Associate Photographer, James Van Der Zee Archive [End-Dated]

About the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.

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At The Met, every staff member – from security officers to researchers to scientists and beyond – lives by our core values of respect, inclusivity, collaboration, excellence, and integrity. 

Respect: Engage one another with collegiality, empathy, and kindness, always.

Inclusivity: Ensure that all are and feel welcome and valued.

Collaboration: Reach across boundaries to exchange ideas and work together toward our shared mission.

Excellence: Lead the cultural world in quality and expertise—and inspire curiosity and creativity.

Integrity: Hold ourselves to the highest moral standards, admit when we fall short, and then evolve. 

GENERAL STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES:

As the Associate Photographer, you will photograph, catalogue, document and digitize the James Van Der Zee Archive print collection. Under the direction of the Collections Imaging lead, you will perform editing, post-production, titling and organizing of the collection following specified capture criteria for reproductive documentation. You will organize, prepare, and process a large archive of externally digitized negatives for entry into the museums collections management and digital asset systems.

For this role, the Imaging department will provide up and running training on the standards-based capture process.

This is an end dated position with an established timeline of 2 years.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES:

• Digitization of the JVDZ Collection of photographic prints via Photo Studio reproduction camera equipment

• Post-production and fine-editing and tiling of and embedding clipping paths into image files in preparation of upload to Museum systems

• Organize, and export edited files into the museum’s collections and digital asset management systems.

• Organize, audit and process externally digitized collection negatives ensuring proper quality control under established museum guidelines.

• Careful handling of accessioned works of art

• Close collaboration with research associate and Collections Management Coordinator in the Department of Photographs in charge of the project

• Other related duties

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• BFA or BA in photography and/or studio art

• 2 years’ experience with reproductive photographing in a museum or gallery setting

• Knowledge of Macintosh operating system and associated software and hardware

• Demonstrated experience of and experience in high resolution digital capture and image tiling

• Knowledge of ISO 19264 guidelines for two-dimensional capture preferred (

• Knowledge of and expertise in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom, Hasselblad Phocus are valuable.

• Experience or knowledge of Hasselblad and Canon camera systems

• Experience handling original works of art specifically photographs preferred

COMPENSATION RANGE:

• Pay Range: $70,000.00 - $72,000.00 / Annually

• The advertised pay scale reflects the good faith minimum and maximum salary range for this role. The advertised pay scale is not a promise of a particular wage for any specific employee. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, special licensing or qualifications, and other factors.

Location Requirements

At time of employment, employees are expected to be located within commuting distance of the Museum. “Commuting distance” means that they are located in one of following states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania (the “Tri-state and PA” areas), and be able to commute to and from the Museum in a single day.

Benefits Offerings

The Museum provides competitive compensation, and generous benefits and perks for al