Photography at Museums

 I have made a lot of photographs in and around museums. That was brought home to me not long ago when I started following and contributing to the Analog Museums group on Flickr. To start that I did a search on the term "museum" in Flickr and was surprised to find I was approaching a hundred images on the subject at that photo sharing site. I made a selection of what I considered the best of those and put them in an album on the Flickr site.

Albuquerque Art Museum

My interest in museums developed early; the first book I can remember reading was one by Roy Chapman Andrews about his explorations in Mongolia and his work as a exhibit designer, curator, and ultimately the director of the Museum of Natural History in New York. My own practical awareness of museums became a reality when I lived for a time in New York.  I had an apartment just across the street from the Brooklyn Museum and visited it often.  Photographing the children of some friends earned me a membership with the Museum of Modern Art and I thereafter visited the MOMA almost weekly.

Albuquerque Art Museum

Albuquerque, where we now live, has a good number of well designed and well run museums for a city of its small size and economic resources. There are three museums within walking distance of our home.  Of those, I visit the Albuquerque Art Museum nearly every Sunday.  The Art Museum and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History offer free entry several times monthly and the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at UNM is always free to visitors. UNM has had an impressive place in the history of photography in America and it has an extensive archive of photographic works.  In recent years however the UNM Art Museum has done very little of note with the available resources.

New Mexico Hispanic Cultural Center

Restrictions on photography in museums was common in the past, but most now permit visitors to make photos with the only prohibitions being on the use of flash and tripods. In my own museum photo efforts I tend to focus mostly on making pictures which incorporate a portrayal of the museum experience by visitors.

New Mexico Museum of Natural History

 In regard to photographic techniques I have found that a wide-angle lens is often very useful when exhibits are confined to tight spaces, as well as in capturing the subjects in their over-all context.  Museum lighting is often kept at a low level in an effort to minimize light damage to objects on display, so fast films and wide apertures are helpful.

Albuquerque Art Museum

Photography as a subject of museum displays has become of increased importance in most museums over the years.  I always hope for a bit more, but our local museums have actually brought some impressive shows to town.  One of the best in recent memory was the big retrospective of Danny Lyon's work at the Art Museum which provided an opportunity to appreciate the uniquely immersive style of this long-time New Mexico resident.

PIMA Air and Space Museum, Tucson

 All of the museums in town include photo exhibits among their  offerings, and both the Natural History Museum and the Nuclear Museum  conduct yearly contests open to the participation of  local photographers.

One of my pinhole images on display at the Nuclear Museum