Now that you've learned how to take better photos, what should you take photos of? The obvious answer is to document events and activities in your library, but libraries everywhere are getting creative with their digital cameras and to inspiring users to get creative with theirs. Here is a sampling of library photo sets on flickr:
A photo booth can accompany any event, whether a summer-reading costume party or library staff day. Use paper or fabric to create a backdrop, which you can accessorize with paper cutouts or printed signs. Be sure to check out Douglas County Libraries' Staff Day 2008 photos, complete with a painted backdrop and pirate costumes.
A simple paper background or
scenic room in your library could serve as the backdrop to a
family portrait day event. Invite users to bring family members and pose with their favorite library materials for special library and family memories.
Staff photos can be taken to give patrons a
back-room view of staff operations or to make those who work in our libraries
more visible. Creating a library family photo album to document staff events is a great way to capture workplace memories.
Know of another fun way to use a camera in the library? Leave a comment below.
Up Next: Turning Images into Objects
About the Series
Last summer, I had the pleasure and privilege of participating in a LITA Preconference session with Michael Porter and Helene Blowers titled, "A Thousand Words: Taking Better Photos for Telling Stories in Your Library." Michael and Helene shared great tips for using and reusing photos to record and relate the stories of our libraries and our communities, and I explained and illustrated the basic principles of photography, and that pictures can be improved by understanding how these principles work together to produce a properly exposed image. There was a ton of content shared over the day; over the next few months, the “Take Pictures, Tell Stories @ Our Libraries” series will share some of this and other photo-related content with TechSource readers.
