Houston Museum of Natural Science Opens In Focus: A Museum Photographic Experience

HMNS’s Newest Exhibit Is Picture Perfect

In Focus: A Museum Photographic Experience opens May 24th

HMNS has long been a hit on Instagram with patrons, photographing themselves with Stan the T. Rex’s shadowy snarl in the Morian Hall of Paleontology or communing with butterflies in the Cockrell Butterfly Center. In Focus: A Museum Photographic Experience, the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s newest exhibit space opening May 24, has a special focus on the photogenic. In addition to an aesthetic appeal, the exhibit conveys the museum’s mission by injecting each room of In Focus with a side of science.

“The goal of this exhibit is the combined fun with professionalism,” said Dustin Newcomb, Wiess Director of Exhibits at HMNS. “We are creating a place where families, teenagers, people with smartphones and professional photographers can all find something that speaks to them and brings out their inner creator.”

Exhibit Walk Through

The exhibit opens with a list of tips and tricks from the museum’s photography team. Teaching basic photography concepts, like composition, exposure and the rule of thirds, the exhibit equips guests with some of the tools they’ll need to create their own masterful photography in the exhibit. Guests just need their camera and a little creativity to get the most out of the exhibit. 

In Focus ushers patrons into four distinct areas. Each room conveys a specific theme that HMNS plans to revamp regularly to reflect changes in seasons and pop-culture and help keep the exhibit space fresh. The opening themes include under the sea, star field, dinosaurs and ancient Egypt. In the underwater room, animations on the walls surround guests with schools of jellyfish as fabric “waves” swirl around them. An abandoned shark cage will be a popular spot for posing, while an elusive shark lurks in the background.

The astronomy room uses lighting and projection technology to artistically mimic nebulas, supernovas and star patterns, surrounding guests with outer space. Next, patrons can fall into the “dino pit”. Over 7,000 bright, colorful dinosaur plushes of varying sizes, shapes, colors and kinds line the walls and floor of this room, making it the perfect spot for everyone who “digs” dinosaurs.

The most elaborate room is inspired by the first scientific reconstruction of a pharaonic throne with a richly decorated baldachin, or canopy. Thanks to research conducted in Egypt by Franck Monnier and Peter Lacovara, who consulted on HMNS’s Hall of Ancient Egypt, the room recreates aspects of the throne room of Amenhotep III. Guests can live their pharaonic fantasies, posing with elaborate columns and a throne artistically derived from the research of real archeologists.

In Focus: A Museum Photographic Experience opens on May 24. The experience will be a $5 add-on to permanent exhibit hall admission. For permanent hall exhibit ticket price or more information visit our website at www.hmns.org or call (713) 639-4629.