Science Museum Photo Challenge #9-16

I have been remiss. I am a terrible person.

To make it up to you. Here are 8 photos from the Science Museum ALL AT ONCE to make up for the last 8 days I have worked there and not posted anything.

#9

In the energy hall - they actually had this running the other day. Steam everywhere.

 #10

The materials house!

Here's a close up:

(that's an extra!)

 #11

The upside down plan just outside my office door.

Yes.

 #12

Jellyfish?

No. Wait.

Huygens Titan Lander parachute. 

 #13

'Nother plane, yes. I have to walk past all the planes a lot. I've been trying to get a good picture of the 'slice' through a jumbo jet they have in there, but it's not happening.

 #14

This is what the main entrance looks like right now. I've seen the plans for the redevelopment and it looks swanky, but man the roadworks are a pain.

#15

My view from one of the galleries I am doing evaluation work in. I like to spy on people downstairs.

#16

Lovely people playing lovely games in the Who Am I? gallery. My personal favourite exhibition. Definitely recommend it, and especially for kids (I'm just a big kid).

Forgive me now?

Science Museum Photo Challenge

I started my work placement at the Science Museum today! It's a compulsory part of my MA but I'm really glad I have this placement as it's going to be valuable beyond that. I'm working with the audience research team, doing some evaluation there, which looks like it's going to be a lot of fun and some good experience.

Anyway, since I'm going to be there for at least the next 4 weeks, I've decided to set myself a photo challenge! Every day I am working at the Science Museum during my placement, I'm going to post a photograph (at least one, anyway) of a different part of exhibit in the museum and say a little about it.

The photos won't be amazing quality, as I don't plan on carting my SLR into work through rush hour every day, but hopefully they'll be kind of interesting and a nice little extra project for me. Not like they haven't given me enough real work to do or anything!

So anyway, here's photo #1:

This is the Science Museum's 'Energy Hall' - the main hall you enter into - with 8 metre high 'Energy Ring' suspended from the ceiling which displays different Q and As from visitors around the topic of energy production and consumption. This is where I'm working!

And lord, I never realised how truly huge the Science Museum is! I predict I will get lost at least once a week. I already tried to be clever by taking the stairs somewhere instead of the lift and got myself very confused.

Oh, go on, one more photo:

What Katie Ate

Have you seen this blog? Katie Quinn Davies' food photography is just about the most delicious thing I've ever seen.

I mean. Look at this. Look. At. It.

That is art right there.

I'm pretty sure this pasta dish has a ton of mushrooms in it. I hate mushrooms. Can't stand the things.

This picture makes me want to eat them.

Lots of them

Sweet.

Savoury.

Everything. Everything is beautiful.

(Incidentally, my team mate for the Geffrye project makes the best brownies. Perk.)

I've always been jealous of people who can photograph food. It's hard, and you can't rely on luck to get a good shot, either. Anything I try does tend to come out looking distinctly unappetising, however tasty it might be in real life. Good food photography takes skill, and Katie has it, I tells ya.

Yum.

One of the liveries at the stables just handed me 2 dozen eggs from his own chickens. Off to find recipes which use lots and lots of them. The pepper/chorizo 'carbonara' experiment did not go as well as I'd hoped.

(all images by Katie Quinn Davies)

I'm back - nobody panic!

I haven't totally neglected this blog, I swear. I've just been so busy lately!

As well as all essays, projects and reports we have to do, our project at the Geffrye Museum has kind of taken over our lives, as we were kind of warned it would. It hardly seems believable that it's almost finished - my got the last of our portfolio contributions in yesterday, our interactive map is going live on the website this week and we're finished off our digital story about tea on Tuesday. The exhibition itself goes up in the museum on the 16th of May and is well worth a look.

I still have an ethnography to write, as well as an individual report on our project. And then there's a 4 week work placement (at the Science Museum!) and a dissertation to write.

So, much work left to finish. But what can I say? I missed blogging too much.

Anyway, here's a few of photos from the time I've been missing.

As I was saying, the Geffrye project does kind of take over. Been spending an awful lot of time there, but it's an awesome place to be.

And the project team have been great to work with.

I've found myself spending far too much time on tea-related activities in the last few weeks.

No, making 'tea' out of tea leaves wasn't strictly necessary for the project but it looked like fun and it's ended up going in our slideshow!

Between working, I've been trying to make the most of summer. Fun times with the gang and such:

Riding Michael when I can.

