2020: The Year in Review
2020. What a year. While I won’t be sad to say goodbye to 2020, I have so much gratitude for those who stepped up to help Don’t Take Pictures soldier on during a difficult year. Thank you to the outstanding editorial team Ashley Hagerstrand, Roger Thompson, Lindsey Eckenroth, and W.G. Beecher for your ideas, opinions, advice, writing, and editing. Thank you to Alex Bohanan for your design vision and commitment to sharing art in print. Thank you to the outstanding artists for sharing your work with us. Thank you to our advertisers who help us do what we do and, of course, to our readers and subscribers whose passion for photography is the reason we exist.
This year saw the publication of two print issues: The Explorers Issue and The Fiction Issue. We introduced a few new online columns and published one new photographer every day on our homepage. Our team has recapped the most popular articles from this past year, and we look forward to our upcoming issue in March, and, hopefully, a better year for all.
MOST POPULAR ONLINE EXHIBITION: MIRROR IMAGE
Don’t Take Pictures publishes quarterly online exhibitions. Mirror Image was our most popular exhibition of 2020 and was published from February 19 to May 19.
“In our daily lives, reflections are omnipresent. From shop windows and tire hubcaps to sidewalk puddles and our own bathroom mirrors, reflections create illusions that make magic in the everyday. The complex layers of distortion or abstraction create a sub-reality that is uniquely recorded in the photographic medium. For this online exhibition, Don’t Take Pictures presents photographs that incorporate reflections.” View the exhibition.
MOST POPULAR RULE BREAKER: ALBARRÁN CABRERA
In our monthly Rule Breakers column, industry veterans share their pet peeves on themes in contemporary photography. In this series they present their “rule” along with one photographer who breaks it, in an effort to show that great work is always the exception to the rule.
“I never want to see another photograph using gold leaf. Akin to the show Portlandia’s brilliant early skit “Put a bird on it,” gold leaf has taken on, in many instances in contemporary photography, a sort of flavor enhancer for otherwise bland photographs. If an image is not that interesting as is, put gold leaf on it—now it’s luxurious and special. However, the choice of materials involved and the reason for implementation in any artwork should always consider both the structural and conceptual purposes for inclusion. Materiality, if one is to create an intimate, singular object, should be as heavily considered in a photograph as any sculpture.
In Albarrán Cabrera’s body of work Kairos, which seeks to photographically represent the metaphysical idea of “the eternal present”, the use and revelation of gold leaf serves a conceptual purpose grounded in Eastern philosophy and aesthetics.[…]Throughout the duo’s oeuvre, the use of materials, content, and compositions arise from a literary and historical wellspring, tastefully applied with humble intent. The printmaking craftsmanship and philosophies is what initially drew me to Albarrán Cabrera’s work as it had such a profound effect on the way I viewed the world afterward. Shouldn’t art always serve this purpose?” — Douglas Marshall, Owner, Marshall Contemporary. Read the full article.
MOST POPULAR PHOTO OF THE DAY: LISA SORGINI
Self-portrait with My Sons from the series Behind Glass by Lisa Sorgini was our most popular photo of the day in 2020. View the photo of the day archive.
MOST POPULAR STUDIO SOUNDTRACK: HOME
Studio Soundtrack is a new column of music to make art to by musicologist Lindsey Eckenroth in which she draws on timely themes and events to curate playlists for visual artists. The most popular Studio Soundtrack of 2020 is titled Home.
"As we continue slouching through the pandemic holiday season, I imagine many of us may be longing for some homes we won’t be visiting, considering how we might find ourselves feeling home anew, differently, safely… and perhaps through art. It is in this spirit that I have curated the current playlist, a lyrical and sonic meditation on ways to get home.” — Lindsey Eckenroth. Listen to the soundtrack.
