By Steve Scarpa
The answer Andy Todd most frequently gives when a student asks him a question in the Yale Peabody Museum Studios is 'I don't know.’ But that is always followed by an important phrase: “Let’s find out. Let’s see what happens.”
Todd, the Peabody’s Imaging and Recording Studio Manager, expertly handles the high-tech imaging and audio equipment available for student use. Beyond the cutting-edge technology and the Peabody’s world-class collections, Todd hopes to encourage a shared spirit of enterprise.
“That’s the kind of attitude that I try to foster in the students,” he said. "It can be a place where having fun and doing serious work can happen at the same time and really be one in the same."
His hard work is paying off. Over the course of the last academic year, Todd served more than 70 students, courses, faculty, and staff, totaling nearly 600 studio engagement hours. And after being introduced to the studios, many students become repeat customers – the studios average about five visits per student throughout the year. He said that he hasn’t needed to promote the studios; word of mouth has easily filled his docket.
The only criterion to use the studios is desire. There are no applications to be filed or prerequisites to attain, something of a rarity for high-achieving Yale students.
“We want to create a space that’s welcoming, and we also want to break down the intimidation factor. Most of the students we work with have never been in a photo studio before. It can be daunting,” Todd said.
Cynthia Lin, Yale College 2027, works on high magnification photography on the copy stand.
Many museums have technological spaces like the studios that allow students to photograph its collection, Todd pointed out. Todd brings a distinct ethos to the work: “There is a model where students help a museum’s goal of digitization and that’s great and valuable,” Todd said. “But the way we looked at our studios was to reverse that relationship. We think about it as the museum helping the student accomplish their goals.”
Those goals could be almost anything, so long as there is connection to the Peabody’s offerings. “When students come in, they are the ones with the ideas, goals and ambition. My job is to say, ‘how can we help?,’” Todd said.
He’s been surprised – and often delighted – by what the students bring to the table. Todd has helped doctoral students get detailed photographs of a small piece of anatomy on a feather, a crucial bit of information needed for a Ph.D defense. And yet, for every scientist who comes in there are artists who are looking at the Peabody’s collections and nature itself for creative inspiration.
Students have done film projects and created new works of art, many of which have been displayed on the Peabody’s second floor near the studios. The combination of student energy and Peabody tools opens many possibilities. “So much of what we do in the studio is about play and experimentation,” Todd said.
While the stuff of the Peabody can be exciting, Todd makes a point to expose students to the museum’s most precious resource, its people. He takes students into the collections to speak with collections managers and assistants before they begin a specimen shoot.
“That’s important to me. I want students to have the opportunity to meet these experts, people who are so knowledgeable and passionate about their work. They are eager to share, and I want students to have those kinds of conversations,” Todd said.
Yue Li, a Ph. D candidate in biological anthropology, was a student who immersed herself in those conversations. Li took a course called “Museums and Their Objects” in Spring 2024 and decided to check out an after-hours event featuring insect photography. It was Li’s first experience with advanced imaging techniques. She was hooked and got a part-time position in the Fall working in the studios.
Li went deeper and soon became a Graduate Museum Fellow, helping students navigate techniques like focus stacking, microscopy photography, digital unwrapping, and photogrammetry for 3D models.
“The Peabody has created a student-facing space that reflects the museum’s important role in outreach, education, and the broader communication of cultural and scientific impact,” Li said.
She worked closely with Todd, noting his small, but thoughtful improvements to the studios, and how he rehearses and adjusts his class presentations based on student feedback. In the end, the fancy gear can certainly help, but it is about having a sound process.
“Now I have a much better mindset: I understand that equipment can fail in many different ways, and what matters is to build experience, remain patient, and work through the problem step by step,” Li said.
Thanks to her work in the studios, Li has a new aspiration. “When I return to work in my own country, I hope to build a similar studio that can provide more students with access to this kind of training, support, and professional resources,” Li said. “Now that I have gained this experience, that goal feels one step closer.”
The tip of a scorpion’s telson (stinger) illuminated by both visible and ultraviolet light photographed by Jun Lee, School of Architecture 2027.
The studios’ entire sensibility is reflected in a recent experience of Todd’s.
Todd worked closely with Jun Lee, an architecture student, to photograph a scorpion specimen. He pointed out that some scorpions fluoresce under ultraviolet light, so they tweaked the lighting. The scorpion then flashed a vibrant bluish green color. That is, everything except for the tip of the stinger itself.
“That was pretty insane. The natural world never ceases to amaze me," Lee said.
Lee moved on to another project, but Todd couldn’t get it out of his head.
“It was this thing that I could’ve never predicted. I love that photography can offer students these little surprise moments. When you look at something closely for a long time, it forces you to ask questions about it,” Todd said.
Todd dug up a scientific paper published this year that said because parts of the creature’s exoskeleton are enriched with metals like zinc and manganese, the tip of the stinger didn’t react to UV light. It couldn’t glow. The world unfolded for him just a little bit.
Top image: The skull of a horned screamer, a species of bird, photographed by Cody Limber, a Ph.D student studying the evolution and development of feathers.