pictures, pictures, pictures! (maam annual meeting 2011)

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!

Presented by

Rachel Kassman

Dana Allen-Greil

Elena Rosemond-Hoerr

Jennifer Vess

Rachel

PhotoArchivist,

Jewish Museum of Maryland

Dana

Chief of Digital

Outreach and Engagement,

National Museum of American History

Elena

Education & Program

Coordinator,Jewish Museum of

Maryland

Jennifer

Archivist,Jewish Museum

of Maryland

Keeping a Record

Do you photo-document your museums?

Do you hire photographers for important events?

How many of you have cameras?

How many of you take pictures at work?

Do Your Photos Have a Home?

• Collections?

• Marketing?

• Whoever takes the picture?

• Documenting not only your big events but the day-to-day workings of the museum provides valuable visual resources for everything from creating a deep institutional memory to providing a wealth of resources for enhancing your museum’s marketing, fundraising and outreach efforts. This session will not only discuss why being glued to the camera is a good thing but how your institutional photographs can work for you. The session will also cover suggested best practices for managing your institutional photographs after you’ve taken them.

• This session breaks down into three major areas: the theoretical (why waste time taking pictures of boring daily tasks), the practical (tips and tricks for taking pictures and the applications of those pictures), and the managerial (who takes care of the pictures after).

ROAD MAP

Photography: WHY BOTHER?

FY 2010 FY 201133,406 47,886

Web Visitors (JMM):

Going social with your photos

Facebook Posts

• Photos receive the most Likes on Facebook

• 50% more impressions than any other post type(Source: Social Fresh)

Facebook for Crowdsourcing

• Needed to identify5,000 species inorder to export

• 90% identifiedin under 24 hours

Facebook Photo Strip

Photo ops for fans

Wikipedia Loves Art

Tweetups

Appalachian Trail exhibition

Star-Spangled Banner exhibition

Instagram“Snap a photo with your iPhone, choose a filter to transform the look and feel, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s all as easy as pie.”

Visitors tweet photos from Instagram

Geotagging photo apps

Flickr Commons

• Launched in 2008

• To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and

• To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge.

Taking Photographs:

WHO? WHAT?

WHERE? WHEN? HOW?

Programs

Exhibitions

Collections

Staff, Interns, and the Everyday

Disasters

Taking PhotographsKnow Your Camera!

Select the “manual” settings, which allows you to control:

-Aperture (f stop): How much light gets through the lens- Shutter speed: How fast your shutter opens and closes-ISO (film speed, or sensitivity to light): Low ISO settings are great for sunny days, high ISO settings are ideal for darker/indoor situations.

Choosing Your Subject

• Focus on how the visitors are interacting with the objects or presentation. Always remember to ask permission, either from individuals or the group leader.

• Choose your distance carefully. In a lecture setting, try and get photos of the entire room as well as closer photos of the speaker. In the gallery get close enough for a good, clear shot, but be sure not to disturb the visitor as they interact with the exhibit.

Making the Shot• Photographs of

visitors can be repetitive, so experiment with distance, angle, height, and light to keep your collection of images interesting.

• Wait for the right moment. A student raising their hand, a presenter gesturing, a visitor leaning in to get a closer look at an object.

Equipment

Who Takes the Photos? EVERYONE!

Managing Photos

IA Project

• Justification

• Planning

• Levels of Organization and Documentation

• Scanning

Time Management

Losing Track

The IA Plan

Levels of Organization

• Consolidate and assign ‘series’ or subjects

• Basic Organization

• Clear labels

Levels of Documentation

• Just knowing is not enough

• Lists

• Inventories and Finding aids

• Database records/catalog sheets

Scanning