University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

The Argus Museum is open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at other times on special request.

This exhibit showcases the intimacy and intricacy of the small photographic image. Throughout the history of photography, the small image has usually been relegated to items to be carried on the person. Examples would be a Daguerreotype photo in a locket, small tintypes made by street photographers, or carte de visitemade in a studio.

It is in this spirit of the intimacy and jewel-like sharpness of the small print that Small Plates is being presented. The Ann Arbor Area Crappy Camera Club (A3C3) is a film-based (analog) group of photographers, so all of the images presented in this show were produced by film cameras. Some are Polaroids, which are as unique as a Daguerreotype or tintype. Some images are contact prints, and some are only slightly enlarged. All are meant to be viewed close-up. Mark O'Brien, collections manager, Insect Division, Museum of Zoology, is one of the founders of the A3C3.

Some introductory photographs from other eras are presented to connect the A3C3 images with over 100 years of photography. From Daguerreotype, to tintype, to small albumen prints, 4x5 inch contact prints, and finally, to monochrome snapshots, these small plates represent the everyday equivalent of their time to our Facebook, cell phone, and web images. Unlike their ephemeral digital counterparts however, these images have solidity and are self-contained exhibits. Although the equipment and processes of photography have changed greatly, it's interesting that our basic relationship to the image has not.