s2z ephemera

Eastman House joins The Commons at Flickr; site users say images are ‘fascinating’ and ‘inspiring’

Monday, July 28, 2008 —

Project also features photographs from collections of Smithsonian and Library of Congress; goal is to share images and information

George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film has been invited by popular photo-sharing Web site Flickr to join The Commons project. A selection of photographs from the collections of Eastman House, the world’s oldest museum of photography, went live on July 17 and are now being shared with the world. Eastman House is one of six institutions taking part, as its images are shared alongside the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, Brooklyn Museum, Australia’s Powerhouse Museum, and France’s Bibliothéque Toulouse.

Flickr, a Yahoo company, describes The Commons as “Your opportunity to contribute to describing the world’s public photo collections.” Flickr is inviting its users to browse, tag, and share comments about the images. In the Web world, a tag is defined as an informally assigned keyword or term that aids in browsing and searching.

Eastman House’s initial posting from its collection of 400,000 images features autochromes, daguerreotypes, and images from the turn of the 20th century made from glass-plate negatives. Additional photographs will continually be added. By summer’s end, Eastman House will post works by celebrated photographer Lewis Hine, whose famous images document immigration at Ellis Island, child labor, and the building of the Empire State Building.

Does the connection of several important museums and archives with flickr; suggests that it is a site that is growing in importance? Has the role of photography in a cultural sense changed?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art wants to inspire you to tell a story and speak from the heart, as Robert Frank did with The Americans, his masterpiece of street photography. So the Met is hosting this group pool, You Got Eyes, in conjunction with Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans, an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Americans. The exhibition runs from September 22, 2009, through January 3, 2010. For more information, including sponsorship credits, see the exhibition preview on the Met’s website. 1. What is Your Story?

How do you feel about the times we live in today? What is it about your world that weighs on you? What puts you at ease? Visit a city, park, museum, or any place you feel passionate about and document your journey with your camera. Choose a series of 5 to 10 photographs and upload them to this pool. Your submissions must be current: no photography taken before September 1, 2009, please. 2. Why “You Got Eyes”?

Our pool derives its name from a line in Jack Kerouac’s introduction to The Americans, “To Robert Frank I now give this message: You got eyes.” 3. What are the rules?

a. Your photo story must be current; no photography taken before September 1, 2009.
b. The group opens on September 4, 2009, and will close on January 3, 2010 (mid-night, EST); the last day of the exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans.
c. Photo story should be true to Robert Frank’s The Americans

i. Photos should build meaning from picture to picture.
ii. Photos should represent social or humanitarian issues.
iii. Photos should explain what inspires and/or troubles you.

d. Your story should include no fewer than 5 and no more than 10 photos; be extremely selective, as Robert Frank was for The Americans.
e. There is a limit of one photo story submission from each person.
f. Photos should not rely on post-production techniques.
g. Photos that you submit must be your own work and submitted by you. We will only accept original work that does not infringe upon the rights of any third parties and has not yet been published.
h. Photos must be offered under a Creative Commons Attribution License. See www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ for more information on Creative Commons licenses.
i. By adding your photo to the Museum’s You Got Eyes Flickr group pool and tagging it “you_got_eyes” you authorize The Metropolitan Museum of Art to

i. Use any or all entered photographs for Museum educational and promotional purposes related to the Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans exhibition, and for archival purposes in any media
ii. Not use any or all entered photographs
iii. Use your name as the creator of the entry

j. You maintain all other rights to your image.
k. By participating in You Got Eyes you agree to the terms of these rules.

4. How do I participate?

a. Join You Got Eyes—a Metropolitan Museum sponsored Flickr Group—and add your photo story.
b. Use the description field to number your photos in the order you wish them displayed. 1 being the first photo, 2 being the second, and so on.
c. Make your photos public; set the privacy on your photo to Anyone (Public).
d. Tag each photo with you_got_eyes.
e. Please consider adding your photos to our group one at a time. This will allow the group moderator to view your photos in the proper sequence; if you batch-add your photos Flickr may not recognize the sequence or ordering.
f. Upload the highest-resolution image as possible; images may be used in various contexts and a hi-res image ensures the best quality.
g. If you have any questions about how to join Flickr (it’s free!) or to tag your photos, see Flickr’s FAQs page.

5. What can I expect from the Met?

a. The group pool will be moderated weekly by the Museum.
b. During the Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans exhibition Jeff Rosenheim, curator of the show, will choose a photograph from the exhibition every week for ten weeks as inspiration for your submissions.
c. The Museum reserves the sole discretion over the selection of, and the decision not to select, any photo or photo story for the group pool or from any Met use.
d. The photo story (your 5 to 10 photos) will be approved in its entirety; if there are one or more inappropriate photos your entire photo story submission will not be approved for use in the group.
e. Photos from the group will be displayed on the Museum’s website; see guidelines above for appropriated photo tagging and identification.

6. How can I look at photos that have been submitted to the group?

See a slide show of all the submitted photos here.
Page through the entries here.

So the Metropolitan Museum of Art i YC is not oly running a Robert Frank retrospective, but has a group devoted to documenting our lives on a similar line, I’ve signed up, you should too