't looked at my old H1s in many a year.

Adrian also shot "Portrait of an Artist as a dead Man", which won an award. This was a montage of several 8x10s which, when put altogether, showed a full body. Adrian placed the montage in a coffin.

Another story I like to tell about Adrian is that he had some pieces at a holography showing in London around 1983. I was helping man the front counter, so I was there earlier than the public opening. Anyway, Adrian was standing in front of one of his pieces when the public was let in. Some guy walked up to Adrian's piece, looked at it, and then said, "That's a hologram, you know. They do it with lasers" Adrian looked amazed and said, No! Really! It's a hologram? How do they do that with lasers?" I was standing next to Edwina and we were both cracking up!

Thank you for that valuable information. I purchased it in 1984 from a Hologram exhibition in Blackpool and that would tally with your story.
I am beginning to think that it would be prudent to insure it under my house contents but I have no idea of its value. If I was to auction it say, do you or anyone have any idea how much it would fetch?

[Lawrie]

I have passed the information onto MIT to allow them to update their database.

[Dinesh]

If I was to auction it say, do you or anyone have any idea how much it would fetch?

I'm afraid I have no idea, not being a collector or buyer of holograms. I would think your best bet is to ask Bob Hess or David Pizanelli. They're both over on the Holography group in Facebook. Some of these are appearing on EBay, so perhaps you might take a look there.

I am beginning to think that it would be prudent to insure it under my house contents

Perhaps I should too, since I have a whole bunch of these old holograms and some of them seem to be fetching thousands of dollars!

[Lawrie]

If I was to auction it say, do you or anyone have any idea how much it would fetch?

I'm afraid I have no idea, not being a collector or buyer of holograms. I would think your best bet is to ask Bob Hess or David Pizanelli. They're both over on the Holography group in Facebook. Some of these are appearing on EBay, so perhaps you might take a look there.

I am beginning to think that it would be prudent to insure it under my house contents

Perhaps I should too, since I have a whole bunch of these old holograms and some of them seem to be fetching thousands of dollars!

I have found another copy held in a private collection and currently awaiting their reply as to how much they have insured it.

That would be the final piece of my research jigsaw. Or will it?

There are other stories coming out: the life and times of Adrian Lines, the earthquake in Northfield that destroyed such irreplaceable objects.

Perhaps I should put together a synopsis of the Mirror Man so that anyone who owns it has a complete-ish history. There is nothing on Wiki about it, maybe I should post it there? Rhetorical as I type.

[Lawrie]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between a H1 and a H2?

[Dinesh]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between a H1 and a H2?

If you want to make a hologram that is white light viewable, there are several methods. If you want to make a hologram that is image planed, that is, the image straddles the plane of the hologram with some portion of the image behind the hologram medium and some portion in front, then you're best option is an H1/H2 geometry. There are ways of making an image-planed hologram without an H1, but that's more complicated. In the case of the Mirror Man, one of the two men is in front of the hologram, and the other one - the reflection - is behind the hologram. The hologram plane acts as if it were a mirror.

With this H1/H2 technique, you first make a hologram of the subject matter, with the subject matterm some distance away from the hologram, generally 8 to 12 inches. . So, in the case of the Mirror Man, you place a model of the two men facing each other, about 10 inches away from the hologram. This hologram, with the image far away from the hologram, is only viewable with a laser. If you tried to see the hologram in white light, that is an ordinary light source or the sun, all you'd see is a colour blur. In order to image plane the hologram and see it in white light, you need to make a second hologram. Every hologram has two images: the so-called "pseudoscopic" image and the so-called "orthoscopic" image. What this means is that one image is virtual, there's no actual light present at the image. The other image is a focused light image and there is actual light present. Usually, the focused image is the "pseudoscopic" or "pseudo" image. Since there is actual light present, it is now possible to make a second hologram, where the "object" is the reconstructed image from the first hologram. So, if you now place a holographic medium right inside the image from the first hologram (you can do this because the image has no substance) and shoot a second hologram, then this second hologram is white light viewable. This is because, for various reasons, the colour blur has vanished and the second image is clearly reconstructed by the white light. The first (laser viewable only) hologram is traditionally called the H1 and the second image (white light viewable) is called the H2. As you can see, if I have an H1 of an image, I don't need to re-create the entire geometry of the hologram, I can simply use the H1 to make another H2. Thus, the H1 is sometimes called the 'master' and the H2 is sometimes called the "copy". If you have the H1 of any image, it's therefore a simple matter to re-create the hologram.

[Lawrie]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between a H1 and a H2?

If you want to make a hologram that is white light viewable, there are several methods. If you want to make a hologram that is image planed, that is, the image straddles the plane of the hologram with some portion of the image behind the hologram medium and some portion in front, then you're best option is an H1/H2 geometry. There are ways of making an image-planed hologram without an H1, but that's more complicated. In the case of the Mirror Man, one of the two men is in front of the hologram, and the other one - the reflection - is behind the hologram. The hologram plane acts as if it were a mirror.

With this H1/H2 technique, you first make a hologram of the subject matter, with the subject matterm some distance away from the hologram, generally 8 to 12 inches. . So, in the case of the Mirror Man, you place a model of the two men facing each other, about 10 inches away from the hologram. This hologram, with the image far away from the hologram, is only viewable with a laser. If you tried to see the hologram in white light, that is an ordinary light source or the sun, all you'd see is a colour blur. In order to image plane the hologram and see it in white light, you need to make a second hologram. Every hologram has two images: the so-called "pseudoscopic" image and the so-called "orthoscopic" image. What this means is that one image is virtual, there's no actual light present at the image. The other image is a focused light image and there is actual light present. Usually, the focused image is the "pseudoscopic" or "pseudo" image. Since there is actual light present, it is now possible to make a second hologram, where the "object" is the reconstructed image from the first hologram. So, if you now place a holographic medium right inside the image from the first hologram (you can do this because the image has no substance) and shoot a second hologram, then this second hologram is white light viewable. This is because, for various reasons, the colour blur has vanished and the second image is clearly reconstructed by the white light. The first (laser viewable only) hologram is traditionally called the H1 and the second image (white light viewable) is called the H2. As you can see, if I have an H1 of an image, I don't need to re-create the entire geometry of the hologram, I can simply use the H1 to make another H2. Thus, the H1 is sometimes called the 'master' and the H2 is sometimes called the "copy". If you have the H1 of any image, it's therefore a simple matter to re-create the hologram.

Once again I thank you for the information.
For insurance purposes the way I see it is that if you have the original H1 then it can potentially be recopied to H2, if you don't then its the end of the line. Rare versus unique.
Obviously this will have an effect on its value and the price I must pay to insure it.