Memories of Things Unseen

The Timebox 3.0 Beta test will be wrapping up soon and new, improved Timebox App will finally be available in the App Store. We are excited about the power and elegance of Timebox 3.0 and can’t wait until it is available to everyone. Just so you know, if you are a current Timebox customer, you will automatically be updated to the new version. This is also true, if you participated in the Beta.

in the meantime, we recently came across the article Memories of Things Unseen by Teju Cole in the New York Times. Cole says "Photography is inescapably a memorial art. It selects, out of the flow of time, a moment to be preserved, with the moments before and after falling away like sheer cliffs.” (Except when you use Apple’s Live Video.) We agree since sometimes a photo is all we have left. The person, object or place is changed or gone all-together.

In the article, Cole describes the Institute for Digital Archaeology’s Million Image Database Project, which involves photographing artifacts that are at risk of being destroyed for military or religious reasons.

"The goal of the project is to distribute up to 5,000 modified cameras, to professionals and to amateurs, and use them to capture a million 3-D images by the end of 2015. Already a thousand cameras have been distributed and the 3-D data is being received."

This joint project of Harvard and Oxford Universities is wonderful and the visual records could be enough to facilitate a reconstruction. Cole does not overstate it when he says photography is used to ward off total oblivion.

According to Cole there is also a menacing side to memory. We’re not sure about that but we do think that photos and videos help you tell better stories, whatever they’re about.

Taking family videos can be risky!

This New York Times article is familiar, funny and useful. We know from our own experience that taking family videos and pictures can be risky. 

Sometimes you are after the perfect, yet unobtainable shot and you forget where you own feet are maybe tripping on something. 

Sometimes the people you want in the shots have had enough, don’t want to hold still or do something one more time. 

Sometimes when you are lining up the shot you want, YOU miss the best part of being there. 

Then, after all that, you end up with hours of video or hundreds of similar photos that no one cares about enough to even look at. It’s painful!

If you want to enjoy the moment and keep the memory take the advice of all three of the people the author spoke with:

1. Do it for a limited time.
2. Be selective.
3. Then, put the device away.

After all, "Video can’t kill your family vacation if the camera is stuffed in your bag."

Object Project Exhibit

At first we thought this Smithsonian exhibit was only about the bicycle. Were we wrong! It’s about “everyday things that changed everything” and is really interesting. 

The ongoing Object Project at The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History is a exhibition and learning space featuring “everyday things that changed everything.” If you go in person, the Object Project features more than 300 objects, a “magic” scrapbook, an opportunity to virtually try on clothing from the collection, and a special version of “The Price is Right.” 

If you can’t get there, check out the companion website, that explores the Object Project's innovative objects and themes through four lenses: ready-to-wear clothing, household conveniences, bicycles, and refrigerators. Visit the website.

Rob Walkers companion, interactive essay points out interesting facts about a few common objects and their surprising stories. Who knew? 

We hope you enjoy the exhibit and are having a great Summer. We're finishing up Timebox 3.0 and look forward to making it available in the App Store soon.