BY HERBERT GEORGE PONTING AND OTHERS, MEIJI PERIOD (LATE 19TH CENTURY)

PONTING WAS FIRST SENT TO JAPAN BY THE MAGAZINE LADIES WEEKLY IN 1901. HE RETURNED ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS UNTIL 1906. BETWEEN THESE DATES HE MADE NUMEROUS PHOTOGRAPHS OF LANDSCAPES AND GENRE SCENES, INCLUDING MANY STEREO PHOTOGRAPHS FOR UNDERWOOD AND UNDERWOOD. A NUMBER OF SINGLE IMAGES OF THESE VIEWS WERE REPRODUCED IN HIS BOOK IN LOTUS LAND JAPAN AND IT IS LIKELY THAT MANY, PERHAPS MOST, OF THE STEREOS OF JAPAN COPYRIGHTED BY THE FIRM BETWEEN 1904 AND 1906 WERE BY HIM. STEREO CARDS EXIST OF HIS FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHER AND SOMETIMES TRAVELLING COMPANION FRANK HURLEY, TAKEN BY PONTING, ONE AT THE RIM OF THE VOLCANO ASAMA-YAMA AND OF ONE OF PONTING AT THE RIM OF ASO-SAN BY HURLEY. IN 1910 PONTING WAS APPOINTED STILLS AND MOVIE PHOTOGRAPHER TO SCOTT'S EXPEDITION TO ANTARCTICA. IN THE ENDLESS ANTARCTIC WINTER NIGHTS, WHEN THE MEN TOOK TURNS IN LECTURING TO PASS THE TIME, PONTING'S LECTURE WAS ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN, ILLUSTRATED BY SLIDES OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS.