I’ll be giving a talk on archaological photography at UCLA on May, 17th as part of the Cotsen Friday Seminar series. My aim is to present practical approaches to improve site and finds documentation during excavations. I'll also explain an accessible methodology for making 3D reconstruction models from 2D images.
Inspiration from George Georgiou
Impressive photography of Turkey in transition by George Georgiou. Take some time with it. Truly inspiring documentation. I recognize so much from my own travels in Turkey and it puts me to shame I haven't made even an attempt at such an effort.
Another article on his collection:
Çatalhöyük Photo Update
Long overdue, I've added some selected images from Çatalhöyük to my website. This is a small sampling of excavation, finds and portrait images from the collection. I got a little carried away with the portraits, but I couldn't stop myself. There are many more people I want to include, as well as excavation shots. Check back later for more.
Photos Featured on the New York Times
Some of my photos documenting Çatalhöyük were featured in a New York Times slideshow. The related article by Susanne Fowler is Into the Stone Age With a Scalpel: A Dig With Clues on Early Urban Life.
Morning Commute
The daily journey to work in Giza.
Just before 7:00am every morning we would pass through the gates on our way to the AERA lab and storage area. We were lucky to pass by the pyramids so early in the day, while it was still peaceful without all the tourists.
Çatalhöyük on Facebook
Çatalhöyük on Facebook
Finally all those interested in the excavations at Çatalhöyük, from team members to the general public, can now connect together on Facebook.
Çatalhöyük – Building 80 Equirectangular
Building 80 QTVR, originally uploaded by catalhoyuk.
After posting a QTVR of Building 80 from this past summer's excavation season to the Çatalhöyük website, I thought I'd also share the flattened equirectangular 360 image it was based upon.
The Whole Family
The Whole Family, originally uploaded by jpquinlan.
In 2009 my tent and I were adopted by a mother cat and her three kittens. Initially cautious, they eventually setup camp on my front mat, becoming a welcome sight after a day's work at Çatalhöyük.
Sphinx Avenue Reconstruction
Artifact Photo Scales
After coming across friend and colleague Colleen Morgan's post about artifact photo scales, I thought I'd throw in my two cents on the subject.
Scales in archaeological photography are an ongoing curiosity for me. As necessary as they are to give a sense of size to the photos' subject, it so often appears that little attention is given to their proportion and composition in the photograph. It's as if a larger and more dominant scale is meant to give the image more scientific weight and credibility. But to me, photos taken in this matter reflect a lack of care and attention to detail, that ends up distracting from the artifact's representation. Maybe my photographic eye is being too hyper-critical, but I would say a little extra attention to the details of scale size and placement can make a big difference in how the arifact photo is viewed and appreciated down the line.
To help in this endeavor, here's a scale template I've made in Adobe Illustrator which you can print out on photo paper and cut out for use.
Download: Scales.pdf
Dark Clouds Over Wall of the Crow
Dark Clouds Over Wall of the Crow, originally uploaded by jpquinlan.
While taking final post-ex photos in the middle of a sand storm, I looked up from atop the ladder and saw this ominous view.
Zamalek Flattened
Zamalek Flattened, originally uploaded by jpquinlan.
I took this shot while wandering through Zamalek last week. I was originally just trying to shoot the apartment building in the distance, but then found my eye trailing back and forth along these intersecting building perspective slants. I like the way the depth of distance is flattened into crossing patterns that very much match in their color. This is not a hard thing to do in this city, since most of Cairo architecture is covered by this same grit of earth tones. This mix of flatness and perspective seems to give it a slight Escheresque quality.
Ladder Assistance
Ladder Assistance, originally uploaded by jpquinlan.
After much patience, waiting for the area to be cleaned and the osteology team to finish removing the child burial, we waited a little more for a passing cloud to diffuse my harsh shadow over the archaeology.
Testing SPi-V Panorama Viewer with Flickr
Giza Pyramids, originally uploaded by djsnapshot.
Just discovered this great tool to render equirectangular photos much like Quicktime VR's. I had been wondering if Flickr's new ability to post photos might also enable the possibility to post QTVR's directly within the site. That doesn't seem to be the case, but SPi-V seems like a great substitute. I'm quite impressed!
Have a look at the interactive viewer here.
(Requires Adobe Shockwave)
Photo to Comic
Anies Photo Recording, originally uploaded by Miss_Colleen.
Was surprised to see some of my photos being used for a comic! That's brilliant! I kind of envisioned something like this when I took the shots, but never bothered to do anything with them myself. Glad to see they've been found and put to use!
Setting up QTVR rig in Ilyaslar, Turkey
I can't believe this was already three years ago!