Star Wars Day

This past Saturday was Star Wars Day at the Higgins. When I arrived to take photos, the line to get in was way out the door! All the museum guests looked like they were having a great time with the Star Wars characters who visited from the New England Garrison of the 501st Legion and Alderaan Base of the Rebel Legion. The Higgins Sword Guild and Doshi-Kai Kendo Dojo also joined in for some lightsaber demos. The helmet in the last photo was passed around during a presentation on creating plastic armor. Very cool!

Trebuchet Contest

The Museum held a trebuchet contest this weekend. For anyone who does not know, a trebuchet is a Medieval siege device and a type of catapult. Teams built their own trebuchets and were judged on accuracy, coolness, etc. As usual, I was there to shoot photos.

 

Robin Hood Day

This past Saturday was Robin Hood Day at Higgins. All the guests I talked to said they had a great time, and the staff/volunteers did a wonderful job acting out the story of Robin Hood all day. I was there to shoot some photos, although I didn't get as many as I would have liked. Nevertheless, here are a couple to provide a glimpse into the day:

The Sheriff of Nottingham wasn't too happy with Robin's antics during Prince John's retelling of the Robin Hood story.

Quite a few of the Merry Men and citizens of Nottingham got together for the Sherwood Sing-a-long, including Robin himself (center), Maid Marian, and the captured Prince John (far left).

These young ladies joined in on the fun too:

Bar Mitzvah Photos

Joanne, who is in charge of museum rentals, asked me to take some photos at a Bar Mitzvah this past Saturday. The focus was on the set up - the tables, buffets, etc. to show people interested in renting the Museum how it can be transformed for events.

The evening was Lord of the Rings themed. Credit goes to Bloomer's Florist for the centerpieces and to Pepper's for catering.
It was quite fun and I wish I could have stayed longer to get some images of the guests enjoying their food instead of just empty tables. I will try adding these shots next time I'm at a rental event.

I also enjoyed talking to the party's photographer, who showed me some of his photos and shared ideas/tips.

A couple of my favorites:

Scimitars to Samurai: Armor Goes Global

Like I mentioned in my previous post, my friend Chris and I photographed the exhibit opening last Saturday. There wasn't as many people there as I had hoped, but it was definitely interesting and enjoyable.
Here is a quick overview of some of the day's events:

Nancy did a presentation about Queen Zenobia of Palmyra

In this area, visitors could examine things from the cultures represented in the exhibit, such as samurai armor, a Persian hand shield, and spear heads.

Finally, here are a few photos from the demonstrations of Japanese fighting/sword techniques, performed by Doshi–Kai Kendo Dojo.

Week of February 28th

I realize I haven't said much about what I've been doing at the Museum on a daily basis. I've also been thinking I could do more in the time that I'm there each week. Of course after I thought that, I had plenty to do. Here are some of the things I worked on this week:

Scimitars to Samurai: Armor Goes Global is a new exhibit opening this Saturday. There is also a reception during the week (by invitation). Joanne, who deals with event rentals and organizing some Museum events, asked me to find songs from the countries represented in the exhibit to use as background music for this reception. Looking for traditional music from each country (that was actually available on itunes) was pretty interesting. I ended up with African drum music and some Persian songs. (Joanne had some from Japan already, and Suzanne added a bit from India, I believe).
This is one piece Joanne and I enjoyed: Babatunde Olatunji - Drums of Passion

Libbie (PR, memberships, etc.) also had a task for me. She had a stack of a few dozen letters concerning donations. These need to be looked through and entered into a spreadsheet to make the contact and donation information in them more manageable. This is a pretty large task, which I will continue next week.

While I was working on the spreadsheet, Suzanne informed us that some images had been copied without citing the sources, and the curatorial department could use help looking through books to find the originals. I was asked to help, but unfortunately could not since it was the end of my day. Hopefully the images have been or will be found soon.

Finally to finish the week, I will be photographing the exhibit opening with my friend Chris Hoey, who is volunteering his photography. There will be some cultural presentations going on during the day we'll be sure to capture, including Japanese sword technique presentations. It should be a great time!

Viking Invasion!

On Saturday the 29th, Vikings invaded Higgins Armory!
My assignment was to photograph the day's events.
These included:

Viking games in the Great Hall

Making your own shield and rune necklace