TOP 5 MOST POPULAR FEATURES
Attic Treasures: Photographs of Soviet Life Discovered in an Abandoned House
In an abandoned house in the Moldovan village of Rosietici, film student Victor Galusca discovered a suitcase of full of negatives. After years of research and restoration, the remarkable photographs of village life during the Soviet era by amateur photographer Zaharia Cusnir are now ready to be shared with the world.
Poems About Photographs
To celebrate National Poetry Month, Don't Take Pictures presents a selection of poems about photographs.
Wild Women: Photographers of the 1920s California Desert
From 1926 to 1935, Susie Keef Smith was the postmaster in Mecca, California. In her free time, she trekked through remote desert areas with her cousin Lulu Mae Graves and her Graflex camera to make and sell her own postcards. Their work was almost lost to history until an archaeologist discovered their pictures in a dumpster in 1988.
Free Classes in Art and Art History During Isolation
Social distancing does not require cultural disengagement. In this spirit, we have compiled a list of free online classes in art and art history. These courses range from brief lecture series to multi-week assignment-based learning.
Backstage at the Palais Garnettsier, 1937
The Palais Garnier and its rumors served as the inspiration and setting of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel, The Phantom of the Opera. While backstage tours of the Palais Garnier are available, you won’t find the ballerinas in the attic or stage hands in the cellar that are in Gaston Paris’ photographs from 1937.
MOST POPULAR SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: MATHIEU STERN’S ICEBERG LENS
Some Assembly Required is a monthly series that focuses on those who take the making of photographs a step or two further, creating their own photographic tools. 2020’s most popular article featured Mathieu Stern’s camera lens from an iceberg.
“Iceland glaciers take 10,000 years to purify the particles inside the ice. Fascinated by the power of nature, photographer Mathieu Stern set out to make a camera lens from the pure ice of an Icelandic glacier.” Read the full article.
MOST POPULAR IN MOTION: INSIDE THE BOOKMAKER’S STUDIO
“Graphic designer and renowned bookmaker Yolanda Cuomo has designed books for some of photography’s biggest names. From Richard Avedon to Laurie Simmons and Sylvia Plachy, Cuomo has made over 85 books for photographers, museums, and galleries. Her studio was a testament to the art of bookmaking, stacked high with books, mementos, and design materials. It harkened back to an older, grittier New York City. But in 2013, after 25 years in the old carriage house, Cuomo was forced to relocate. In a film by The New Yorker, Cuomo reflects on what it means to make a book, equating the process to making a motion picture with various subplots and little stories.” Watch the film.
MOST POPULAR BOOKMARKS INTERVIEW: KOZU BOOKS
Bookmarks is a monthly series of interviews with independent photobook publishers. 2020’s most popular interview is with Greg Stewart of Kozu Books.
“I strongly believe that everyone has the right to publish a photobook if they like. I am not a fan of the snobbery around photobook publishing, however, it’s a good idea to have thought it out thoroughly and it’s especially advantageous if you have an audience/market for your book.
A cohesive body of work always helps, and an understanding of papers and print processes can be very useful. Start off with a short run of softbound books and see how you get on. It’s much better to sell a short run edition out than to have a house full of boxes of unsold hardback books that have cost you a small fortune.”— Greg Stewart Read the full article.
MOST POPULAR GOOD WORK: CHANGE THE MUSEUM
Good Work is a new monthly spotlight on arts organizations, collectives, and initiatives with good causes at their core.
“Change The Museum is ‘Pressuring US museums to move beyond lip service proclamations by amplifying tales of uncheked racism.’ Cultural workers submit testimonials via DM to @ChangeTheMuseum, which posts them anonymously. While the identities of the submissions are private, the museums are sometimes named and tagged. The account is a safe platform for museum workers to share their first-hand experiences. The stories range from micro-aggressions to blatant discrimination and harassment. Submitters also recount instances where leadership and human resources demonstrate, at best, a lack of interest in improving workplace culture, and, at worst, actively stop the museum from taking steps towards diversity and inclusion.” Read the full article.
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