July 15, 2025 • 27 mins
"Too often today everything is tech and screens… but picking up a book, putting on a pair of glasses, and seeing something really cool—it’s inspiring and fun."
Notable Moments:
00:03 – Dave’s early love for camping and the outdoors
04:47 – How 3D photography became part of his storytelling
08:44 – Behind the scenes of the Theodore Roosevelt 3D photo
11:22 – Overview of parks included in the book
13:43 – Hidden gem tip for Acadia National Park
17:20 – How kids reacted to the 3D book
21:04 – Leadership advice: “Say yes, then figure it out”
24:55 – Dave’s website and Skull Rock Podcast
Jody Maberry welcomes Disney animator turned author Dave Bossert to discuss his immersive book 3D National Parks Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before. Dave shares how the project was inspired by View-Masters, the magic of 3D photography, and the importance of sparking curiosity about parks, especially for kids who may not have visited one. The episode also touches on leadership lessons from the animation world and how saying “yes” opens new doors.
Read the blog for more from this episode on the website.
Connect with Dave Bossert
Order the book 3D National Parks Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before
For Direct orders contact Inquiry@theoldmillpress.com
Dave’s Website: https://www.davidbossert.com
Listen to the Skull Rock Podcast
Resources
https://parkleaders.com/about/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/theparkleaders/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Park Leader show, where we are changing the landscape
of leadership in parks and conservation. I'm your host,
Jody Mayberry. This episode, I think we're going to have a
fun talk with author Dave Bossert. But
it's he's not just an author. He has just a wonderful
career. But it's a book that he recently did that led
(00:24):
to me inviting him to be on the show. Dave started
as a Disney animator, long history with Disney.
So, Dave, first, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here.
Well, Jody, thank you very much for having me on the
Park Leader Show. I was really looking forward to talking with
you and being able to talk about my book, 3D
(00:46):
National Parks like you've never seen them before. And
both of that is true. Dave has a book and it does include parks like
you've never seen them before. Dave, let's I mentioned you are a
Disney animator, but what's your history with the
outdoors? Well, you know, from my earliest memories,
my parents used to take my siblings and I
(01:09):
camping all around New England. Anytime we
went off, it was load up the station wagon and
drive to a campground, you know, in Maine or
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire,
upstate New York, out in Pennsylvania.
So we did a lot of driving vacations when I was a kid.
(01:31):
And believe it or not, when I was in in high school, when I was
a teen in 1976, we
drove down to Walt Disney World and we stayed at
Fort Wilderness Campgrounds right there
at the park. So, you know, did a lot of camping. And of course,
I was a Boy Scout. So with the Boy Scouts, we went on
(01:53):
a lot of camping trips. And, you know, there was summer camp
in upstate New York that we would go to every summer, the Boy
Scout camp. So always been an
outdoors kind of person. We grew up on the south shore of
Long island, so I spent a lot of time during the summers
out on boats in the great South Bay,
(02:15):
clamming and just, you know, having fun at the
beach and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah, great. So many
good stories start out that way. Yeah. And so
often we get that outdoor experience because when we're younger, our
parents just drag us to the campgrounds and many of us end up
with a lifelong love of it because of that. So
(02:38):
you had this great career at Disney, which led to writing
books. But what was it that brought
you to 3D National Parks like you've never seen them before? I will
say before you tell us, Dave, this truly is unlike
any book about parks I've ever seen. It's very
unique. Very, very fun. When Dave asked me what I thought
(03:00):
about it, I said, man, this is a fun book. More so
than I expected. And I'm glad to hear that because it's, you know,
the genesis of these 3D books really goes back to
the old GAF view masters. And most
people listening, if you were a kid, you probably got your hands,
if not, had one, but some friend or relative
(03:23):
had a GAF View Master. And I even
have a picture of it in the book of mine. And it was
really, you know, those GAF view masters where you could see
3D images of all kinds of places. You know,
just, you know, name a topic, whether it was, you know, the
parks or going out to Europe to, you
(03:45):
know, seeing Paris, the Eiffel Tower, all these different, you know,
tourist landmarks in 3D, just by
looking through the view master at these
3D slides. And so as I grew up and when
I started working for Disney, I had a very good friend,
colleague at the studio, Ted, who.
(04:07):
Who's probably 20 years older than me.
And he. He basically was
a 3D photography buff. And
when he was a kid, he went to Disneyland
opening day, and he had his
3D Kodak camera with him, and he shot a
(04:28):
whole bunch of 3D photographs. And I remember him bringing those slides in
and showing them to me at the studio. And.
And I. And I said to him, way back in the 90s, you
know, Ted, you ought to put these in a book. These would be really terrific
in a book. And so, you know, time goes by. You
know, we had some laughs and all that, but I started writing
(04:50):
books. And Ted retired from the studio, and we stayed in
touch. And I was visiting him at his
home, at his retirement home. And we started
talking about the 3D slides. And I said, ted, I go, let's
do a book on 3D Disneyland like you've never seen it before.
