The Blogs I Read

I look at a lot of blogs. “Scanning over” is probably a more accurate description than “reading”, but with RSS feeds these days (and lovely free programs like Google Reader), I truly think that it is easier now than ever to feel the pulse of contemporary photography. There’s a big discussion going on out there, every day and all over the world. I enjoy reading it and I’m hoping this list will help you find some blogs you’ll enjoy following, as well.

Jump on down to…
The Best
On Photography
Photographers Themselves
Blogs from/about Mainstream Media
Photo Magazines
Art / Artists (i. e. not necessarily photo)
Photo Gear
Friends

The Best

AKA: The Short List. If you want to check out anything, check out these. (They’re listed in their categories down below, too, if you wanted more context).

Digital Photography Review: News
http://www.dpreview.com/news/
By far the best and fastest way to hear about new gear, firmware updates, camera and lens reviews, etc. If you’re interested in the gear end of the photo world, this is a must.  They often post lengthy previews in tandem with product announcements.

A Photo Editor
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/
Rob Haggart, the former photo editor of Outside magazine, has probablythe best blog about commercial photography. There’s a great running stream of quotes about photography, making work, and the magazine industry. There’s an invaluable “ask anything” series that often gets into the gritty details of invoicing clients, what to do when things head south, etc. Definitely worth following.

Bag News Notes
http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/
You should be reading BagNews, which is published by  Michael Shaw, “a clinical psychologist, an analyst of visual journalism[.]” The site provides incredibly insightful analysis and discussion of photojournalism. It’ll completely change how you interact with the images you see in the news. There are subtle meanings to everything, and BagNews will help point it out.

Conscientious
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/
Jörg M. Colberg has the blog to read about fine art contemporary photography. Excellent and lucid discussion. Links to new photographer’severy day. Every day! How does he find this much new work to post in a year? There’s now a whole “Extended” section for hardcore followers, with more thorough articles and interviews.

La Pura Vida
http://lpvmagazine.com/
I love La Pura Vida. They’re an online/print magazine that focuses on fine art work, but especially on fine art documentary work — perhaps my favorite genre. Great work that is well presented and updated all the time.

(Notes On) Politics, Theory, and Photography
http://politicstheoryphotography.blogspot.com/
Jim Johnson is a political theorist and not a photographer. He even admits to being pretty bad at photography.  But he is very, very skilled at talking about photography and the political impact of visual media. If you like photojournalism, politics, or photography I highly recommend it.

What’s the Jackonary?
http://www.whatsthejackanory.com/
What a great blog. Andrew Hetherington is a commercial photographer that shoots (very, very good) portraits for magazine covers and the like. He’s always travelling, always posting photos of where he’s travelling, and has a whole slew of behind the scenes stuff from shoots involving everyone from Brad Pitt to Bill Clinton.

A Photography Blog
http://www.rachelhulin.com/blog/
Rachel Hulin recently mentioned something about a hiatus, which terrifies me, because I’ve been reading her blog a looooong time and I reaaaaaly like it. She’s a writer and photographer in New York, she has a great eye for photos to post from all over, and here “elsewheres” have provided hours of internet entertainment. I hope she keeps posting regularly!

Edward_ Winkleman
http://www.edwardwinkleman.com/
Winkleman runs a gallery in New York and has, I think, one of the best blogs on contemporary art in general. He’s a great writer, has a keen knowledge of what is going on out there, and is great at putting it (and the politics of the art world) into an informative context.

On Photography


2POINT8
http://2point8.whileseated.org/
2.8 is dedicated to posting and talking about street photography, and it makes quite a good go of it.  It seems to have been updated less often of late, but when it is going it is worth reading.

American Suburb X
http://www.americansuburbx.com/
“Photography & Culture” indeed. American Suburb X culls its images and commentary from magazines, auction lot notes, interviews, photobooks, anywhere. The sum total is an excellent, constantly updated, look at the last 50 years of photography. Often NSFW (if that matters to you).

Conscientious
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/
Jörg M. Colberg has the blog to read about fine art contemporary photography. Excellent and lucid discussion. Links to new photographer’s every day. Every day! How does he find this much new work to post in a year? There’s now a whole “Extended” section for hardcore followers, with more thorough articles and interviews.

Cronicas  boémias de um Olhar
http://cronicasboemiasdeumolhar-marc.blogspot.com
This blog is one of my secrets, so shhhhh about it. This is an excellent Portuguese blog that I’ve never been able to read a word of, but he posts amazing work from contemporary photographers all over the world. It is stuff I rarely see pop up on any other blog, which to me is one of the most valuable things a blog can offer. Highly recommended if you want to see international contemporary photo.

