Course in object photography for the Collection Network in Nordland

15 September 2023

This week, Museum Nord has arranged courses in object photography for the collection network in Nordland.

Central to a museum is the collection, and in today’s digital world it will be digitized and posted online. The objects are available around the clock on digitaltmuseum.no, which is important both for researchers and for the public.

Researchers who want to see one type of object can today search online among almost all Norwegian museums, and see the objects online. They do not have to spend a lot of time travelling around looking for objects, but can rather spend the time studying relevant objects and doing research work.  

Many museums have also created their own digital exhibitions, and the public can view these at their convenience, free of charge. For this to work, museums must maintain their digital protocols, and they must have good images of the artefacts, both old and new.

Museum Nord participates in the network Collection Management in Nordland, and has this week arranged photography courses for the network. The course was held at Melbu, by Jaroslav Bogomolov (responsible management) and Erlend Sandvoll (photographer and museum consultant).

The course was a basic course in photography, focusing on documentation photos of objects and art. The course participants from Helgeland Museum, Nordlandsmuseet, Narviksenteret and Museum Nord learned basic camera theory, photography techniques and light and colour theory.  

The participants spent most of their time on practical exercises in object photography with studio flash. After completing the course, the participants are better equipped to meet the requirements set for today’s documentation of collections, both in terms of quality and efficiency.