And so that's what we did. We put a book together
(05:13):
of 100 of his best 3D
slides of Disneyland and set the book up
as a tour of Disneyland. So, you know, the beginning,
you go down Main street, and then you go
to Adventureland and Frontierland and
Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and then the castle.
(05:35):
So we set it up as if you were touring Disneyland,
and that was a huge hit. And in the interim of all this,
I started collecting 3D slides of
the national parks and of World War I and other
topics. And I thought, well, this
3D Disneyland book was so well received, I think maybe
(05:57):
I should do one on the 3D National Parks. And part of
my thinking on this, Jody, was that I wanted
to create a book that had an immersive experience.
You know, something that, you know, maybe a kid in the inner city
could pull this off of a shelf in the library and put the 3D
glasses on and see all these magnificent national
(06:20):
parks and might inspire that kid to go
visit those, you know, when they got older or, you know,
coax their family into taking a road trip to the nearest national
park to where they are or something. But I just thought
there was just a neat facet of being able to do
some of these magnificent photographs in a book
(06:43):
that was a very immersive experience. And we also.
One of the guys that I was working with, Patrick, who was helping me
convert the 3D slides to these
anaglyph images that we put in the book, he's a real
outdoors person and had shot some before and after
photographs at Yellowstone. So, you know,
(07:05):
he took some of my pictures, some of my stereo
slides, which were shot in the 1870s and
1880s by these photographers that went out,
and he went and found the same spot and took a
photograph today. So you have a, you know, a then and now
kind of, you know, set up on a couple of the images in the
(07:27):
book. But what a lot of people don't realize is
that stereo photography, you know, in the.
The late 1800s, early 1900s,
was a form of home entertainment. People had,
you know, stereo viewers in their parlors. And there
were a number of companies that hired photographers to go
(07:49):
out and shoot specific, you know, subjects, you know,
specific locations. During World War I, there
were 3D photographers on the battlefield
documenting what was going on in the war.
And so this was how people back
in the day were able to see things that they
(08:11):
may never visit in their lifetime. And I just thought there was
something fun about being able to put all that into
a book and updating it. Well, and that's one of the fun pieces
about this, is the historical aspect.
So you get to see. It's 3D, which is.
You do not expect that in a book. But, yeah, here it is. You open
(08:34):
the COVID there's 3D glasses, put them on, and you can flip through
the book and see images in 3D. That part's neat. What
I really liked is just the history of it. You heard Dave
talk about how that used to be a form of entertainment. It's almost
like a step back in time because you're
looking at historic photos. So of course that's a step back,
(08:56):
but also you're looking at them in a way that people
used to all this time ago. So there's
two ways. It's just like going back and seeing
what other people used to see. And it starts off with Yellowstone national
park, with the very first photo
being. Well, the first photo is the sign at Yellowstone,
(09:19):
but then you flip the page and it's Theodore Roosevelt. So it just
starts off with some great history, a really cool photo.
I've never had the chance to see a 3D photograph of Theodore Roosevelt
until I got this book. And that photo. I still,
you know, a big smile on my face every time I look at that
photo because he's sitting horseback and the
(09:42):
horse's head is literally appears to be
sticking off the page, like sticking out of the frame.
And it's just so fantastic to see that every
time I put on the glasses and look at it, I just have a big
smile on my face. Yeah, when I saw that one,
I loved it. Because every park ranger loves Theodore
(10:03):
Roosevelt. So of course I. I love the photo. And then I thought, my
goodness, I wonder if anyone showed this to Theodore Roosevelt if he got
the chance to see himself in 3D. I don't know. You
know something, I would imagine he would have seen it.
I really do, because they were so. Those
stereo slides were so popular during
(10:25):
that time. And there were stereo
photographers documenting Teddy Roosevelt's
western tour of the United States, you know, and
out of that comes the national, you know, the national park
system to some degree. Yeah, that's right. So
when you went through this to compile your
(10:46):
old 3D photos, was there anything that you
learned about parks that you didn't already know? You know, that's a good
question, because I'm like a sponge. I'm constantly learning
something. And so as I was going through these slides, of
course, you're looking up things. You're looking at
just facts and things. And I try and put. At
(11:09):
the beginning of each of the park sections,
I try to put some condensed factoids about the park,
you know, when. When it became a national park and things like that.
And again, I just want. I want your listeners to know that this
doesn't cover every national park. What I have
covered is a nice selection, including,
(11:31):
of course, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National
Park, Mount Raynor National Park, Crater Lake
National Park, Mesa Verde National Park,
Glacier national park, your favorite. I hope there were some images in
there that you liked. Rocky Mountain national
park, of course, the Grand Canyon and Mammoth Cave
(11:53):
National Park. So I tried to give a nice
smattering mostly of the Western United
States. But again, I was hoping that this book
would not just be a party trick, but it would be a coffee
table book that people would be inspired by
and when they're looking through it, maybe decide to go
(12:15):
visit a national park instead of leaving the country
to go someplace. Because we have so many magnificent
parks in this country and I don't know
how many people have actually seen more than one
national park. You know, I'm sure your, your listeners
probably have all the statistics on that kind of a thing, but
(12:38):
there's a lot of people in the inner cities and stuff that may not have
ever gone to a national park. I can tell you I go up to
Acadia national park in Maine every year.
