Tonights Watches (from the British Museum, to make Grumpyguy discombobulated...)

[Paul F.]

So, I was walking through the British Museum this morning (Yes, I’m in London at the moment... more on that later...).
And I duck the flock of Asian tourists in one of the main galleries, and into a room full of wonderful things (no, not that... thats in the Egyptology room upstairs...).
Clocks and timepieces!
My ability to take photos was greatly limited by the fact that in the entire yeasty museum, every yeasty display case has dozens of small directional lights - 95% of them turned OFF. Yes, in the entire room full of timepieces, exactly ONE light was on in the watches case.
Same in every other gallery... half the cases had half the lights off.
I had the same criticism in 2011 when I last visited.

So, here is a case full of 18th and early 19th century watches. I dunno squat about ‘em, but they were mechanical marvels that I appreciated very much!

[Racer X]

You don't need to know the intricacies of the mechanisms to appreciate the artistry and creativity of the creation.

I would love to do some serious poking around in some air museums with WWII and post WWII last of the piston engine aircraft. Like one of the W18 engines.

[Paul F.]

I may not have time this trip to get up to the RAF Museum... it’s a ways out, and a LONG walk from the nearest tube station, but I very much want to do the same thing!
Hoping the Imperial War Museum has some nifty stuff!
(FYI, Racer, if you ever get to England, put the Royal Armories Museum in Leeds on your Must Do list!

[steve...]

Thanks for sharing with us, Paul.

I'm curious though - isn't it the normal custom to not allow picture taking in museums?

[voodoopenguin]

steve... wrote:
I'm curious though - isn't it the normal custom to not allow picture taking in museums?

No problems taking photos in most museums unless there are specific instructions not to. We went to a Faberge exhibition recently and you were not allowed to take photos but that was the first time for quite while.

Paul

[Paul F.]

I think exhibitions where UV light would damage it are prone to say no photos... but no signs in any London Museum so far...

[Acer]

Your photos need a hairy arm for scale.

[JoeH]

The most common restriction I recall is no flash photography. To keep compliant with that I used to load ASA 400 or faster color film in a camera to take pictures in a museum or similar setting.

[OWC Jamie]

light can degrade some pigments - so no flash
too many idiots don't know how to shut flash off so the simple solution is no cameras.

selfie idiots

gift shop sales of photgraphs

those seem to be the top reasons for no phottography


for a while when phone cameras were pretty lousy photos they turned a blind eye to phones cameras while strictly prohibiting single purpose cameras
that doesn't seem to be the case any more

I've also had to pay a 'paparazzi' fee which allowed me to photograph but with no flash.

I think some of the push is from museum goers who would prefer not to be annoyed by any kind of cameras

[Grumpyguy]

Thanks Paul