Cyclops
http://cyclopsblog.com/
This is the blog of the Catherine Edelman Gallery, my favorite gallery here in Chicago and probably the best for contemporary photo in the Midwest. The blog mostly promotes the photographers they represent, but that is by no means a negative. (Also, check out The Chicago Project, their work to push photographers working in Chicago).

Mrs. Deane
http://www.beikey.net/mrs-deane/
Mrs. Deane is old school. This blog’s been running since before you could photos on the WWW.  Well, OK, not exactly, but Mrs. Deane is a great blog that discusses everything from obscure photo processes to work old work from great photographers to brand new conceptual debates.

Errol Morris on Photography
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/errol-morris/
Photography and everything else. More than anything else, Errol Morris is OCD about finding the truth. This is the guy who once didn’t get to submit a documentary, The Thin Blue Line, for an Oscar because it was entered as court evidence to save an innocent man from death row. Anyway, his thoughts on everything are interesting and he has a keen perspective on photography.

Eyecurious
http://www.eyecurious.com/
Eyecurious has lots of great, wonderful commentary on the contemporary photo world. Posts on gallery openings, new work, new books, etc. It is worth following for sure.

Feature Shoot
http://www.featureshoot.com/
Really good interviews with really good commercial photographers. It’s a simple concept and it is done really well.

Geronimo Projects
http://geronimoprojects.tumblr.com/
Geronimo Projects is a tumblr with a simple idea: interview contemporary photographers and show some of their work. It is done very well and I always find the interviews illuminating.

I <3 Photograph
http://iheartphotograph.blogspot.com/
An excellent running discussion on the state of contemporary photography, as well as one of the best blogs for seeing new work from everyone, everywhere. I Heart Photograph, more than a lot of other blogs, is also great for showing work in a gallery context.

Horses Think
http://horsesthink.com/
Another great resource for seeing new work from all over, Horses Think is updated regularly with work from new photographers, plus whatever’s been talked about on the interwebs lately.

Hippolyte Bayard
http://www.hippolytebayard.com/
This is an Italian blog, who (thankfully) posts everything in both Italian and English.

Muse-ings
http://photo-muse.blogspot.com/
“Thoughts on photography and what inspires it” and then some more. Muse-ings is a frequently updated and well written look at new and old photography.

New Landscape Photography
http://newlandscapephotography.com/
If you like looking at contemporary landscape photography, follow this blog. It is a continuous stream of (quite good) new work from landscape photographers the world over, always with some insight into what they’re trying to do or their process.

(Notes On) Politics, Theory, and Photography
http://politicstheoryphotography.blogspot.com/
Jim Johnson is a political theorist and not a photographer. He even admits to being pretty bad at photography.  But he is very, very skilled at talking about photography and the political impact of visual media. If you like photojournalism, politics, or photography I highly recommend it.

The PhotoBook
http://thephotobook.wordpress.com/
If you like photo books, you’ll love this blog. New work all the time, great lists of where to find books, tips on getting things published, and a good conversation about the changing world of photo books.

A Photography Blog
http://www.rachelhulin.com/blog/
Rachel Hulin recently mentioned something about a hiatus, which terrifies me, because I’ve been reading her blog a looooong time and I reaaaaaly like it. She’s a writer and photographer in New York, she has a great eye for photos to post from all over, and here “elsewheres” have provided hours of internet entertainment. I hope she keeps posting regularly!

A Photo Editor
http://www.aphotoeditor.com/
Rob Haggart, the former photo editor of Outside magazine, has probably the best blog about commercial photography. There’s a great running stream of quotes about photography, making work, and the magazine industry. There’s an invaluable “ask anything” series that often gets into the gritty details of invoicing clients, what to do when things head south, etc. Definitely worth following.

Photopreneur
http://blogs.photopreneur.com/
As you might guess from the title, Photopreneur is about helping photographers with the business end of things. It’s quite commercial, leaning towards the stock end of things, but they often have useful tips.

A Photo Student
http://www.aphotostudent.com/
James Pomerantz is a student of photography. He was updating about his classes as he took them, but he just got his MFA (congrats!). His blog is now an ongoing discussion of contemporary photography and new work from contemporary photographers. Highly recommended.

Shane Lavalette
http://www.shanelavalette.com/journal/
Photobooks! Lots of photobooks! In 2009 Lavalette founded Lay Flat, an independent book publisher who makes very nice looking books. The blog covers a bit of everything, but mostly concerns itself with the work their publishing.

Verve Photo: The New Breed of Documentary Photography
http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/
Well done documentary work, updated often, with work from all over.  I really enjoy it and highly recommend it.