I go up to Maine for a week or two, and during that
time I usually take a day trip over to Acadia. What
a great trip. I have not been to Acadia yet, Dave, so we're going to
(13:01):
have to talk about. Okay, all right. Maybe we need to get there together. Well,
and by the way, the secret, and maybe it's not a
secret to some people, but for me, you know, most of
Acadia national park is on Mount Desert island,
which, you know, most of that land was donated
by the Rockefeller family, but there is on the
(13:22):
mainland, there's what's called Scudic Point, and
that's part of the national park, but everybody goes to Mount Desert
island, so. But there's a beautiful scenic drive through
Scudic Point, which is all national park. And it,
for whatever reason, it's never that crowded. So there's the secret.
That's where you go, you know. Wonderful. I did
(13:45):
not know that. That's good. I'm going to make it to Acadia at
some point. Living in Washington State, that's about as
far away from me as you can get. Yes, yes, absolutely.
Well, there also in this book Dave mentioned, there are
historic photos followed by what it looks like today,
today being when photos were taken in 2022.
(14:08):
And there's one, for example, that has Theodore
Roosevelt in Yellowstone followed by what it looks like today.
And I really like that aspect because I found myself
looking at some of the historical photos and then
saying, oh, I wonder how closely that looks today.
Well, then on the next page you get to see that in 3D.
(14:31):
So I appreciate that you also included modern
day 3D because it does give you a sense of
what hasn't changed and what has changed since
then. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, some of
it is, you know, when you look at those then and now
photos, a lot of. It's still kind of the same. And it's
(14:53):
amazing that the Pictures were taken 120, 130 years
apart. You know, like the one of Teddy Roosevelt
on horseback in front of the Liberty cap,
you know, at Yellowstone. And then the. Turn the page and
you see what the Liberty Cap looks like, you know, today. Yeah.
That's the exact one I was looking at. And I like it because it
(15:15):
shows Theodore Roosevelt with the park
superintendent. Yeah. And I was looking at how he was dressed,
thinking, wow, that's. That is not how park rangers. You would see one
now. So I. I mean, you know, it's funny you mentioned that, because when I
was first looking at that photo, I thought to myself, that looks like a
cop. Yeah, it does. You
(15:36):
know, but what's amazing, too, is when you think about
when Teddy Roosevelt went to the national parks, like, for
instance, in Yosemite, he goes into Yosemite
with I. His name is slipping my mind now.
The guy that started. I got it here. John Muir.
Yeah, John. John Muir. But he goes into Yosemite
(16:00):
with John Muir. It's just Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir,
and one, you know, bodyguard. There's like, just the three of
them, and he's sleeping on a stack of blankets as a
mattress, and they're roughing it out in the wilderness.
And I just thought, could you imagine a president doing that
today? I don't think it would be possible. You know, I don't think it would
(16:22):
be possible. No, that. It is a great point, and it's a great story that
we've. We've really never covered on the show before.
So perhaps someday we'll. We will get more into
Theodore Roosevelt. And as you work your way through the book,
you eventually get to Mount Rainier, which is right in
my backyard. Which, by the way, big news on the day
(16:44):
that we're recording this. Mount Rainier has had hundreds of earthquakes
in a single day today. So our parks are always active,
always moving. You never know. They say nothing is imminent. It's just
activity that they're keeping an eye on. Well, I
hope there's no Mount St. Helens happening there. It doesn't seem
like there. There will be, but it was really interesting to see
(17:08):
Mount Rainier in the. Well, all of the parks. I mean, I can pick any
of them. That's. That's why I wanted to have Dave on the show. As I
went through the book, and I was thinking, man, this is. This is such
a fun, historic way to see the park. And I had my kids
do this. Dave, I didn't tell you this yet because I thought, okay, I
think it's really cool. But I mean, I, I've used
(17:29):
technology like this when I was a kid, but my kids who are used
to screens, what would they think of it? And at first
they, they put on the glasses and they started flipping through and
they're like, hey, this is really neat. And I thought, okay, if you can get
some teenagers interested in this, this old style of
seeing things, then you've done okay. Well. And you know
(17:51):
something else, Jody? This is the kind of book that if
somebody were to pick this up after they visited one of the national
parks and brought it home, it's a touchstone
to their visit. You know, they can sit down and they can open the
book up and put on the 3D glasses and they're transported
back to where they visited and they can relive some of those great memories
(18:13):
they had with their loved ones, their family, whatever. And
again, I think that too often today, everything
is tech and screens and scrolling, or
doom scrolling as they call it now. And I think
the idea of being able to just shut off your devices and
pick up a book and put on a pair of glasses and see something
(18:36):
really cool right in front of you, there's something inspiring and fun
about that. Yes, there certainly is. And since we're
on the topic of it, I'm going to ask you now instead of at the
end. I personally think this book
would look really good on shelves at
national park visitor stores because it is a great
(18:57):
memory, a keepsake coffee table book that you can get at a
park, take home and relive history, but also your own
memories that you had at the park. If any parks want to
get this book, 3D national parks like you've never seen them
before. How can they get copies of this book for their
store? Well, first and foremost, if they already have
(19:19):
books in their store, they can order this through
their book distributor because this is a book that is
available through ipg, which is
one of the largest book distributors in the country. And
all they need is the ISBN number and
they could go on to Amazon and just type in 3D
(19:43):
national parks like you've never seen them before. And
the book page will come up. They can find the ISBN number
there. They can read some of the reviews of the book and
get a synopsis of the book as well. But in my
mind, I feel as though they can also write to
the publisher at Inquiry with an E,
(20:05):
E, N, Q, U, I R
y@theoldmillpress.com that's
the email. And also on the old Mill Press
website, under contact information,
There is an 800 number for the book distributor. So
there's a number of ways that they can find where they can go to
(20:27):
get the book. But I think this is one of those gifts that
just keeps on giving. It really does. You know, rainy
day, picking up a book like this and putting on the glasses, I
defy it not to give you a smile. You know,
I agree. It is fun. I really did enjoy it.
