In addition to conservation issues, taking photos in exhibits is
often restricted because institutions understandably prefer to
maintain control over the reproduction and dissemination of images of
their collections.

Like "bootleg" recordings of concerts, bootleg photography of
collections is never done under ideal conditions, so institutions
worry about cruddy reproductions of their work being circulated.  To
say nothing of the loss of the revenue that comes through fees for
photography and rights of reproduction.

I know...I know...most people taking snapshots in exhibits are doing
it for their scrapbooks not for publication.

Riva Feshbach


>Shawn,
>
>Yes, there are good reasons to forbid repeated exposure to flash photography
>in an exhibit or gallery setting.  You don't want 1000 visitors per day
>popping flashes at the same objects.  Also, in the days of flashbulbs, there
>was always the risk that a flashbulb might explode, showering glass shards.
>This is certainly a good rule for museum visitors.  But you asked about the
>staff photographing and/or scanning collection objects, presumably in a
>controlled setting, and that's the difference.  A single, 1/1000 of a second
>blast from an electronic flash is definitely safer than ten minutes under hot
>floodlights, and many museum photographers, on the advice of conservators,
>have been doing it that way for decades.  Although I'm not a conservator
>myself, I'm a photographic historian and have done a lot of flash photography
>with 19th-century photographs, so I have some knowledge in this area.
>
>I can try to find a supporting reference for you if you still don't believe
>me, but it will have to wait a day or two.
>
>David Haberstich
>
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--
Riva Feshbach
Exhibits Manager
The Newberry Library
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, IL 60610
312-255-3536
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If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).