To Click or Not to Click: How do YOU Answer this Question?
When my brother-in-law Steve calls my iPhone, the MFA Boston's image of Paul Revere painted by John Singleton Copley appears on the screen. I smile every time.
I took the picture during my last visit and think of my day at the MFA each time he calls.
However, being a museum employee, the concept of taking photographs in the gallery, any gallery, with or without a flash, fills me with trepidation. Ask any museum professional why photography is not permitted and you'll get a pretty consistent list of rational reasons:
- the bright lights of the flash will fade the artwork
- some of the paintings are on loan from another institution and our museum doesn't own the copyright to the image
- people won't buy the postcards if they can take their own picture
- photographers jockeying for the best position in the gallery are a nuisance (not to mention that annoying shutter click)
However, in the age of social media, i.e. Facebook, Flickr, and Blogger, visitors are often ready, willing, and able to use their photographs in ways that will benefit the museum, sharing their experiences with friends and family, and hopefully, encouraging others to visit.
Indeed, the Florence Griswold Museum has seen artwork from our museum appear on several blogs with great images that were gathered without our knowledge. And the kind of positive publicity these blogs garner from specialty groups, i.e. homeschoolers, families looking for kid friendly outings, etc., has proven to be invaluable.
On the flip side, when you tell visitors they cannot take photos, even if you explain the reasoning behind the policy, guests return to their keyboards with image-less vengeance criticizing their museum experience. And nobody wants that kind of "word of mouth" publicity.
So, I pose the question: How does YOUR museum handle photography today? Are you a click or no-click zone? Why?
Add a comment and let us know how your museum has adapted to the use of photography in a Web 2.0 world.
by David Rau
What Are People Saying About This Post?
Though not affiliated with a museum, I recently went through dilemma on a recent museum visit. I would liked to have been able to take photos to share on my blog, but would have been annoyed if the 50 or so other patrons were doing the same thing. Generally I'm in favor of not allowing photography. Perhaps an easy solution would be to make images available on the museum or galleries website which the public could use on personal websites/blogs.
The world is changing, we are no longer in the era of information we are in the era of recommendation. In my chiropractors office there is a poster that says "You never go anywhere, unless someone tells you about it". On the poster is a montage of famous travel destinations like the Statue of Liberty, Niagra Falls etc. Of course this particular poster is encouraging people to tell others about their chiropractor but I think you can see the application.
I'm an artist, musuem goer,and avid blogger
I've shared many wonderful museum visits with my readers, gotten great feed back from them and benefitted the museum in the process. I know this because readers write back to tell me how much they loved the exhibit!
Sometimes I have to jump through hoops though to get permission to take photos, video or even sketch in the galleries.
Social media lets people share their lives, their likes, their travels. This new world of social media is really all about that old school concept of word of mouth, just faster and on a grander scale.
So I say YES, let there be photos and video in the galleries and let your visitors share their experiences with everyone far and wide. Bringing art work and people together,isn't that at least partly what a musuem is about?