I believe something people need to understand is the scope of putting things
online. I have been doing this for 14 years. I have photographed thousands
of items. Over 20,000 photos of actual costumes are just waiting to go
online. I photograph at a high resolution with detailed photos of costumes
overhead, back side, inside, extreme close-up of embellishments, etc.
Anyone that have seen or had me photograph them at Costume-Con know how many
detailed photos that I take. I have a massive collection to go online from
a university's fashion that I photographed and documented in 2006-2007. It
took me a year to photograph and document their collection. Since them I
have purchased a large collection in-house of 20th Century hats, yet to be
photographed. On top of this, I have hundreds of period publications and
antique photographs waiting to go online.
Since I am a staff of one, I count on volunteers to help with putting items
online. Since the economy has been so poor, my volunteers have had little
time to help. I am down to three volunteers who type articles when they
have spare time. My webpage coders and graphics people are no longer
available. So I am slowly putting things online by myself. I would love to
get more volunteers. If you are interested, please email me privately.
As for viewing high resolution photos online, I use the software Zoomify
that allows you to zoom in really close. I know the McCord Museum uses it.
It doesn't cost that much and is simple to use. The software makes it very
hard for someone to steal the images. Each image can be divided in hundreds
of pieces. I haven't had a problem with someone stealing these images so
far.
I have worked at a museum, a university, and been at my business a long time
in the internet world. We all want to education people on what we have
available. But it all comes down to money and man power. There was a time
when my business depended solely on subscribers and our students. But as
the economy shifted, advertisers have been keeping me afloat. But that
money is not enough to actually hire people.
Penny Ladnier,
Owner, The Costume Gallery Websites
www.costumegallery.com
11 websites of costume, fashion and textile history.
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