What’s Going On: Dawoud Bey’s Blog
http://whatsgoingon-dawoudbeysblog.blogspot.com
Dawoud Bey doesn’t post often, but when he does it is with great insight to the contemporary art world and the problems it is facing. Bey is a Chicago area photographer and professor of the arts. Well worth the wait between posts.

Photographers Themselves


T. A.
http://timothyarchibald.blogspot.com/
Timothy Archibald (you may have seen his Echolila series about his autistic son) does more than just post current work and news. Reading it you can really get a feel for his process and his attempts to both make work and get his work out there. Quite well done.

Hark, Hark, The Dogs Do Bark
http://dearjennifer.org/diary/
Jennifer Cox posts a lot of images, almost all of them are fascinating, and you should check out her blog. She’s a photographer that is based in Madrid but always seems to be travelling.

Amy Elkins
http://amyelkins.blogspot.com/
“Works in progress, news, current events, thoughts, perchance a review or two” is an excellent summary, from Elkins herself.  The posts are all over the map but it is always fun to check it out.

Jonathan Gitelson
http://gitelson.blogspot.com/
Jonathan updates rarely, but he’s an awesome guy and I enjoy his work, so I’m still putting his blog on here because when he does update it is fun.

Bill Guy
http://billguy.blogspot.com
Bill Guy is a Chicago photographer (he has a great series on the Chicago park system) . His blog covers everything from his photography to his inspirations to his hopes for our new Bloomingdale Line.

What’s the Jackonary?
http://www.whatsthejackanory.com/
What a great blog. Andrew Hetherington is a commercial photographer that shoots (very, very good) portraits for magazine covers and the like. He’s always travelling, always posting photos of where he’s travelling, and has a whole slew of behind the scenes stuff from shoots involving everyone from Brad Pitt to Bill Clinton.

Kate Hutchinson
http://katehutchinson.blogspot.com
I’ve long enjoyed Kate’s projects on her husband,  model husband andwhy am I marrying him? (both are on her website). Her blog is a steady stream of new work, which I’ve always found quite pleasing.

Chase Jarvis
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog
I debated putting Jarvis’ blog on here because it is a lot of self promotion, but it is a lot of really well done self promotion. Good links about photo in general, but it  is really worth reading just to see a commercial photographer utilizing the blog format really, really well.

Liz Kuball
http://blog.lizkuball.com/
I spend a lot of time looking at work made in Chicago and NYC, so I find Liz Kuball’s work — lovely, warm images made almost entirely in her neighborhood in southern California — a wonderful counterbalance. Her blog helps me get through Chicago winters.

LUCEO Images
http://luceoimages.com/blog/
LUCEO Images is a co-op  between a handful of photographers and their blog regularly shows new work from the group.

Noah Kalina
http://blog.noahkalina.com/
Noah Kalina is a Brooklyn photographer who is livin’ the life. Travelling all over, taking pictures of pretty ladies, and looking good doing it. The blog is worth following just for his clever, short little videos, but is fun to look at over all. (Also check out his tumblr, Pictures That Look Like This).

Too Hard To Keep
http://toohardtokeep.blogspot.com/
Run by Jason Lazarus, Too Hard To Keep takes submissions from anyone and has some basic rules: submit an image that is too hard for you, personally, to keep, but you must give up your only copy of the image. Each image has a story behind it, and the mysteries behind them will keep you coming back.

Curtis Mann
http://curtismann.tumblr.com/
Mann makes some stunning photo montages and his blog is a continuous stream of his new work and when and where to go see it at what gallery or exhibition.

Adjustment Layer
http://adjustmentlayer.blogspot.com/
Doug McGoldrick is a Chicago photographer who shoots a lot of portraits and posts lots of new work. The work is coming from the magazine end of things, and has a good amount of environmental portraiture.

Picturedujour.com
http://www.picturedujour.com/
Jim Newberry is a Chicago street photographer, although he shoots all kinds of stuff all. His blog is mostly new work and is always enjoyable.

Finn O’Hara Photography Blog
http://www.finnohara.com/blog/
O’Hara’s shoots for magazines take him kayaking in Greenland to throwing cupcakes at people in his studio. The blog is both a lot of fun and, I think, full of good tips and help if you’re interested in the commercial/editorial end of photography.

the curving hip, the soothing shade
http://thomasprior.blogspot.com/
This is the (awesome) blog of Thomas Prior,  a Brooklyn photog that seems to always be shooting (all over the world) and always be posting (from all over the world). I’ve followed him for a while and highly recommend it.

