A new photo from the Powerhouse Museum every day
Photographs like the one in this broach were popular between 1850 and 1870. Commonly known as ambrotypes they were not prints but one-off glass negatives which had been specially whitened then cased in front of a black mount. This made them appear as positives. The photograph has been hand painted and many of the miniature portraitists who used to paint these broaches found work in photographic studios.
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Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator
The museum tries to use different types of media to tell stories in its exhibitions. Filming is a fantastic way to engage people and helps to bring out the history behind objects. The exhibition Ties with tradition: Macedonian apron designs uses audio visuals to tell the stories of the 23 women who have lent us their aprons.
This photograph shows Blaguna Nikolovska talking about her aprons with our own Kathleen Philips. Kathleen is shooting footage for a film that is currently showing in the exhibition. The finished product is a film, demonstrating how aprons were worn for everyday as well as special occasion.
Photography by Marinco Kojdanovski
© All rights reserved
Post by Rebecca Evans, Assistant Curator
Many of you who follow the Powerhouse Museum’s Photo of the Day blog will be aware that the Powerhouse Museum’s curator, with the assistance of Hazel Benini, Bruno Benini’s widow, and a number of interns and volunteers, is currently documenting the Bruno Benini archive. This archive was acquired with funding assistance from the Australian Government through the National Cultural Heritage Account earlier this year. Here’s another photograph from that archive showing Australian model Jan Stewart standing on the top of an ornate staircase under an elaborate chandelier, the photographer cleverly magnifying the glamour of the shot by reflecting both the chandelier and the model’s elegant evening gown and coat in the mirror at the back of the photograph.
Hazel and Bruno Benini have noted that the photograph was captured in the Lido nightclub on Russell Street, Melbourne when it opened in 1968. Perhaps readers of Photo of the Day have more information or recollections about visiting this nightclub or know more about Stephen Glass, the designer of Jan Stewart’s glorious evening gown. If so, please share your recollections with our readers.
Photography © Estate of Bruno Benini
Post by Anne-Marie Van de Ven, Curator
In the lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Auburn Council updated its signage, with graffiti-proof signs that incorporated the council’s new branding, produced by signage specialists on contract. Fortunately the council saved some of the wonderful earlier signs that had been painted by a staff sign-writer. Darren Davis (who regularly contributes to the Museum’s Sign Design in Australia Flickr group under the pseudonym of frontdrive34) photographed these old signs in their new location on a wall adjoining the Auburn Community Picnic Ground. Jack and Jill Reserve is my favourite, with its illustration of those well-known nursery rhyme characters.
David Sheils, the Manager of Parks and Recreation at Auburn City Council, tells me that the signs were painted by Ray Pierce, who was employed by the council in 1975 as a sign-writer. Ray was permitted to use his own ideas when developing signage for Auburn’s parks and took inspiration from the park names. David recalls, for example, that the sign for Wellington Park depicted a scene from the Battle of Waterloo complete with cannons. These unique signs were well liked by the local community and Ray is remembered as something of a ‘character’ by other staff. He retired in the 1990s but there are still some of his signs on businesses around Auburn, remnants of his weekend job as a freelance sign-writer.
Photography by frontdrive34
© All rights reserved
Posted by Megan Hicks (meganix), Sign Design in Australia team
‘Then and now’ has received this award in the Photography.Book.Now International Juried Competition. The judges selected the book as one of only a handful to receive this award from among more than 2,400 entrants.
This print on demand book published through Blurb features historic images from the Museum’s Commons on Flickr photostream including images from the Tyrrell, Phillips, Clyde and Lennon collections. The images have been released on Flickr under ‘no known copyright restrictions’ since April 2008 and have been viewed over one million times. The Flickr audience have made these collections richer through tags, comments and citizen research.
The engagement with the Flickr community inspired the production of this book. The images have been published with the audience’s comments, tags and research. A big thank you to the Flickr community for enriching our images with fantastic stories, comments and tags!
There are some really great books featured in this competition, well worth checking them out on Blurb.
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In early in 2002, the unusual variable star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) briefly increased in brightness to become 600,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Exactly what causes this is unknown, but variability among stars is not rare. After the star has faded, the pulse of light from this sudden brightening travels out into space, passing through clouds of dust grains that erupted from the star long ago.
That pulse of light now lights up details of the interstellar dust surrounding the star, and because the path length of the light is longer, it arrives later. This ‘light echo’ effect has produced the most spectacular and dynamic light echo ever seen.
That pulse of light now lights up the interstellar dust surrounding the star, which is 20,000 light years away. Because the path length of the reflected light is slightly longer it arrives later, and is seen as spectacular and dynamic light echo.
Photography NASA, ESA, and H. Bond (STScI).
Post by David Malin, From Earth to the Universe team.
This is a detail from an early stereo photograph of the Heidelberg River at low tide. It was taken sometime between 1855 and 1860 and to the right we can see the Hotwell Hotel and a line of hansom cabs. Unfortunately we have not been able to identify who the photographer was.
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Post by Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator
A few weeks ago we posted my cloaked showcase sitting in the foyer of the Museum.
We can now reveal its contents! (for all those that didn’t attend the Dark Science nights as part of Ultimo Science Festival)
I dubbed this case the “Pain” showcase, and it tied in with our themes, of “Flesh” and Psyche”. The labels inside asked questions to ponder during the nights events…What causes you pain? Why do we feel pain? How do we feel pain? And do we all feel the same pain?
I got the chance to pull out some of the more unusual and gruesome objects in our collection such as a model of a bound foot , a real human skull , a bone saw , and an autopsy kit
If you are further interested in what went on inside the Museum at these adults only events have a look at what they are doing to Derek on the night..(WARNING: don’t click through if you are squeamish): 10 Days of Science
Photography by Paula Bray
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0
Post by Erika Dicker, Assistant Curator
Photographic Astronomer David Malin has been working with us on a new exhibition From Earth to the Universe that features some amazing photographic images showcasing the beauty and mystery of our Universe and we are going to share some of them with you on Photo of the Day. Here is David’s first post:
Three years after its 1997 launch, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flew close to the giant planet Jupiter, using its gravity to slingshot it towards Saturn, where it arrived in July 2004.
During its brief flyby, Cassini made a series of detailed pictures of Jupiter’s atmosphere, including regions close to the planet’s poles that have not been seen clearly before. They show Jupiter’s enormous Red Spot, a long-lived cyclonic storm many times bigger than the earth, and the distinctive colour banding of its swirling clouds. The colours are mainly due to small amounts of ammonia ice hydrocarbons and sulphur compounds, swept along in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Post by David Malin, From Earth to the Universe team.
Common Ground is a global meetup that is happening across the world on the 2-3rd October celebrating the Commons on Flickr and the community that has made this initiative so great. This consists of a slideshow that is projected onto the participating institutions building at night, or a suitable daytime location, depending on the institution.
The slideshow is curated by the Flickr community and we have decided to extend this voting for one more week. We would love you to take the time to go through this application and select some amazing images for the slideshow. This is also a really nice way to get more familiar with the collections that make up the Commons. Log into Flickr and you can vote here.
Our event will be held on the 3rd October and you can get more details on that here. This is an open event and anyone can attend and enjoy the slideshow evening.
Voting now closes on the 16th September.
The participating institutions for Common Ground so far include:
Brooklyn Museum + New York Public Library combined at Brooklyn Museum
George Eastman House
Powerhouse Museum + State Library of New South Wales combined at the Powerhouse
Oregon State University Archives
State Library and Archives of Florida
State Library of Queensland
Swedish National Heritage Board
Australian War Memorial
Photography by Tom Lennon
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