The Photography Meetup and a Chance to Participate Virtually!
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On Saturday July 28, the Library hosted its first Photography Meetup in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building. We invited photography enthusiasts to come and take part in a scavenger hunt guided by a selection of photographs Carol M. Highsmith made for the Library of Congress.
The Meetup was a real success, and we had a great turnout despite the early Saturday morning start. We had a wonderful time meeting those who came and learning more about their interests in photography and the photographic collections here at the Library.
Not only was it a fantastic morning, but watching participants take pictures in the Great Hall renewed our appreciation for the building and the challenges of photographing it.
Already we’re seeing some beautiful photographs that participants have posted of the building and the event. Check our Galleries page later this month to see the Galleries we create from these photographs. (Update, 8/17/12: The galleries are now available!)
We offer a big thank you to all who made it down!
The Next Event–Select Your Favorite Photos
For those who couldn’t meet up in person, fear not! We have planned a virtual meeting of the minds: another exciting project for you to get involved with.
We’re eager to find out what interests you and would love for you to express yourselves visually by creating a personal gallery or sending us links to your favorite images, selected from those available on the Library’s Flickr account. The most popular pictures will form a new set that reflects the participants’ diverse interests and expertise. Your input will help us select more gems from our collections that you would like to see uploaded in the future.
If you have a Flickr account:
- First create a new gallery in your Flickr account with the title My LOC Favorites (Flickr offers information about making galleries if they are new to you.)
- Then add ten of your favorite images from the Library’s sets on Flickr. We are asking you to limit your selections to ten pictures.
- It would be great if you could explain the reasons for your choices beside each image, as this will give us a more detailed idea of what interests you and why.
If you don’t have a Flickr account:
- Send an email to [email protected] with no more than ten of your favorite images from the Library’s sets on Flickr.
- Again, it would be great if you could explain the reasons for your choices, to help us discover what interests you and why.
It’s as simple as that!
You have until Friday, August 31st to create your gallery or contact us with your selections. Once we have looked at everyone’s galleries and submissions, we will post a new Flickr set highlighting the top selections.
We have also started a discussion in the Flickr Commons Group and would love for you to tell us more about your interests and motivations for participating in the co-curation project in more detail.
This project is being coordinated by Prints and Photographs Division staff and Bronwen Colquhoun, a British PhD student from Newcastle University whose research focuses on how Flickr Commons supports community engagement. She is carrying out a fellowship at the Library until September 2012 and has been doing similar projects with other UK-based Flickr Commons institutions including the National Maritime Museum and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.
If you have any questions please make a comment on this post (others may have the same question) or contact us at [email protected].
We look forward to seeing your selections!
Learn More
- View the Flickr set of Carol M. Highsmith photographs of the Library of Congress–Carol has provided some comments about how she made the photos!
- View all of the Carol M. Highsmith photographs of the Thomas Jefferson Building.
- View information about the Library of Congress Flickr project.