I’ve been sitting here tonight trying to figure out why I am so exhausted — I yawned through my afternoon meeting and grabbed a quick nap when I got home, but it really wasn’t sufficient. I think it might be because I actually got really excited and “into” work this morning. (Yes, really!)
We’re starting a new project — collaborating with Dr. Richard King from Pacific and Asian Studies to digitize about 150 posters from his collection of Communist Chinese posters, mostly from the 1970s. Similar posters can be seen at ChinesePosters.net. Some of those from Dr. King’s collection are included in a show at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Communist Paradise, which opens Friday.
The image at right is an example I found online — not one I worked on today. We set up and scanned five large posters today similar in theme to this one. Each poster takes us between 20 and 40 minutes including a final scan time of about 8 minutes — each image must be set up on the work table (as close to square as possible), secured (using small magnets or magnet strips), then the camera and software are calibrated for colour and focus before scanning.
However, the results are stunning. When we mount this collection, I will definitely be sharing it here — the scans are a high enough quality that at full resolution, you can see the halftone print dots. Using the TTI/BetterLight system is really enjoyable — it’s one of those rare occasions when tech actually works “as advertised” and provides even better results than we had hoped.
I guess I was more focused on work than I thought, basically from 9:30 to 12:00 straight we were working on the scanning — I would normally have a break in there. I should note that we also had a guest there to photograph Dr. King with one of his posters in order to promote the show opening at the AGGV; tomorrow, a reporter is coming back to talk with us about the work we do. Guess I should go get my beauty sleep.
Small world! You used to know Darthmollusc on LJ. I’m his fiancée…we live in Victoria now…saw you on lacouvée’s twitter! Just wanted to say hello!
Welcome to Victoria! I met him through a friend who goes by the name “Damselfly”, who is also back in Victoria now. Very small world indeed.
I haven’t been to the AGGV show yet, but I love these posters (and have a few original full-size ones myself, as well as several large-format books). Thanks for digitizing these very important pieces of political ephemera!
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