Description: Periodically—given the fleeting nature of life and the ubiquity of photographic imagery—it’s seems like someone’s always trying to hatch another ambitious image-based cultural project to prove that, despite our differences, we’re pretty all much the same.
Description: The Archives announces the publishing of the book, Photography Changes Everything, by Marvin Heiferman, and based on the click! online photo project.
Description: Late in July, LENS, a New York Times blog that focuses on images and issues photographic, posted an interesting story by James Estrin. Magnum Photos, the legendary co-operative photo agency founded after World War II by photographers including Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson, announced that to boost the visibility (and paid use) of the hundreds of thousands of images it
Description: At SPI, we were sad to learn that Jessie Cohen died earlier this week. Jessie was one of the photographic mainstays at the Smithsonian; she started working at the Smithsonian National Zoo in 1979, photographing animals, their living quarters, and behind-the-scenes events for exhibition, education, and marketing purposes. In addition, Jessie also managed the Zoo’s exhibition
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption=""Backscatter" x-ray scan, courtesy of Flickr user publik16, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] Following the Christmas Day capture of a passenger, dubbed “The Underwear Bomber,” who attempted to blow up an American airliner, controversy swirls around the use and efficacy of full body scanners and the fate of
Description: We found so many interesting photos of “firsts” as we put together our post to celebrate New Year’s Day, we thought we’d post a second group of firsts. We hope you enjoy another slideshow of images of the curious and unique. Click on the image to begin the slideshow.
Description: A few days ago, I went to an IMAX 3D showing of Avatar to see for myself if the movie is a “game-changer,” as many have suggested. And, it is, but in a way no one seems to be focusing on—the way it acknowledges and exploits photography’s power to shape both everyday and alternate realities. What struck me, as soon as the movie started, was how sophisticated the film’s
Description: In many cases, after photography was introduced to the public in 1839, if an event seemed like it might be unique, it is likely that someone (or, more recently, something) was there to photograph it. Even today, when cameras are positioned to photograph repetitious things or situations—cars at traffic lights, luggage at airports, shoppers lingering around merchandise on
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="277" caption="Cascading Light, by Terry Mann."][/caption] It was 3 o’clock in the morning and something out of the ordinary was happening. And good neighbor that she is—although it might not seem that way to all of you—Terry Mann grabbed her camera then started waking people up. There wasn’t anything wrong in the neighborhood, but she
Description: When institutions archive data, they capture and organize it in digital formats that make the most sense to them, based upon their specific group of users, needs, and technical options that are available at a given point in time. But what happens if, for example, institutions decide that it makes sense to enhance their mission by their presenting data collections in less