Results for "Smithsonian Collections Blog"
- Blog Post
Ring Out the Old, Scan in the Nude
- Date: December 31, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- 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
- Blog Post
When Good People Love Bad Pictures
- Date: August 19, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="attachment_1954" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Squirrel Kisses, by Flickr user (Alex)."][/caption] It’s summer, so time for a break from serious thoughts about photographs, their meaning and impact. Instead, let’s relax and have a laugh about the pictures that make us laugh. A recent article in the business section of Time magazine describes how Ben
- Blog Post
Here's Looking at You, Closer . . . Photography and Radiology
- Date: April 10, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="251" caption="Photo of William F. Mack, Roentgenologist, by Margrethe Mather, 1922, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications"][/caption] Just how closely do radiologists look at what they’re supposed to be analyzing? Would knowing whose CT scans they were studying make
- Blog Post
Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Man! In a Raincoat!
- Date: January 11, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="attachment_4184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Obama Billboard in Times Square, New York, January 7, 2010, Courtesy of Marvin Heiferman."][/caption] Both the media and Times Square were aflutter recently over a photograph of President Obama used without permission on a huge two-sided billboard in midtown Manhattan to advertise men’s coats.
- Blog Post
Sifting Through Archives and Snooping Through Desks
- Date: April 27, 2011
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="241" caption="Walt Whitman, 1883 ,by Unidentified photographer, Albumen silver print, 14.3 cmx10.1 cm, National Portrait Gallery, Image No.
- Blog Post
Everything Always Looks Good Through Here
- Date: February 9, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: John Waters’s 1998 movie Pecker is the coming-of-age story about a young man who can’t stop himself from taking pictures. “Man, everything always looks good through here!” Pecker exclaims, squinting through his viewfinder and throughout most of the film, it does. Photography is all about looking, and when it was time to invite someone to address the subject of voyeurism for
- Blog Post
Do You See What I See?
- Date: August 13, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="attachment_1872" align="aligncenter" width="263" caption="Eyeball 1, by loonyhiker, 2009."][/caption] At some point, everyday, I scan the Internet for stories about photography’s role and impact in culture. It turns out that in addition to all the images that are out there to be seen, there are surprising numbers of reports circulating about the power of those
- Blog Post
Picture Perfect? Not All the Games We Play
- Date: June 9, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: While we at the Photography Initiative like to argue that photography changes everything, it’s not always the case. On June 2nd, in a controversial ninth inning call, baseball umpire Jim Joyce denied Detroit Tigers’ pitcher Armando Galarraga a shot at making history for pitching a “perfect” game. Joyce—from his point of view behind first base—saw a batter hit a ball, make it
- Blog Post
Up In the Air: The New 9/11 Photos
- Date: February 15, 2010
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="403" caption="Untitled, 2001, by Susan Watts, Digital photograph, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Division of Information Technology and Communications, Courtesy of Susan Watts/New York Daily News, Image No. watts012."][/caption] Given how quickly photographs are spread by the news and social media, we’ve come to
- Blog Post
Seeing another world, this one behind the Iron Curtain…
- Date: May 26, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="293" caption="Completed SA-2 missile site showing characteristic Star of David pattern, National Security Archive, The George Washington University"][/caption] Strangely beautiful surveillance photographs shot from an American U-2 spy plane triggered a terrifying nuclear standoff, The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In a new click!
- Blog Post
For It's One, Two, Three Strikes You're Out...
- Date: July 17, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="237" caption="This is America...Keep it Free!, Dorothea Lange, 1942, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Archives Center."][/caption] More cameras in more places. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the installation of red light cameras and the controversy surrounding their use that’s continuing to spread
- Blog Post
OMG! That’s My Dress: Prom Night Edition
- Date: May 6, 2009
- Creator: Marvin Heiferman
- Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Graduating class from The Calverton School, Huntingtown, Maryland, by unidentified photographer, 1977, National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Archives Center"][/caption] "It’s kind of a bummer when you look so beautiful and somebody has the same exact one as you," says a high school senior quoted in a recent