Professional Photography in Museums

Over the Thanksgiving break, I took my grandfather, my aunt and my uncle to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour in St. Louis. We had a fantastic time. I always have a fantastic time. The facility is just awesome and there's free beer at the end. On this particular trip, the visit was a little different. This time they offered professional photography - something they had never done on any other tour. 

Photo from Anheuser-Busch

Normally, I don't have a problem with photography or even offering professional photography at your facility. My big problem is with forced photography. By that I mean, herding people into a line and basically instructing them that this is part of the tour and then asking for $20 for pretty bad pictures. I've found this to be an issue at places like Disney World, but never on a tour, and unfortunately, it cost us about 10 minutes of interesting information about the facility. Has anyone else had this experience before?

One place I've seen professional photography done right is the Skydeck in Chicago. It's incredibly difficult to get a good picture of people on the glass viewing platforms with just your average camera. Skydeck offers professional photographers at a couple stations and allows you to get some super cool pictures. The difference here is that no one forced you to get in line and take the picture. 

Photo from Skydeck Chicago

The question I pose is: Can museums offer professional photography that doesn't interfere with the visitor's experience? Do you think it's something museums should do?

Memorial Museums

You can probably ask anyone in America, college-aged and older, where they were on 9/11 and get a detailed answer. I was in my 9th grade Algebra class. My teacher usually had the news on while waiting for class to get in, but I noticed that the news was different. There was an urgency and uncertainty. If you ask people living in Oklahoma in 1995, they can definitely tell you where they were the day of the bombings. 

Two weekends ago, I visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum with my boyfriend. It's important to note that I went with someone and I strongly encourage visiting this museum with a close friend, significant other or family member. The content of the museum is heart-wrenching and does a great job of providing multiple-entry points to connect with the events of that day.


The Museum itself has a fixed path that starts you at an introduction to terrorism, then leads you through a gallery explaining the building itself - why it was built, what it looked like, what government agencies were housed there. I recommend starting in the Museum rather than the Memorial because for those who were very young at the time of the bombings or is not part of the Oklahoma City community have the opportunity to really connect to the devastation and heartache of that community in the galleries. We remember 9/11 and can easily connect to the stories of family members, the images of destruction and objects that barely escaped the building. We've seen that all on TV so many times and the galleries provide a good connection. Unfortunately, the galleries have not been updated to include 9/11 as part of the history of terrorism.


At the end of the first floor of gallery space, you are shuffled into a room where you hear audio from a meeting that was taking place at a neighboring building. It's an immersive experience where you hear the bomb going off and the next room is all too familiar to us. A news helicopter is on a television screen and you hear the audio very similar to the initial news stories from 9/11. It's a great way to make visitors feel as though they are going through that day with Oklahoma City. 


The rest of the gallery space continues with stories of the rescues, of the family members waiting and of the finality of the death of a loved one. You hear personal accounts and see objects from the building that truly measure the violence of the blast - broken glasses, shoes staying together by strings and watches frozen in time. Visitors also learn about the investigation and trial of the men involved in the attack.


At the end, an exhibit area shows images of those lost in the explosion and family members have been invited to donate items that their loved ones truly cherished or felt was representative of that person. A box of tissues is available for anyone that needs one. I know at this point, I was definitely tearing up. 

Above: Image of the gallery of people and objects relating to them.

Outside, the Memorial consists of two black walls on each end of a reflecting pool. These walls are marked with times - before and after the bombing - to represent the speed at which life changed. These walls are copper and will begin to tarnish in the rain, but the Memorial was designed for that. Each visitor is invited to place their hand in the water and then place it on one of the walls. This allows visitors to permanently make their mark on the Memorial. After going through the exhibit area, this is an incredible experience that really finishes the connection between you and the community. 

Above: One of the walls at the Memorial. Notice the patina at the bottom.

 The Memorial also includes chair sculptures representing each of the people killed in the bombing. Especially poignant are the smaller chairs representing children.

Above: Chairs at the Memorial.

For further reading, I recommend reading the article "Passion on All Sides": Lessons for Planning the National September 11 Memorial Museum that was in the January 2010 issue of Curator. The article discusses the design of that Memorial Museum and can definitely show us what we have learned about designing memorials that speak to us all.

Moving

I've been taking some time to think about how I want to approach this blog. About a month ago, I accepted a new position at a museum away from home. This is my first full-time museum job since graduating. My first full-time job ever. As I'm sure many of you have experienced with your own new jobs and new towns, most everything has changed. In the past, I've talked about museum administration and organization and how I'd like things to be in the future. In the past month, I've learned quite a bit about those topics and I really want to save those new thoughts for my position as well as for my potential PhD work. 


I'm still not sure what I will focus on in this blog, but I'm excited to explore new possibilities. Since moving, I have explored a few new museums and can't wait to share those experiences.