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05/24/2016 04:45 PMComing within inches of important and historic artifacts can be an emotional and awe-inspiring experience to those for whom history is alive. That was the personal reaction of professional photographer Robert Lorenz of Old Saybrook, whose job was to photograph the Yale Peabody Museum treasures included in the museum’s current exhibit marking its 150th year.
From the Peabody’s Trilobite Fossil 228 to a leafy liverwort sample collected by Charles Darwin to the dragonfly mural said to inspire the creator of the human-powered aircraft Gossamer Condor, each treasure inspired awe in Lorenz. Using special lighting, object arrangements, and interesting backgrounds, Lorenz’s photos draw in the reader and spur them to ask for each object, what new knowledge did it reveal.
“A lot of this stuff was pivotal in major events in the history of science, history, discovery and understanding,” said Lorenz. “The Peabody [curators] gave me the artifacts and then I had to craft an interesting photo that would draw the viewer in.”
The 2016 exhibit book, Exploration & Discovery—Treasures of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, was authored by David Skelly, director of the Yale Peabody Museum and professor at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and by Thomas Near, curator of Bingham Oceanographic Collection and associate professor in Yale’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; all of the book’s photographs of the Peabody treasures were taken by Lorenz, principal of Lorenz Photography, who shares credit with the authors on the book.
The two-week photoshoot began in the storage rooms of the Peabody Museum, but soon moved to Yale’s new West Campus building, the former Bayer facility in West Haven. There he set up lighting and took photographs of the artifacts in the building’s special digital imaging studio. Normally, the studio is used to photograph art work, but it also served well for this photography project, too.
“By and large, I let other people from the museum do the dangerous work of handling and moving the objects,” said Lorenz.
While shooting, he worked with a eight-foot camera stand, a laptop monitor, and a separate color-calibrated external monitor and rolling work station. This equipment was supplemented by lots of different pieces of lighting equipment and various props—the textured leather fabrics, the handmade textured paper, the drapes, and other items that helped to highlight each object and create an interesting image.
“Scientific photography has as its goal a technical aspect—to document details, textures, scale, accuracy of perspective, color. This project’s goal was to craft interesting photos that would draw the reader in,” said Lorenz, contrasting the photo style for this project to that for a purely scientific one.
“It was a challenge well met, this project. I like to do something that other people think is really difficult,” said Lorenz.
The photo shoot for this Peabody Museum exhibit book was not his first Yale Peabody Museum project. That first project in early 2015 was taking photographs to illustrate a book by Richard Conniff: House of Lost Worlds, Dinosaurs, Dynasties, and the Story of Life on Earth. The book told the story of “150 years of scientific adventure, research, and discovery at the Yale Peabody Museum.
“Richard Conniff was looking for a photographer and Mike Urban [from Old Saybrook] recommended me to him,” said Lorenz. “Richard told me they were looking for images that would narrate the text.”
Thirty of Lorenz’s photographs were included in Conniff’s book.
“I am continuing to grow and learn as a photographer,” said Lorenz.
Plum Island Photo Project
What he said truly prepared him for the Yale Peabody Museum photoshoot was another project he undertook: to photograph the unspoiled beauty of the federally owned Plum Island.
“For that project, I learned how to use the advanced features of Capture1-Pro software to create digital files that would make digitally strong prints,” said Lorenz. “The Plum Island photo work really kicked up my technical skills. It also forced me to evaluate each image more critically.”
It was in August 2013 that the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE) Save the Sound program organized and arranged for a group tour to the federally owned Plum Island in Long Island Sound. The mostly undeveloped site, long-used for federal research into animal diseases, was supposed to be sold by the government to offset the costs to relocate and build a new lab in Kansas. Many protested this plan, fearing the island would be turned over to developers.
“I went along on that Plum Island tour. I was the only photographer on the tour allowed to take photos. The Department of Homeland Security is still very restrictive about photography there. They had to review my digital photos before we left the island. Also on that group tour was John Sargent, an artist. CFE suggested we get together to document the undeveloped portions of the island,” said Lorenz.
Over the next year, with approval from Plum Island’s administrator, the two visited the island 12 times, each time for about two hours each—and on each visit, they had to be escorted around by Homeland Security.
“Plum Island’s administrators were friendly and supportive of the project, but also were protective,” said Lorenz. “Our main take-away is that Plum Island is a beautiful undeveloped space that has turned into a nature preserve.”
The joint exhibit of Lorenz’s photos and Sargent’s paintings and pastels was first hung at Acton Library in November 2014. Since that time, it has toured to every local library and display space. Currently, it hangs at the La Grua Center in Stonington and, at the end of the year, will return for a planned exhibit in Old Lyme.
Lorenz would like to return to Plum Island to take photographs of the small gems of the island—the nesting roseate terns, the seals basking on the rocks, the coastal bluffs.
Of his photography, Lorenz says, “I’m not done yet. I’m still learning new tricks. I love what I learn when I go into New York City [on photoshoots], but I’m not willing to be there full-time.”
And for now, his lens is focused on his vegetable and flower garden—with last summer devoted to the Peabody project, his garden suffered from inattention. Another challenge to be well-met.