Experiencing Photography

 I have written here before about my surprise at how much I have enjoyed seeing examples of my work in a large size on the 27-inch screen of my iMac computer.  Those on-screen images are a good deal larger than any prints hanging on my walls. Additionally, as I have no more wall space in our little house available for hanging prints, the computer display offers a way to make the big images easily viewable without the trouble and expense of printing and framing.

Up to now I have taken advantage of the on-screen image display by using favorite images as static computer wallpaper.  More recently I have begun to just let a rotating slideshow run in a browser tab which I leave in place when the computer is not otherwise occupied.  The source for that ongoing slideshow is the collection of what I consider my strongest images at my Flickr photo-sharing account.

 

 

 If you want to experience what I am talking about here, go to my Flickr homepage (or yours!). Look for the menu of viewing options in the upper right of the screen.  Then click on the icon representing a computer monitor with a black triangle in the center.

Selecting that icon will toggle a slideshow of the over 1,000 images on my site.  If you prefer a briefer experience you can choose to do the same with one of the available albums in which the pictures are organized around a particular theme. (Press ESC to exit at any point.)

Either way, provided you have a reasonably large screen, you will have an encounter with photography which to me is very engrossing.

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Many museum exhibitions feature some use of video displays, often as a way to supplement what is being presented in the form of prints, paintings or other art forms.

The Albuquerque Museum, more often than not for instance, includes a small wall-mounted screen which might offer some expanded information about the artist or the theme of an exhibit.  There is also a screening room showing films about the subjects of current exhibitions.

Temporary installations of larger screens are sometimes devoted to experimental video art presentations.  Touch screens are often available to provide an interactive opportunity for museum visitors.  However, none of those installations offer the kind of engagement with photographs that is provided by the slideshow format that is described above.

The Albuquerque Museum's photo archives contain approximately 150,000 images.  From that vast collection the Museum's archivist mounts regular exhibitions, often featuring the work of local photo studios from Albuquerque's past.  Those shows mounted on the wall of a south hallway are excellent.  However, once the exhibition is terminated to make way for another, the material becomes unavailable.

The prints exhibited from the Museum's  archives are produced by scanning old prints, negatives and glass photographic plates.  It seems like it would be a relatively easy task to make those scanned images permanently available through digital display in the museum as well as online.

In fact,  the Museum archivist has produced many very good online videos featuring materials from the archive.  However, those videos use the images as props to tell a story along with audio commentary.  That is quite a different format than simply presenting photographs for individual contemplation as is the case when photographs are hung for a wall exhibit.

 One of the major suppliers of digital display equipment for museums has a website that shows some of the digital display technology currently available for museum use, along with an overview of strategies and techniques for digital presentations.  It is worth a look.