Mikey and I have been trying to practice our jumping.

We need a lot of practice.

Hopefully the summer will see a lot more time for that!

Promise not to abandon this again - it's my new month's resolution!

Every 43 Seconds

I have a thing about anatomy and skeletons and the like. I wouldn't term myself a scientist, if only because of the art/humanities direction my education took after age 16, but it's still a personal interest. Above all, I love images of anatomy. I think they are beautiful and fascinating and...I don't know. I like looking at them. Is that weird?

My cultural heritage studies lecturer can't stand what she terms 'the inside outside'. I felt more than apologetic explaining to her that the focus of my MA dissertation this year will be on the display of human remains in heritage contexts.* Personally I love the 'inside outside'. I think my interest in anatomy comes from loving to look a the way things are made, how they're constructed down to the little details, and what makes them work. I had this book when I was younger, showing hugely detailed cutaway diagrams of animal anatomy I could look at for hours...**

Anyway, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to find these, but they turned up on Fubiz today and I think they're gorgeous. In my slightly weird, apparently slightly macabre sense of aesthetics.

Every 43 seconds is a campaign highlighting death from gun violence. One example of the aesthetics of human anatomy being used to convey a powerful message.

I learnt via Street Anatomy (well, via Google really, but Google led to the discovery of the awesomeness that is Street Anatomy - it's going in the sidebar) that, although Fubiz only credits Jung von Matt for the creation of the project, the photography is the work of Francois Robert, who is definitely worth a look. They come from his 'Stop the Violence' gallery, which takes the message of 'every 43 seconds' even wider.

The internets: a never-ending maze of links to awesome.

* Can we just take a moment to pause and reflect on that terrifying prospect. DISSERTATION. I have to write one. Another one. I still have flashbacks.

** I did in once work as a gallery assistant for a display of some of the artist's work, but for the life of me his name has slipped my mind right now.

It's only once essays are over I realise how much else I have going on right now.

Apologies for lack of posts, particularly so early in my blogging effort. My only defence is that I am terrible an concentrating on other things when I have coursework essays to write (I had 2) and not practised at all when it comes to coordinating blogging with 'real life'.

I'll get there. I promise. New year's resolution to blog at least once a week.

Anyway, Big News: it's snowing! No, not really.

I mean, yes, it is snowing - there is a considerable amount of snow - but that's not the Big News. Big News is I did go to Olympia despite the snow, which is all very well and good (and pretty) if you have nowhere to go, but otherwise a bit of a pain.

Olympia was awesome, as usual. I'd never been on Puissance night before, so that was a treat. I'm hoping I got myself a few decent photos (I haven't looked through them yet, given that the Canon raw codec will not work on my laptop but it's alright because I have Lightroom...that's another saga) since I got to borrow my lovely boyfriend's 100-400mm Canon L lens. Very exciting for me in my little 400d/50-250 ownership. I will get round to editing those now, along with some other things to get onto Flickr and subsequently here.

Did I mention I tend to neglect other things when coursework deadlines loom?

I was very pleased I did manage to get my first 2 MA coursework essays done in time for Olympia, actually, given my past track record of using every available minute until the deadline to finish such things. I've now done a report on a museum mission statement, a rather abstract and conceptual essay on 'living' and 'intangible' heritage (with liberal use of inverted commas) and a more grounded on the role of volunteers. I have Christmas off to start making moves toward organising my work placement next year (20 days minimum) and do some research on our exhibition project.

Ah, yes, exhibition project. This is the other Big News. Scary and exciting all at the same time. Our 'Museum and Site Interpretation' class are working with the Geffrye Museum in London to produce an exhibition as part of the Cultural Olympiad 'Stories of the World' project. Sounds very big and important, doesn't it? Supposedly it's tough, and will take over our lives, but it's also a fantastic opportunity to get some real experience of heritage sector work in a fabulous setting.
Two of us are assigned as the 'web resource development' team, I suspect mainly due to the fact we expressed a greater than normal familiarity with certain social networking sites and visual media. We did both feel the need to make completely sure the role didn't require any in depth technical knowledge - coding is not a strength I possess. I think it was enough we knew enough to ask if coding was required.
Our role is set out as:

To create an SOTW web resource inspired by the objects selected for the concourse case displays, this could be a digital story or podcast. The team will also be required to tweet and blog about the project, however they will need to have a corporate awareness about the content of the posts and what/where/when things are posted.