The Sartorialist
http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/
So you’re a great photographer, have a strong feel for what is fashionable (or about to become fashionable), and you like travelling, so what do you do? Scott Schuman travels the world, taking fairly direct, similarly framed photos of people he finds fashionable. And he does it very well.

The Selby
http://theselby.com/
This isn’t a photo blog, per se, although it is almost exclusively made up from photographs. Todd Selby is The Sartorialist for interior design. He’s carved out a wonderful career for himself, travelling the world and photographing awesome people living in their awesome homes. Basically, if you enjoy spending time looking at cool stuff, you’ll enjoy The Selby.

Sociolography
http://davidschalliol.com/blog/
David Schalliol is a sociologist and a photographer. Or is it a photographer and sociologist? Either way, he has a wonderful eye for both that you can see in the personal work he regularly posts.

Neu!
http://www.noahsheldon.com/news.html
This is Noah Sheldon’s tumblr, which is one of those blogs that is a great mix of his new work (he shoots both fine art and commercial stuff) as well as whatever he has found cool or fun of late.

Little Brown Mushroom
http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/
Alec Soth is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, contemporary photographer making work right now. He shoots wonderful 8×10 photos that, I think, do a great job of capturing 21st century America. His blog covers both his new work as well as the work being published by his company,  Little Brown Mushroom.

Amy Stein
http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.com/
Amy Stein’s blog is a good even mix of her own personal work (you might have seen her Domesticated series) and work from others that inspires her.

This is a Photo Blog
http://www.thisisaphotoblog.com/
I love the idea of this blog: a group of photographers give each other assignments and post the work. It’s a fun blog, they do it well, and there’s always something going up.

Tiny White Squares
http://blog.rachelstyer.com
Rachel is a photographer living in Brooklyn. Her blog keeps me up to date on what shows I am missing by living in Chicago as well as having a pleasant stream of her own work and work from others.

Saverio Truglia
http://saveriotruglia.blogspot.com/
Saverio is one of my favorite commercial photographers here in Chicago. His blog is mostly posting new work and his thoughts on the photo world, but is pretty much consistently engaging.

Not If But When
http://notifbutwhen.com/blog/
Brian Ulrich is one of my favorite photographers and a great friend. He’s blog has been exciting of late because he’s in the middle of getting a book published by Aperture and has been posting a lot of behind the scenes stuff about the process. Brian deals mostly with how consumer culture has impacted America, and his blog posts new work as well as random videos and tidbits about the same.

Wrighting
http://www.robertwrightphoto.com/writing
Robert Wright’s blog covers a lot of his own work — which is always quite good — and occasionally jumps back into an overall discussion of contemporary photo, etc.

Blogs from/about Mainstream Media


Bag News Notes
http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/
You should be reading BagNews, which is published by  Michael Shaw, “a clinical psychologist, an analyst of visual journalism[.]” The site provides incredibly insightful analysis and discussion of photojournalism. It’ll completely change how you interact with the images you see in the news. There are subtle meanings to everything, and BagNews will help point it out.

From the Agencies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/series/from-the-agencies
The Guardian (as in .co.uk) has a lot of great resources for following photography. This weekly blog focuses on photojournalists shoot for the big press agencies — AP, AFP, Reuters, Getty, etc.

In Focus
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/
In Focus is new The Big Picture, somewhat literally. Alan Taylor started the Big Picture over at the Boston Globe back in the day, but The Atlantic snatched him up in early 2011. In Focus is, bar none, the best aggregator of photojournalism. Recently they’ve also had a number of excellent series of past events.

Lens
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/
This is the photo/video blog for the New York Times and, as you’d expect, it is quite good. They focus on photojournalism and documentary work, but are pretty great about publishing lots of work from all kinds of photographers.

Photobooth
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth
This is the New Yorker’s official blog about photography and I highly recommend it. They pretty routinely post stuff that I haven’t seen anywhere else and doubt I would see anywhere else.

Photo Business News & Forum
http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/
This is the blog of John Harrington, a photojournalist who has been shoot for a while. The blog is a good intro to the business of shooting (especially for newspapers) as well as the commentary on IP law, what’s going on in DC, etc.

Raw File
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/
Wired‘s photo blog definitely has a nerd geek bent to the gallery’s it’ll post, but that’s pretty much always a good thing. It is always interesting and they’ll pick up on stories you’d miss elsewhere.

The Year in Pictures
http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/
James Danziger is another NYC photographer. His blog, though, only occasionally posts his own work. Instead it is more of a collection of photographs and other works that he finds interesting or inspiring. I’ve enjoyed it for quite some time and definitely recommend it.