I did not expect, when I got this book to
(20:49):
describe it as fun. I thought it would be interesting. I thought I'd say it's
historic. Both of those are true. But the first word
I use to describe it is fun, because it really is. All right, Dave,
you had such a great career at Disney.
You personally worked with a lot of great leaders, and this
show is about leadership and parks and conservation. What
(21:11):
advice do you have for up and coming park leaders who want to have an
impact? Well, one of the best pieces of advice I got at
the studio when I was first starting out was from a guy
named John, John Emerson, who
was such an inspiration. In fact, I just saw him a couple of weeks
ago for his 91st birthday. And when
(21:34):
I was just starting out at the studio, John had been there for
30 something years. And I said to John,
I said, what do you attribute your longevity to
here at the studio? And he looked at me and he had
sort of a little twinkle in his eye. And he said, dave, I always
said yes. And I said, well, what do you mean by that? He says,
(21:57):
anytime somebody came into my office and said, john, can
you do fill in the blank, whatever the project was
or whatever the task was they wanted him to do? John said, I
always said yes. And they said, great. And he says as soon as they left
his office, he'd go, oh, my gosh, I got to go figure out how to
do that. I don't know how to do that. And he'd go figure it out.
(22:19):
And I took that advice to heart early on, and it's
really just been, you know, sort of a guiding light for
me, if you will, because when I decide to do something,
if I don't know how to do it or have never done it before,
I go figure it out. And, you know, today it's
so much easier to do that because you can go on YouTube
(22:43):
and find out how to do something. You know, you can watch a million
YouTube channels, you can pick up a
book, you can, you know, virtually figure out
anything you want from books. And Videos and
other media that's out there. It just takes your
effort to go figure it out. And so that's the best piece of
(23:04):
advice I ever got. Oh, I love it. You don't want to be the guy
who is known for or the lady who is
known for. If you need something done, talk to Dave. He's
going to say yes, he's going to get it done. He'll just go figure it
out. You know, I mean that's, that's really what it boils down to. And you
know, oftentimes Jody, over the years I've gone to people,
(23:27):
you know, as I moved up at the studio and became a manager and a
supervisor and all those things. You know, I go to somebody and say,
hey, you know, so and so can you do blah, blah,
blah. And I get this. I they'd be ringing their hands
going, I don't think I can do that. I've never done that before.
You know, and you just have to get out of that mode. You
(23:49):
just have to say, yep, I can do that. And go figure it out.
Go ask somebody and you'll be shocked at how,
how much you'll accomplish and how much you'll learn.
Wonderful. Dave, this is been wonderful talking with you. We talked about
where to find the book. What if someone wants to connect with you? Where can
they find you? Oh, they can find me@david
(24:11):
bossert.com. that's my website. It's got, you know,
all my books are listed on there. There's links to where you
can get those books if you want autographed copies. There's also a ton
of, if you like animation and Disney related
topics. I think I've got something like 40 or 50
articles on my website that there's no charge.
(24:34):
You can just go to my website and pick an article, click on it
and open it up and, and just read it and you'll learn
something new about early Disney or something about the
parks or whatever. So that's really the best place is david
bossert.com I also have a weekly podcast
which is different from yours, Jody. So we're not
(24:56):
competitors. I don't think we are. But I, I co host a
what's called the Skull Rock podcast and
we talk about entertainment and pop
culture and I interview various
people from the business. Animators, producers,
musicians, composers, people who are connected to
(25:18):
the film business. So every week we have an interview with
somebody and sometimes those in that an interview with an individual
might be three or four parts. So over the course of three or four
weeks you'll you'll hear 40 minute chunks of a lengthy
interview that we did with that person. So Skull Rock
Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, is available.
(25:40):
And like I said, davidbossert.com best way to contact me.
