Yale Beinecke Library
My time working as a Community Engagement Intern for Yale's Special Collections.
Project Overview
Last summer, I was given an amazing opportunity to come and be apart of the team at the Yale Beinecke Library. Coming from a background in digital design, I was excited to see how I would fit into a team full of historians and archivists.
It was clear what they were missing: a digital presence. Such rare and ancient treasures in their collection had yet to be seen by the world. The CE (Community Engagement) team was looking for ways to share the existence and beauty of the collection.
One of the biggest challenges technology has always faced is attempting to replicate an in-person experience virtually. An advertisement, for example, could have the highest-grade lighting, top-notch camera equipment, and beautiful audio design—the list could go on. But it could never recreate the full presence: the smell, the touch, or even the taste of the air of something experienced in person.
Capturing the Experience
Right away, they assigned me to event photography. I had initially thought I would only be digitizing their collection (photographing the books alone) and designing visual graphics for them. Instead, the CE team insisted that a lot of my time be spent capturing their private exhibits and then applying appropriate color grading to match the feel of the room.
As I mentioned earlier, it's hard to replicate the experience of visiting museum artifacts. On screen, viewing the artifact alone isn't enough. But seeing someone… seeing it — now that's much closer to capturing the experience of being there. I wanted to capture genuine shots of people interacting with the artifacts.
With these things in mind, I spent a lot of my time handling a Canon R5 equipped with the RF24–105mm F4 L IS USM lens. This, paired with Adobe Lightroom, was more than enough for me to produce warm, vintage-correct shots—trying my best to match the tone of the image with the feel of the room.
Take more photos… like 30 per second
The exhibit's weren't even the most awesome part about this place. It's when you first step your foot in the door. It is an extremely impressive architecture. The vault alone holds 180,000 books, with the entirety of their collection holding over a million books.
Towards the end of my time here, CE would go on to ask me to just record the entire experience. Below, I've went ahead and captured the entirety of the Beinecke Library and the 2025 year's main exhibit, Taught By The Pen, The World of Islamic Manuscripts.
