For years, it was the toy that transported children to distant lands.

Then, every home had a View-Master, not a computer. The viewer’s seven-image reels of scenic photos helped children to gain a better understanding of places that they had only heard about.

The man the View-Master company selected to capture the sights of four New England states, including Maine, was Paul Knaut.

On the 50th anniversary of his first shots for View-Master, the Dover-Foxcroft photographer is being honored with a spread of his photos in 3-D Magazine, as the oldest surviving View-Master photographer in New England.

In the September issue of the magazine, there is a feature about Knaut and his wife, Betty, and how they worked together on assignments for View-Master. Three of his 3-D photos are in the magazine, along with 3-D glasses with which to view them, only the second time that the publication has printed such photos.

Throughout his lengthy career, Knaut has used the principles of 3-D photography even in his two-dimensional shots. It’s a concept he has taught in his adult education photography class for the past 15 years.

“I pick out different points to set up the three dimensions,” he explained.

Maine was the first state in New England to be shot for View-Master. The head of View-Master, a Mr. Sawyer, had heard about Knaut through a mutual acquaintance, Bill Heise of New Jersey, and traveled from his base in Portland, Ore., to examine Knaut’s work.

At that point, Knaut already had been shooting in 3-D for two years.

“I’d become so obsessed with 3-D, and had taken about 3,000 pictures,” Knaut, 86, recalled.

Sawyer was so taken with his work that he gave Knaut the assignment of shooting first Maine, then New Hampshire, Massachusetts and some of Vermont, over a 10-year period.

View-Master had certain requirements for their photos, including having people in five out of seven shots. Especially important was finding “a typical American girl” as a model in the photos. Knaut found two Dexter girls to fill the bill, Judy Town and Irene Goulette. The photographer would supply lunch and dinner in lieu of pay.

As for what Knaut shot, “they left it mostly up to me, although they gave me a few things they wanted,” he recalled.

For example, one seven-shot reel contained Moosehead Lake, Mount Kineo, Smalls’ Falls in Rangeley, Mount Katahdin, a moose, a pulp drive on the West Branch and a pulp mill in Millinocket.

Knaut, who has never used a light meter, would take three shots of each image, one at the exposure which he felt was correct, and two an F-stop higher and lower.

His shot of Town at Smalls’ Falls was chosen as the No. 1 shot in the Maine package. New Hampshire officials asked Knaut to use Town in the same outfit at their waterfalls, Areathusis.

Knaut had from mid-May to the end of October in 1954 to collect the 21 images for the Maine package (three seven-shot reels). It ended up being a bit of a struggle.

“It was the worst weather in more than 50 years,” said Knaut, also a veteran weather observer. “There was only 271/2 days of sunlight [during that time]. I did finish the set, however, but it was difficult because of the bad weather.”

The photographer ended up driving about 500 miles a week in Maine, and 800 to 1,000 a week in the other states.

One of the last photos Knaut took for Viewmaster was then-President John F. Kennedy’s estate in Hyannisport on Cape Cod.

“I took eight months to get in,” he recalled. “If he had been guarded in Texas like they guarded that estate, he never would have been shot.”

All told, Knaut sold about 300 images to Viewmaster during that 10-year span. After 1964, Viewmaster switched to the reels featuring cartoon characters, continuing to this day.

What’s the charm of 3-D photos?

“It’s exactly as your eyes see it,’ Knaut explained. “It’s because they’re so realistic.”

His 3-D photos are still carefully preserved and filed today. In fact, he recently sold 30 to a company that’s developing a 3-D slide jukebox (he was given one himself as part of the deal).

Knaut began working with photography in 1936, the same year Kodachrome film was introduced. Despite his leg being badly injured in a car accident three years ago, he’s still at it today.

“I stopped shooting in 3-D after my accident,” he said. “But I’m still taking photos today. I just can’t hike and climb anymore.”

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.