I have experienced various successful and challenging events throughout the course of the year-long internship. To be successful in this internship I am collaborating with my supervisors Alex and Mark as I work on cropping photographs and ingesting them into the Data Asset Management System, DAMS. I am subsequently asking more questions as I encounter challenging photographs. I have improved immensely with my attention to detail through cropping photographs and uploading them into the database. Cropping photographs has a fun and detailed experience that has required extensive attention to detail in order to successfully crop photographs in different ways according to different mediums. Entering photographs into the database has been challenging but can be remedied through practice and a slightly faster internet connection such as an ethernet cord or another medium. The overall process of cropping and ingesting photographs boils down to regular practice. I have cropped 81 photographs as of this blog post and hope to finish many more by the end of May 2022.
I will continue to ask questions as I collaborate with Alex and Mark both in Washington D.C. and remotely through the end of the fall semester. I look forward to having discussions on the broader plans for the photographs I have cropped, additional plans and ideas for the internship, and additional cropping practice until the Spring 2022 internship begins.
One particular challenge I have had with cropping photographs is with an oval crop. This involves using Adobe Photoshop to make a second layer on top of a photograph and create a mask over the image in an oval shape to display the photograph with a completely white background to highlight the individual. The photograph of James Jerome Hill has been uploaded to the National Portrait Gallery website and can be viewed here. I am proud of my work so far and it is amazing to see my photograph croppings online. Oval-cropped photographs can be solved through trial and error as well as immense attention to detail to create the finished product.
I look forward to continuing my work through this internship and learning more about its broader aspects this December. This spring I hope to crop as many photographs as possible and obtain more experience and ask more questions as I continue to apply myself through this internship and network with Smithsonian employees to learn more about their work, become a member of the SHFG, Society For History in the Federal Government, and begin the process of creating an Omeka website that will display what I have learned through this internship.