And also, I'm on social media. You know, we can't forget about social
media. Right. So, you know, I'm on Facebook, Instagram,
LinkedIn, X Blue sky, so
that you can find me on any of those platforms. All right, thank
you, Dave. And again, the book is 3D National Parks like you've
(26:02):
never seen them before. Thank you so much, Dave, for doing
this book. I feel like it's a treasure for all of us park
professionals. I really hope that, you know, it
is something that your listeners have enjoyed hearing about
but also might go out and take a peek at or get
a copy for themselves. And certainly, as we mentioned earlier,
(26:25):
if there's anybody out there at a national parks bookstore
who's interested in carrying the book, I do whatever I can to
help you get the book into your park store.
Yes. Wonderful. If you're interested in follow up with Dave, take
him up on that. It is a book that your visitors will
really enjoy. Thank you so much, Dave. And thank you for listening
(26:47):
to the Park Leader show. Thanks, Jody.
Welcome to the Park Leader show, where we are changing the landscape
of leadership in parks and conservation. I'm your host,
Jody Mayberry. This episode, I think we're going to have a
fun talk with author Dave Bossert. But
it's he's not just an author. He has just a wonderful
career. But it's a book that he recently did that led
(00:24):
to me inviting him to be on the show. Dave started
as a Disney animator, long history with Disney.
So, Dave, first, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here.
Well, Jody, thank you very much for having me on the
Park Leader Show. I was really looking forward to talking with
you and being able to talk about my book, 3D
(00:46):
National Parks like you've never seen them before. And
both of that is true. Dave has a book and it does include parks like
you've never seen them before. Dave, let's I mentioned you are a
Disney animator, but what's your history with the
outdoors? Well, you know, from my earliest memories,
my parents used to take my siblings and I
(01:09):
camping all around New England. Anytime we
went off, it was load up the station wagon and
drive to a campground, you know, in Maine or
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire,
upstate New York, out in Pennsylvania.
So we did a lot of driving vacations when I was a kid.
(01:31):
And believe it or not, when I was in in high school, when I was
a teen in 1976, we
drove down to Walt Disney World and we stayed at
Fort Wilderness Campgrounds right there
at the park. So, you know, did a lot of camping. And of course,
I was a Boy Scout. So with the Boy Scouts, we went on
(01:53):
a lot of camping trips. And, you know, there was summer camp
in upstate New York that we would go to every summer, the Boy
Scout camp. So always been an
outdoors kind of person. We grew up on the south shore of
Long island, so I spent a lot of time during the summers
out on boats in the great South Bay,
(02:15):
clamming and just, you know, having fun at the
beach and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah, great. So many
good stories start out that way. Yeah. And so
often we get that outdoor experience because when we're younger, our
parents just drag us to the campgrounds and many of us end up
with a lifelong love of it because of that. So
(02:38):
you had this great career at Disney, which led to writing
books. But what was it that brought
you to 3D National Parks like you've never seen them before? I will
say before you tell us, Dave, this truly is unlike
any book about parks I've ever seen. It's very
unique. Very, very fun. When Dave asked me what I thought
(03:00):
about it, I said, man, this is a fun book. More so
than I expected. And I'm glad to hear that because it's, you know,
the genesis of these 3D books really goes back to
the old GAF view masters. And most
people listening, if you were a kid, you probably got your hands,
if not, had one, but some friend or relative
(03:23):
had a GAF View Master. And I even
have a picture of it in the book of mine. And it was
really, you know, those GAF view masters where you could see
3D images of all kinds of places. You know,
just, you know, name a topic, whether it was, you know, the
parks or going out to Europe to, you
(03:45):
know, seeing Paris, the Eiffel Tower, all these different, you know,
tourist landmarks in 3D, just by
looking through the view master at these
3D slides. And so as I grew up and when
I started working for Disney, I had a very good friend,
colleague at the studio, Ted, who.
(04:07):
Who's probably 20 years older than me.
And he. He basically was
a 3D photography buff. And
when he was a kid, he went to Disneyland
opening day, and he had his
3D Kodak camera with him, and he shot a
(04:28):
whole bunch of 3D photographs. And I remember him bringing those slides in
and showing them to me at the studio. And.
And I. And I said to him, way back in the 90s, you
know, Ted, you ought to put these in a book. These would be really terrific
in a book. And so, you know, time goes by. You
know, we had some laughs and all that, but I started writing
(04:50):
books. And Ted retired from the studio, and we stayed in
touch. And I was visiting him at his
home, at his retirement home. And we started
talking about the 3D slides. And I said, ted, I go, let's
do a book on 3D Disneyland like you've never seen it before.
And so that's what we did. We put a book together
(05:13):
of 100 of his best 3D
slides of Disneyland and set the book up
as a tour of Disneyland. So, you know, the beginning,
you go down Main street, and then you go
to Adventureland and Frontierland and
Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and then the castle.
(05:35):
So we set it up as if you were touring Disneyland,
and that was a huge hit. And in the interim of all this,
I started collecting 3D slides of
the national parks and of World War I and other
topics. And I thought, well, this
3D Disneyland book was so well received, I think maybe
(05:57):
I should do one on the 3D National Parks. And part of
my thinking on this, Jody, was that I wanted
to create a book that had an immersive experience.