Photo Magazines


1000 Words Photography
http://1000wordsphotographymagazine.blogspot.com/
1000 Words Photography has great articles, posts great work, etc. The blog has a particular knack for finding work and photographers that are barely being discussed and showing you some amazing work from them.

Ahorn Magazine
http://www.ahornmagazine.com/blog/
Ahorn’s blog is a great mix of interviews, (photo)book reviews, collections of work, and articles on photography. The magazine itself is also worth checking out, as it regularly has excellent work and articles. Highly recommended.

La Pura Vida
http://lpvmagazine.com/
I love La Pura Vida. They’re an online/print magazine that focuses on fine art work, but especially on fine art documentary work — perhaps my favorite genre. Great work that is well presented and updated all the time.

Lens Culture
http://www.lensculture.com/webloglc/index.html
Lens Culture is a great source for learning about new and old photographers alike. They cover the whole gamut, but some of the best series of images and conversations I’ve seen online come from Lens Culture.

Lenscratch
http://lenscratch.blogspot.com/
Lenscratch is another great online magazine (they call themselves a “blogzine”) for discovering contemporary photographers and work. They’re also good for discovering opportunities to submit to group shows and contests. Definitely worth following.

Mossless
http://mosslessmagazine.com/
“A new interview every two days”, or, at least, it was, until May. There’s a great back catalog of interviews to pick over, though, and it sounds like they’ll be back to posting more interviews sometime in late 2011.

Pictoryblog
http://blog.pictorymag.com/
“The official companion reader to PICTORYMAG.COM” is a fun look at photography from all over — I think submitted by photographer’s? maybe curated? — clumped into themes with each post. Consistently good work from all over the map.

Art / Artists (i. e. not necessarily photo)


Kate Korroch
http://www.katekorroch.com/blog/
Kate is a dear friend who is working on her MFA in Visual and Critical Studies at SAIC here in Chicago.  Her blog is a good mix of documenting her travels, her own work, and her thoughts on the work of others.

Edward_ Winkleman
http://www.edwardwinkleman.com/
Winkleman runs a gallery in New York and has, I think, one of the best blogs on contemporary art in general. He’s a great writer, has a keen knowledge of what is going on out there, and is great at putting it (and the politics of the art world) into an informative context.

Photo Gear


Digital Photography Review: News
http://www.dpreview.com/news/
By far the best and fastest way to hear about new gear, firmware updates, camera and lens reviews, etc. If you’re interested in the gear end of the photo world, this is a must.  They often post lengthy previews in tandem with product announcements.

The Photographic World of Drew Gardner
http://photography-thedarkart.blogspot.com/
Gardner is a great commercial photographer and I read his blog because he has a lot of great hands on reviews of everything from lights to camcorders. He’s great at describe how to get particular shots, too.

Luminous Landscape
http://luminous-landscape.com/whatsnew/
I’ll never understand how and why these guys get to play with all the gear they get to play with, but Luminous Landscape is the place to go for long winded reviews on large format printers, medium format digital backs, Leicas, etc. Jeff Schewe, in particular, writes some great articles about printing and printing workflow, etc.

The Online Photographer
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/blog_index.html
TOP covers a lot more than just gear, but that is perhaps more than anything else why I keep reading it. They post good reviews, are quick with announcements from all over, and get into the occasional long debate over an obtuse question.

Photozone.de
http://photozone.de/active/rss/rssPZNewsFeeder.jsp
Lens reviews. Lots and lots of lens reviews, updated regularly with new gear all the time.  In english despite the .de address.

The Strobist
http://strobist.blogspot.com/
Odds are you’ve heard of David Hobby’s blog before, but in case you hadn’t this is by far the best place to go to learn about lighting. There’s a ton of great (and well organized) articles to go through and the updates are always quite useful.

Vincent Laforet’s Blog
http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/
Laforet is a great — wonderful — commercial photographer, but the reason I’ve relegated his blog to the “gear” list is because that it was it is best for. Laforet regularly posts great articles about new gear, what it is like out in the real world, and how best to use stuff on a shoot.

Friends

Chi City, Chi Girl
http://chigirlchicity.blogspot.com/
This is my friend Annie’s blog, where she chats about her life and often posts either recipes or at the very least pictures of all the food she makes and eats.

Jenna’s Everything Blog
http://jennaseverythingblog.wordpress.com/
Jenna’s blog is about the things she loves: family, friends, food, books, music, and photography. It’s a fun read.

The Unpersons
http://theunpersons.wordpress.com/
If you need biting coverage of politics, baseball, hip hop, and society at large look no further. The Unpersons is run by two pseudonym using polymaths, one studying law at Yale and the other getting a doctorate in biochem at Berkeley. Both are a pleasure to read and I highly recommend the blog.