Results for "Smithsonian Collections Blog"
- Blog Post
Digital Humanists Dive Into Archives
- Date: August 3, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: Bloggers on The Bigger Picture often describe how, in the course of their work, they come across intriguing archival objects and artifacts that trigger new insights into history. “Hands on” encounters with compelling evidence from the past are thrilling and can be provocative. But so can different sorts of encounters, including those that are driven by data, rather than
- Blog Post
A New Look at Home Movies
- Date: May 31, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="I have no hours in the day to watch TV/games. Don't let life go by!!, by National Media Museum, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] From 2002-2005, a unique archive of video tapes was compiled by the Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) at UCLA, with the goal of studying a relatively new social
- Blog Post
Avatar. A Photographic Game-Changer?
- Date: January 20, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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
- Blog Post
OUCH: Scary Pictures of Broad Daylight
- Date: April 30, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Waikiki, No.
- Blog Post
What should “reality” look like?
- Date: April 6, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="422" caption="Untitled, 2007, © 2007 Jos Stam"][/caption] In selecting participants for click! photography changes everything, one of the issues I wanted to explore was, “Just how photographic do the images of ‘reality’ need to be?” Many people assume that the quantity and level of detail captured in a photographic image—what some
- Blog Post
Life & Death. Still & Moving Pictures.
- Date: July 23, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Marey Wheel Photographs of Unidentified Model, with Eadweard Muybridge Notations, by Thomas Eakins, 1884, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden."][/caption] Please be aware that some of the photographs included in links within this post may contain graphic and emotionally disturbing material. Which are more powerful,
- Blog Post
Coping With Stuff, Down Here and Up There
- Date: September 16, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: We’ve all got storage issues to confront. And when we do, some people take great pleasure in getting things organized and others get headaches. A small percentage descend into madness, while an equally small group see and then seize the business opportunities that are generated by the need to keep life, things, and information under control. Over the past few weeks, the
I Am My Own Commodity
- Date: March 24, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: While the economy may be perking up, the recession we’re still climbing out of has made one thing clear; if you need to earn a living, you’ve got to think entrepreneurially. Read enough success stories about former executives who’ve become cupcake moguls and a path becomes clear: take the dreams and skills you have, along with whatever compelling back story you can point to
- Blog Post
Photos Can Turn Down the Heat
- Date: October 20, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Natural Gas Fracing, by Melissa Peffs."][/caption] Photography is valued for, among other things, seeing what the human eye cannot. From medical scans to red light cameras to artworks made by image makers offering up new perspectives, photography reminds us that there’s always more to observe than we’re physically able to
- Blog Post
When Photos Stop Being Pictures
- Date: March 18, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Wallet, by Amanda Govaert, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] A recent article by Caitlin McDevitt in the Washington Post, describing Facebook’s expanding role as a hub for digital photography, while providing some surprising facts, raises one particularly interesting issue. As more people post and share
- Blog Post
The Whole World's Watching: Photography & Terrorism
- Date: March 16, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="Privacy And Control, by Michael Pickard, Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0."][/caption] It’s a sign of the times that we’re being watched often and everywhere. Surveillance, a word that once summoned up all things intrusive and sneaky, is part of everyday lexicon and experience.
- Blog Post
The Family of Man, as Told by the Family of Man
- Date: September 20, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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.