I thought I’d leave you for a long weekend with a few of my favorite photography-related blogs. I’d rather do this from time to time than try to keep a blogroll, so expect more of these posts in the future as I dig into my feed reader.
These blogs tend to focus on the more creative and thoughtful issues of photography. You will hear mention of megapixels only when it is necessary for creative image making, not for the sake of pixel-peeping. For your reading/viewing pleasure this holiday weekend:
Liz Kuball, a terrific photographer in her own right, writes about her own work and process as well as showcasing the work of others. One of my favorite things about Liz’s blog are the comments she inspires. Sometimes snarky, often quite helpful and supportive, she has developed quite a community over there.
On Shadow comes all the way from Paris, France. Nick is great at digging up interesting images, much of it vintage, and also writes about the contemporary art and photography world.
We Can’t Paint is not just a blog, but an entire network of photography related enterprises, curated by Noel Rodo-Vankeulen. Noel is a great writer, and his photo magazine Wassenar is highly recommended as well.
Exposure Compensation is maintained by Miguel Garcia-Guzman, who discovers wonderful new photographers that I’ve never heard of just about every day.
Horses Think, written by Ofer Wolberger, collects an eclectic mix of photography along with general musings on the world of art photography. Ofer sometimes offers his own prints for free on the site, but they’re always gone by the time I get there. I’ll get one one of these days!
Jörg from Conscientious recently wondered aloud about “What the world of photography blogging needs”, which spawned an interesting discussion in the Conscientious Google Group. I think it’s true that the online world involves a lot of backscratching and self-promotion and not nearly as much critical thinking. Of course it is easier to come up with links to other people’s work (as I have so heroically done above) than it is to spend more than fifteen minutes writing something yourself. I also think that many photographers are more comfortable communicating visually than they are with writing.
I have been thinking about this more as I wonder what I am up to with this blog. Is it just a platform for me to showcase my own work? Should I be highlighting the work of others more? Should I be writing more in-depth pieces about philosophy and art and culture and photographic theory and practice? Can I do it without being pretentious?
Well… maybe.
I prefer to spend my time taking pictures, but it is looking to be a long, cold winter here in New York. I’m either going to start looking for some indoor projects or take up writing a bit more. Robert Adams’ seminal Beauty in Photography is just about the best model for great photography writing one could ask for, so I will take that as inspiration and maybe work on some longer-form pieces. I think, at the very least, that it will sharpen my critical thinking skills, and who knows, maybe even clarify my goals and thinking about my own photography.
Do you have a favorite photography blog that I should be reading? Let me know in the comments. And when I return… more prints? Probably. I’ve been cooking up a lot of stuff in my darkroom lately.
