Viewpoint - Get Professional Help

[Sith]

problem is making drawings/photos is not enough - somtimes it seems that is all that is being done - of course archaeology can be done without photos/drawiwngs - (fieldwalking? antiquarian research?) - we need to understand the uses and purpose of our tools, not fetishise them in thier own right.

I wasn't implying a fetish for drawing things, simply that illustration is a vital part of that process of recording as much as possible about a site to aid its full interpretation. Taking your fieldwalking example: where would we be without some kind of drawing of the distribution of materials accross the site?

[Unitof1]

[SIZE=3]Taking your fieldwalking example: where would we be without some kind of drawing of the distribution of materials accross the site?

[/SIZE]

Hosty seems to be arguing that all the objects from fieldwalking must be drawn and photographed professionally

[Sith]

Hosty seems to be arguing that all the objects from fieldwalking must be drawn and photographed professionally

I think he's actually arguing that everone taking site photographs should have some sort of training; and that illustrations for publication should be prepared by someone who can draw; both fair points. Not that that all objects should be drawn and photographed.

[Unitof1]

I think he said that we should get professional help but I was not sure if it was to train us or to do what. May be he did not mean for fieldwalking, possibly nothing to do with pre-evaluation work or actually anything to do with commercial work. Probably mostly need professional illustrators and photographers for overseas excavations which use grant money from education budgets

[kevin wooldridge]

There is a strand of crankiness in BAJR fora that is beginning to wear a little thin especially when it seeks to derail perfectly reasonable discussions by the ploy of posting pointless moronic drivel.....

Can I suggest a new BAJR policy?

If any BAJRite posts three ridiculous statements on any single thread or three ridiculous statements on multiple threads in the space of 7 days they are shown a 'red card' and suspended for a week. Two or more 'red cards' within a 3 month calendar period would result in longer suspension and possible removal from the list.

[BAJR Host]

Thank you both sith and Kevin... (good idea that) posting pintless moronic drivel derails interesting discussions.

As Sith so rightly points out... beign able to take a good photograph needs training to understand F stops and layout... to provide the information you try to convey
drawing a 'good' site palan of section to convey the essense of the features
and for field walking... the idea is that you are able to illustrate in a graphic, the idea and concept you are trying to achieve, and this is only possible with a balanced mix of text and illustration/image. a photo of a landscape is easier than trying to descibe it... a plan of a site is essential, as to descibe it in words is near impossible. making sure you do not downgrade the visual is the point. I remember a book I read.. the Tarim Basin Mummies... great text... let down by very poor illustrations... maps without scales or names... illustrations that do not enhance the text etc.. and photos to make a happy snapper blush...

Pointless posts puts off people with a desire to engage..

[Unitof1]

I don’t think we need professional photographers or illustrators. With digi cameras it pretty much point and shoot and draw is what archaeologists do day in and out. What archaeologists need is a reason to take a picture or draw an object. Theres a lot of pictures taken because the brief says there must be pictures taken of all features before and after and many briefs insisting that wet chemistry is still to be used with all the inherent taking three pictures with different f stops, color film and B/W slide and frankly 99.999% will never see the light of day again as they are utterly pointless. I am not sure what to make of hostys recommended pictures. They seem like frontispiece items. I am not sure that they have any archaeological worth with the worry that people might think that all archaeological illustration/pictures should look like that.

[destroyingangel]

Oh dear... here we go again.

Yep, digital cameras on point and shoot (auto) mode... fantastic... every photograph is a winner. Point-and-shoot... and hey presto, job done. Yes I agree, 99.9% of all photographs will never see the light of day. But if your 0.1% of photographs available are shi*e because the person holding the camera just doesn't get it (photography that is) then you might as well not bother recording anything at all. I thought the point of archaeological excavation (whatever form it takes) is 'preservation by record'. The more you record, the more you actually do on site... the better the record. Everyone knows that apart from you, so it seems. Perhaps you just don't want to record anything at all... just take the money and run, eh?

And yes... virtually everyone I know in archaeology (well, actually, everyone I know... including my three year old nephew) can draw a picture that can rival Da Vinci or Escher. Yeah, right, of couse they can... through the medium of CAD and Photoshop! Don;t need any tallent or training in that, do I? Obviously you didn't need any training to create your own avatar... a fantastic work of art. No, it really is. Do you use the same tallent for your site reports?

Furthermore, I've seen some 'past masters' on site who shouldn't have been let loose with blunt crayons, let alone a pencil.

AUP away Mr Hosty... I'm outta here.

[RedEarth]

There are some valid concerns about the expected level of competance in photography (and other skills). It's fine if you are working in similar areas all the time (say large area excavations), but in some cases that simply isn't the case. In any given week my workload is so varying that it is virtually impossible to be an expert in everything - a list of necessary skills, for example: photography, site drawing, survey, excavation, building recording, finds (at least basic identification), and software ranging from Word to CAD. In the past I have had to use GPS, sometimes having not used it for over 6 months. So, do I consider myself an expert in any of these things? Of course not, I would have to be even more of a genius than I currently am. What with the current state of archaeology opportunity for proper training is virtually nill. So get professional help if you can, but being a jack of all trades and master of none is sometimes the only choice.

[RedEarth]

Oh, and on the matter of three spurious comments and you're out, how exactly is that going to work? One person's spuriosity (if that's not a word I'm claiming the patent) is another's pertinosity (ditto)!