You know, something that, you know, maybe a kid in the inner city
could pull this off of a shelf in the library and put the 3D
glasses on and see all these magnificent national
(06:20):
parks and might inspire that kid to go
visit those, you know, when they got older or, you know,
coax their family into taking a road trip to the nearest national
park to where they are or something. But I just thought
there was just a neat facet of being able to do
some of these magnificent photographs in a book
(06:43):
that was a very immersive experience. And we also.
One of the guys that I was working with, Patrick, who was helping me
convert the 3D slides to these
anaglyph images that we put in the book, he's a real
outdoors person and had shot some before and after
photographs at Yellowstone. So, you know,
(07:05):
he took some of my pictures, some of my stereo
slides, which were shot in the 1870s and
1880s by these photographers that went out,
and he went and found the same spot and took a
photograph today. So you have a, you know, a then and now
kind of, you know, set up on a couple of the images in the
(07:27):
book. But what a lot of people don't realize is
that stereo photography, you know, in the.
The late 1800s, early 1900s,
was a form of home entertainment. People had,
you know, stereo viewers in their parlors. And there
were a number of companies that hired photographers to go
(07:49):
out and shoot specific, you know, subjects, you know,
specific locations. During World War I, there
were 3D photographers on the battlefield
documenting what was going on in the war.
And so this was how people back
in the day were able to see things that they
(08:11):
may never visit in their lifetime. And I just thought there was
something fun about being able to put all that into
a book and updating it. Well, and that's one of the fun pieces
about this, is the historical aspect.
So you get to see. It's 3D, which is.
You do not expect that in a book. But, yeah, here it is. You open
(08:34):
the COVID there's 3D glasses, put them on, and you can flip through
the book and see images in 3D. That part's neat. What
I really liked is just the history of it. You heard Dave
talk about how that used to be a form of entertainment. It's almost
like a step back in time because you're
looking at historic photos. So of course that's a step back,
(08:56):
but also you're looking at them in a way that people
used to all this time ago. So there's
two ways. It's just like going back and seeing
what other people used to see. And it starts off with Yellowstone national
park, with the very first photo
being. Well, the first photo is the sign at Yellowstone,
(09:19):
but then you flip the page and it's Theodore Roosevelt. So it just
starts off with some great history, a really cool photo.
I've never had the chance to see a 3D photograph of Theodore Roosevelt
until I got this book. And that photo. I still,
you know, a big smile on my face every time I look at that
photo because he's sitting horseback and the
(09:42):
horse's head is literally appears to be
sticking off the page, like sticking out of the frame.
And it's just so fantastic to see that every
time I put on the glasses and look at it, I just have a big
smile on my face. Yeah, when I saw that one,
I loved it. Because every park ranger loves Theodore
(10:03):
Roosevelt. So of course I. I love the photo. And then I thought, my
goodness, I wonder if anyone showed this to Theodore Roosevelt if he got
the chance to see himself in 3D. I don't know. You
know something, I would imagine he would have seen it.
I really do, because they were so. Those
stereo slides were so popular during
(10:25):
that time. And there were stereo
photographers documenting Teddy Roosevelt's
western tour of the United States, you know, and
out of that comes the national, you know, the national park
system to some degree. Yeah, that's right. So
when you went through this to compile your
(10:46):
old 3D photos, was there anything that you
learned about parks that you didn't already know? You know, that's a good
question, because I'm like a sponge. I'm constantly learning
something. And so as I was going through these slides, of
course, you're looking up things. You're looking at
just facts and things. And I try and put. At
(11:09):
the beginning of each of the park sections,
I try to put some condensed factoids about the park,
you know, when. When it became a national park and things like that.
And again, I just want. I want your listeners to know that this
doesn't cover every national park. What I have
covered is a nice selection, including,
(11:31):
of course, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National
Park, Mount Raynor National Park, Crater Lake
National Park, Mesa Verde National Park,
Glacier national park, your favorite. I hope there were some images in
there that you liked. Rocky Mountain national
park, of course, the Grand Canyon and Mammoth Cave
(11:53):
National Park. So I tried to give a nice
smattering mostly of the Western United
States. But again, I was hoping that this book
would not just be a party trick, but it would be a coffee
table book that people would be inspired by
and when they're looking through it, maybe decide to go
(12:15):
visit a national park instead of leaving the country
to go someplace. Because we have so many magnificent
parks in this country and I don't know
how many people have actually seen more than one
national park. You know, I'm sure your, your listeners
probably have all the statistics on that kind of a thing, but
(12:38):
there's a lot of people in the inner cities and stuff that may not have
ever gone to a national park. I can tell you I go up to
Acadia national park in Maine every year.
I go up to Maine for a week or two, and during that
time I usually take a day trip over to Acadia. What
a great trip. I have not been to Acadia yet, Dave, so we're going to
(13:01):
have to talk about. Okay, all right. Maybe we need to get there together. Well,
and by the way, the secret, and maybe it's not a
secret to some people, but for me, you know, most of
Acadia national park is on Mount Desert island,
which, you know, most of that land was donated
by the Rockefeller family, but there is on the
(13:22):
mainland, there's what's called Scudic Point, and
that's part of the national park, but everybody goes to Mount Desert
island, so. But there's a beautiful scenic drive through
Scudic Point, which is all national park. And it,
for whatever reason, it's never that crowded. So there's the secret.
