Macro Shots

When a photographer references using a macro shot, he/she means an extreme close up of something with no depth of field. Often, these types of photos are used on flowers, insects, eyes, anything that one wants truly isolated from the scene.

yesterday I began my job at the history museum - i got there 100% okay, albeit 1/2 hr early (which i expected). Around 9:20 I walked into the north entrance, signed in, and someone came down to security and got me. I was introduced to a few people before being handed off to the intern coordinator. She talked to me for a while, then took me back to the person who was walking me around before, my bosses secretary (or assistant?)

we talked somewhat awkwardly while waiting for my boss to come out of a meeting. once he did, he met me, gave me a report to read, and went into another meeting. After that meeting he came by the random desk that they had set me up with, told me he was sending an email that way, and described a small project i was going to work on.

My boss goes to schools in the area to teach them about the great Chicago fire, and makes detailed notes while he's there...stats about the school, who he met, if they come on field trips to the museum, etc. My job was to take these notes and put them in report format and find the stats online that he was looking for. He gave me some sites to start me off (the reports i had to read were the reports from last year) Before he left for his next meeting, he told me "After you're done with the first one, email it back to me, and then i'll send it back with major edits. after those are corrected, we can figure out how we want to organize it." He left, and I set to work. A few hours later i emailed him the first report, saying i'd start to work on gathering all the info for the others while he edited that, and then as soon as I had the edits I'd fix them. I never got an email back, and by the end of the day finished gathering all the information for the other schools that he sent me. Except for when I was invited to lunch with him and the soon to be director of a new holocaust museum. I was really nervous, not supposed to say a word (essentially just shadow) and listened to them talk museum politics. Afterward, we all went down to see the new catholic chicago exhibit (soon to be followed by: jewish chicago and muslim chicago) which was really cool to see with the pres of the museum...really neat actually. I didn't really ever know how much stuff a museum just HAD. it's weird. makes me think back to the props entry...people in collections must have that debate with themselves a lot. so much stuff. they even have abe lincolns bed!!

Not knowing when it was typical to leave, around 5:05 I went out to see his assistant/secretary to see whether he was still in a meeting/in his office. She saw me and looked shocked: "get home!" she told me in a thick italian accent, "he went home a while ago! get home!"

so I did.

afterward I had an email talk with Sylvia (Skippy for all those who know her this way) and we're having dinner on sunday which should be fun!

I still don't really know what i'm supposed to do today at work...he's not coming in till 1:00...guess...i'm not sure. kemper scholars are supposed to be there all day looking for work. So right now i feel like i've been given a very macro presentation of what i'm supposed to be doing...little things in a grand, blurry scheme. we'll see where it takes me.

ps: there is a HUGE photo program at the museum...right down the hall from me = HUGE photo lab...darkroom AND digitizer.

for all those that don't know what a digitizer is...have you ever seen the photo "migrant mother" by dorothea lange? http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/full/lange/lange_migrant_mother.jpg

that is a digitized photo. the original photo is not as clear as that one is in the least, and it certainly would have looked a lot fuzzier without a lot of post-digital work.

lots and lots of photos. I would almost prefer to work for them! but we'll see how this goes...