So, very exciting. And gives my blogging here another justification as 'work experience' I suppose. I find the new importance (or lack of importance, depending on your view) of digital aspects of heritage work and I'm quite looking forward to spending the holiday looking at the kinds of things we could bring to the project before we start really working on it next term.

So much to coordinate! But first, I am having 'fake' Christmas at home before flying to the states on Tuesday (weather permitting) for Christmas in Memphis with boyfriend's family.

Adventures!


I also think maybe I'm not cut out for Adventures. I'm currently lying in bed with a hot water bottle on my hip I have done indeterminate minor damage to, either related to hauling heavy stuff around in aid of looking after ponies in the snow all morning or to pushing a car up a frozen hill. One of the two.

A Flickr-Illustrated Thanksgiving

Ok, I'm not American. I know. Blog title makes it pretty obvious. But I do like the 'giving thanks' idea and there are plenty of things I am thankful for - I'm a very lucky girl, all considered.

So, besides all the many other things that are wonderful, my Flickr gallery makes me thankful for...

Robins.

Ours has just returned to our garden. He makes the bird feeders more cheerful.

Little girls and ponies.

They make the world go round.

My boyfriend.

He's lovely. And good to me. And plays snooker.

I can't play snooker. At all.

Ducks!

Everyone loves ducks.

Especially crispy ones wrapped in little pancakes and smothered in hoisin sauce...

Sorry that was uncalled for. Apologies to delicious aromatic ducks.

Teddy bears!

No, sorry, that's a cow. Hard to tell. They're cooler than teddy bears anyway.

Not that I'd rather someone give me a cow for Christmas than a teddy bear. Not sure the cat would appreciate the company.

Speaking of, I am also thankful for my cat.

My cat is called Domino. He believes you should be fetching toys for him, that the bottom end of the sofa is his domain and that he's entitled to multiple dinners if people arrive home at different times.

He left white hair all over my clothes tonight.

Lastly, I am thankful for lint brushes.

Watermarking Wildflowers + Canine Photography

Wildflowers, originally uploaded by IntheOffing.

So, I did decide to start uploading with bigger files + watermarks. I used photoscape batch editor to apply them, which is quick and easy and I don't think it looks to bad. I'd create a jpeg to stick on in lightroom as I export, but I don't actually have any programs I can create one in right now. Sad.

Staying with the photography theme so far, I need to get my hands on Tim Flach's new book 'Dogs Gods' (to go with my copy of Equus). Go here to check out some of the gorgeous shots.

Equine Photography Tips by Nico Morgan

Just read a wonderful blog post by Nico Morgan: Ten ways to improve your photography of horses.

I think they're very much aimed at the commercial event photographer, not those taking more 'artistic' images: how to get the 'basic', more formal shots to fulfil what the owner or rider will want to buy. You might say you're not interested in commercial photography, and only shoot equestrian images for artistic/hobby reasons , but in my opinion these are the things you need to know before you can pull off more artistic shots consistently.

These are the basics, but they're important to get down. As you become more experienced, with horses and their photography or with both simultaneously, hopefully you come to realise ways you can photograph differently to these 'rules'. I for one already have different opinions about the correct moment to photograph horses in motion: I think a lot depends on the breed or the discipline you're photographing, for one (for example, Welsh Cob breeders may want a photo that shows off the action of their horse's trot) and my favourite moment for the canter will always be before the weight is shifted to the forehand.

I don't shoot horses as much as I should, or as much as I'd like to, for all that they are my favourite subject. I don't get our to equestrian events as often as I would like to and am usually put off taking the SLR to my own stableyard by the dirt. I can't be at the yard for 2 minutes, even if I mean to only go there to photograph, without getting somehow involved and last approximately 2 minutes and 5 seconds before getting surrounded by dust and absolutely filthy. I fear for my camera's well-being.

(No, seriously, I had to send my Ixus in for repairs the last time I used it while working at the yard. Dust particles wrecked the lens mechanism. Truth.)

Wonderful tips (and galleries) like Nico Morgans's inspire me to get out there more and photograph equines and all their surrounding glory! I have a ticket to Olympia this year (puissance night!) so that'll be the perfect opportunity. Although as an amateur I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get around the 'position' rule; pretty much have to work with the seat you get given!

That, and perhaps get round to editing some of those existing shots lying around Lightroom.