That's where you go, you know. Wonderful. I did
(13:45):
not know that. That's good. I'm going to make it to Acadia at
some point. Living in Washington State, that's about as
far away from me as you can get. Yes, yes, absolutely.
Well, there also in this book Dave mentioned, there are
historic photos followed by what it looks like today,
today being when photos were taken in 2022.
(14:08):
And there's one, for example, that has Theodore
Roosevelt in Yellowstone followed by what it looks like today.
And I really like that aspect because I found myself
looking at some of the historical photos and then
saying, oh, I wonder how closely that looks today.
Well, then on the next page you get to see that in 3D.
(14:31):
So I appreciate that you also included modern
day 3D because it does give you a sense of
what hasn't changed and what has changed since
then. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, some of
it is, you know, when you look at those then and now
photos, a lot of. It's still kind of the same. And it's
(14:53):
amazing that the Pictures were taken 120, 130 years
apart. You know, like the one of Teddy Roosevelt
on horseback in front of the Liberty cap,
you know, at Yellowstone. And then the. Turn the page and
you see what the Liberty Cap looks like, you know, today. Yeah.
That's the exact one I was looking at. And I like it because it
(15:15):
shows Theodore Roosevelt with the park
superintendent. Yeah. And I was looking at how he was dressed,
thinking, wow, that's. That is not how park rangers. You would see one
now. So I. I mean, you know, it's funny you mentioned that, because when I
was first looking at that photo, I thought to myself, that looks like a
cop. Yeah, it does. You
(15:36):
know, but what's amazing, too, is when you think about
when Teddy Roosevelt went to the national parks, like, for
instance, in Yosemite, he goes into Yosemite
with I. His name is slipping my mind now.
The guy that started. I got it here. John Muir.
Yeah, John. John Muir. But he goes into Yosemite
(16:00):
with John Muir. It's just Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir,
and one, you know, bodyguard. There's like, just the three of
them, and he's sleeping on a stack of blankets as a
mattress, and they're roughing it out in the wilderness.
And I just thought, could you imagine a president doing that
today? I don't think it would be possible. You know, I don't think it would
(16:22):
be possible. No, that. It is a great point, and it's a great story that
we've. We've really never covered on the show before.
So perhaps someday we'll. We will get more into
Theodore Roosevelt. And as you work your way through the book,
you eventually get to Mount Rainier, which is right in
my backyard. Which, by the way, big news on the day
(16:44):
that we're recording this. Mount Rainier has had hundreds of earthquakes
in a single day today. So our parks are always active,
always moving. You never know. They say nothing is imminent. It's just
activity that they're keeping an eye on. Well, I
hope there's no Mount St. Helens happening there. It doesn't seem
like there. There will be, but it was really interesting to see
(17:08):
Mount Rainier in the. Well, all of the parks. I mean, I can pick any
of them. That's. That's why I wanted to have Dave on the show. As I
went through the book, and I was thinking, man, this is. This is such
a fun, historic way to see the park. And I had my kids
do this. Dave, I didn't tell you this yet because I thought, okay, I
think it's really cool. But I mean, I, I've used
(17:29):
technology like this when I was a kid, but my kids who are used
to screens, what would they think of it? And at first
they, they put on the glasses and they started flipping through and
they're like, hey, this is really neat. And I thought, okay, if you can get
some teenagers interested in this, this old style of
seeing things, then you've done okay. Well. And you know
(17:51):
something else, Jody? This is the kind of book that if
somebody were to pick this up after they visited one of the national
parks and brought it home, it's a touchstone
to their visit. You know, they can sit down and they can open the
book up and put on the 3D glasses and they're transported
back to where they visited and they can relive some of those great memories
(18:13):
they had with their loved ones, their family, whatever. And
again, I think that too often today, everything
is tech and screens and scrolling, or
doom scrolling as they call it now. And I think
the idea of being able to just shut off your devices and
pick up a book and put on a pair of glasses and see something
(18:36):
really cool right in front of you, there's something inspiring and fun
about that. Yes, there certainly is. And since we're
on the topic of it, I'm going to ask you now instead of at the
end. I personally think this book
would look really good on shelves at
national park visitor stores because it is a great
(18:57):
memory, a keepsake coffee table book that you can get at a
park, take home and relive history, but also your own
memories that you had at the park. If any parks want to
get this book, 3D national parks like you've never seen them
before. How can they get copies of this book for their
store? Well, first and foremost, if they already have
(19:19):
books in their store, they can order this through
their book distributor because this is a book that is
available through ipg, which is
one of the largest book distributors in the country. And
all they need is the ISBN number and
they could go on to Amazon and just type in 3D
(19:43):
national parks like you've never seen them before. And
the book page will come up. They can find the ISBN number
there. They can read some of the reviews of the book and
get a synopsis of the book as well. But in my
mind, I feel as though they can also write to
the publisher at Inquiry with an E,
(20:05):
E, N, Q, U, I R
y@theoldmillpress.com that's
the email. And also on the old Mill Press
website, under contact information,
There is an 800 number for the book distributor. So
there's a number of ways that they can find where they can go to
(20:27):
get the book. But I think this is one of those gifts that
just keeps on giving. It really does. You know, rainy
day, picking up a book like this and putting on the glasses, I
defy it not to give you a smile. You know,
I agree. It is fun. I really did enjoy it.
