Hello,
Here at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience we've had a number of photo ops at various events and in some exhibits, with mixed results.
In an exhibit about Asian American political resistance movements, we had an opportunity for people to write a message on a white board about what they would do to resist injustice, then take a selfie with their smartphone and post it -- this was in the wake of the whole #bringbackourgirls campaign that Michelle Obama helped promote, but before #blacklivesmatter really made this form of political declaration a "thing." We encouraged people to include our hashtag for the exhibit as well as a hashtag for their movement/issue. This was a nice idea, but only marginally successful as an exhibit interactive -- folks were not really inclined to do it unless we had a volunteer or staff member posted there to explain and encourage them -- and often take the picture for them -- which we didn't really have the capacity to do all the time. When we did, it worked... and when one person did it, people who saw them were much more likely to give it a try. We've had similar set-ups with less serious topics, with only slightly better results.
In an exhibit about Asian American fashion designers, we had a dress-up corner with a camera set up, that would take a picture of you posing in the mirror, and then it would become part of a slide show that ran on a screen nearby. This kind of set up has worked pretty well for us in other exhibits too -- but someone did have to monitor the pictures and add them to the slide show at the end of each day.
At our recent Bruce Lee exhibit openings, we've had fairly elaborate "photo booths" set up, with backdrops and costumes and cardboard cut outs of Bruce Lee, so you could take a picture of yourself (and your friends) all fighting him in yellow jump suits, or whatever. We had something similar at our opening reception for an exhibit about Asian American icons -- red carpet/paparazzi set up, with boas and sunglasses for people to pose in. These have been very popular! They are also lots of work and need to be well-staffed.
Based on our experience I would suggest having a central, staffed place for your "love" selfies, with fun props, a nice background, and someone officially snapping the pix (tho of course also allowing people to use their own cameras too). I also love the idea of people taking a selfie with their heart and their favorite item on display -- this might work well as a one-day thing, if you can have volunteers stationed around the galleries to encourage and assist.
It always helps to "prime the pump" with some volunteer/staff selfies, to give people the idea!
Hope this is helpful,
Mikala
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Mikala Woodward
Exhibit Developer
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
Seattle WA
Original Message:
Sent: 10-31-2015 05:27 PM
From: Brandon Young
Subject: Ideas for photo-ops in museums
Hello Lauren,
This sounds like such a fun idea! I am interested to see the replies you get. If you expect patrons to take pics with artifacts, perhaps you could mark off a spot in front of bigger artifacts with tape and call it a "selfie space" or "selfie square" or something like that to encourage photos. After it happens I would love to hear how well it went!
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Brandon Young MLS
Museum Assistant II
The Sherman Museum
Sherman TX