While I was writing this, Nico added me on Flickr.
What a nice man.

Making the Case for Watermarking

DPS recently ran a poll asking photographers whether they watermarked their images before posting them online. 43% of people said 'never'. I thought that was a rather high number.

I used to watermark everything, back when I posted on deviantART, a community known for people browsing pictures for use on online games and the like (post anything with a horse and you could guarantee that's where it'd end up) and even passing it off as their own work. In fact, sticking a subtle watermark on wasn't to say they wouldn't still be nicked, but at least, if it included your name, someone seeing its unauthorised use would be able to let your know about it.

Since I started posting on Flickr, I haven't really watermarked anything; I've mostly just been posting only small-sized images - 750x250 pixels - and thinking that was ok, but more recently I'm thinking of swapping that back to larger, watermarked versions. Not least because it's nice on Flickr, and especially Flickriver, to have the option to view a larger version. Gotta say, 750 pixels is not that big on my new HD screen.

There are lots of arguments against it: it detracts from the image, images still have exif data/digital watermarks, it looks pretentious. Honestly, that last one. That's a biggie. One of the main reasons I stopped watermarking was I wasn't convinced at all anyone would bother to do anything with my photos and it looked like I thought I was better than I was.

And really, as I've discovered, watermarking does not always stop people from taking an image. The majority of well-meaning people will at least be reminded that hey, maybe they shouldn't just be using someone else's photo however they wish after all, but there are always those that will just take what they can. Exif data and right-click bans count for nothing when there's print screen.

But the point truth is, if the image is appropriated by someone else, a) 99 times out of 100 they won't go further to obscure the watermark than cropping, and that's easy to point out, b) it's an awful lot easier to claim it back as your own work if there's a watermark present, and c) it's surprising how many people on the internets are happy to point out image 'theft' and let you know about it. I've had messages from 3 perfect strangers about by images being passed off as others' work. It's rather heart-warming to know perfect strangers do care about fellow photographers' image rights, and the online community is a powerful thing.

It's not all that hard to make a watermarking that is quite unobtrusive and, if you really put the effort in, not bad looking; they don't need to ruin the image completely to add some effective level of 'security'. I don't think the picture posted above is too hideous, and it has two watermarks. Count'em. I found that's an example of the best way to watermark: a name, or username (a username is often better), a website link where the original was posted, and the word 'copyright'. The first two are so someone can link it back to you. The latter is surprisingly effective at stopping most of those who assume it's just fine to take and use your photo in their tracks. It's like a badge that says 'hey, this image has an owner - think about it.'

And then you have things like this. Ok, not everyone is going to have an image this desirable, or a theft this ridiculous, but it does highlight the fact that if you do put an image on the web, even at a low resolution or small size, it can get out of your control without the recognition you deserve. Perhaps its even worse if you are not a well-known photographer, as there aren't many out there who will automatically recognise the image as yours!

You may not be making your living from your photos, but it's still damn annoying.

You're Really Loud

Trying out photo-blogging from Flickr!

This would be my boyfriend getting his ear screeched in inside 'Rainbow Landings' at Woburn Safari Park, England.

Woburn has got to be one of my favourite places to visit, and fantastic for photography.


Oh, and we're not huge photo nerds at all. That's why we have 5 cameras, including 3 DSLRs, between us and I secretly really wish they did a female version of that shirt.

Nope. Not at all.

A Nifty Little Trick

Here's a fun photography-related tip to kick off my blogging adventures! I just learnt this trick today from Pocket-Lint, which I was browsing after deciding to research the benefits of Picasa over Flickr (there were none, at least for me).

It actually wasn't all that long ago that I found out about the 200 photograph 'limit' imposed on Flickr's free accounts. It's not technically a limit, as you can carry on uploading, but you'll only be able to access your last 200 uploads in your photostream, but still a bit of a disappointment, particularly as Flickr don't really make it clear in their help files.

So the solution, it seems, if you don't want to shell out for a pro account (I may in the future, but I am a poor student for now!) is to create your own personal group. Set it to invitation only, with yourself as the sole member, and add all the images from your photostream. You can even set it to private, although this is not much use if you want the public to view your photographs.

With your images added to this private group, when you hit the 200 image limit, your older images will stay visible in the group (groups have no visible image limit) and you'll have access to them without having to pay a penny!

Not ideal, but a good solution in the mean time and I'm glad I learnt it.