I did not expect, when I got this book to
(20:49):
describe it as fun. I thought it would be interesting. I thought I'd say it's
historic. Both of those are true. But the first word
I use to describe it is fun, because it really is. All right, Dave,
you had such a great career at Disney.
You personally worked with a lot of great leaders, and this
show is about leadership and parks and conservation. What
(21:11):
advice do you have for up and coming park leaders who want to have an
impact? Well, one of the best pieces of advice I got at
the studio when I was first starting out was from a guy
named John, John Emerson, who
was such an inspiration. In fact, I just saw him a couple of weeks
ago for his 91st birthday. And when
(21:34):
I was just starting out at the studio, John had been there for
30 something years. And I said to John,
I said, what do you attribute your longevity to
here at the studio? And he looked at me and he had
sort of a little twinkle in his eye. And he said, dave, I always
said yes. And I said, well, what do you mean by that? He says,
(21:57):
anytime somebody came into my office and said, john, can
you do fill in the blank, whatever the project was
or whatever the task was they wanted him to do? John said, I
always said yes. And they said, great. And he says as soon as they left
his office, he'd go, oh, my gosh, I got to go figure out how to
do that. I don't know how to do that. And he'd go figure it out.
(22:19):
And I took that advice to heart early on, and it's
really just been, you know, sort of a guiding light for
me, if you will, because when I decide to do something,
if I don't know how to do it or have never done it before,
I go figure it out. And, you know, today it's
so much easier to do that because you can go on YouTube
(22:43):
and find out how to do something. You know, you can watch a million
YouTube channels, you can pick up a
book, you can, you know, virtually figure out
anything you want from books. And Videos and
other media that's out there. It just takes your
effort to go figure it out. And so that's the best piece of
(23:04):
advice I ever got. Oh, I love it. You don't want to be the guy
who is known for or the lady who is
known for. If you need something done, talk to Dave. He's
going to say yes, he's going to get it done. He'll just go figure it
out. You know, I mean that's, that's really what it boils down to. And you
know, oftentimes Jody, over the years I've gone to people,
(23:27):
you know, as I moved up at the studio and became a manager and a
supervisor and all those things. You know, I go to somebody and say,
hey, you know, so and so can you do blah, blah,
blah. And I get this. I they'd be ringing their hands
going, I don't think I can do that. I've never done that before.
You know, and you just have to get out of that mode. You
(23:49):
just have to say, yep, I can do that. And go figure it out.
Go ask somebody and you'll be shocked at how,
how much you'll accomplish and how much you'll learn.
Wonderful. Dave, this is been wonderful talking with you. We talked about
where to find the book. What if someone wants to connect with you? Where can
they find you? Oh, they can find me@david
(24:11):
bossert.com. that's my website. It's got, you know,
all my books are listed on there. There's links to where you
can get those books if you want autographed copies. There's also a ton
of, if you like animation and Disney related
topics. I think I've got something like 40 or 50
articles on my website that there's no charge.
(24:34):
You can just go to my website and pick an article, click on it
and open it up and, and just read it and you'll learn
something new about early Disney or something about the
parks or whatever. So that's really the best place is david
bossert.com I also have a weekly podcast
which is different from yours, Jody. So we're not
(24:56):
competitors. I don't think we are. But I, I co host a
what's called the Skull Rock podcast and
we talk about entertainment and pop
culture and I interview various
people from the business. Animators, producers,
musicians, composers, people who are connected to
(25:18):
the film business. So every week we have an interview with
somebody and sometimes those in that an interview with an individual
might be three or four parts. So over the course of three or four
weeks you'll you'll hear 40 minute chunks of a lengthy
interview that we did with that person. So Skull Rock
Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, is available.
(25:40):
And like I said, davidbossert.com best way to contact me.
And also, I'm on social media. You know, we can't forget about social
media. Right. So, you know, I'm on Facebook, Instagram,
LinkedIn, X Blue sky, so
that you can find me on any of those platforms. All right, thank
you, Dave. And again, the book is 3D National Parks like you've
(26:02):
never seen them before. Thank you so much, Dave, for doing
this book. I feel like it's a treasure for all of us park
professionals. I really hope that, you know, it
is something that your listeners have enjoyed hearing about
but also might go out and take a peek at or get
a copy for themselves. And certainly, as we mentioned earlier,
(26:25):
if there's anybody out there at a national parks bookstore
who's interested in carrying the book, I do whatever I can to
help you get the book into your park store.
Yes. Wonderful. If you're interested in follow up with Dave, take
him up on that. It is a book that your visitors will
really enjoy. Thank you so much, Dave. And thank you for listening
(26:47):
to the Park Leader show. Thanks, Jody.
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