It seems to me that those of us who write about photography -- as reviewers, critics, historians, theorists, biographers, bibliographers, technical writers, and so on -- have too little contact with each other. In part, I think this is because writing remains a solitary craft, practiced normally in private, so writers at work sit at their desks and computer stations, invisible to the public. And, unlike those in other branches of our "craft and sullen art," we've identified no watering holes for those with our specialty in our field anywhere that I know of.
For that reason, among others, in the late 1970s I organized several conferences on photo criticism here on the east coast. One of those took place at the Visual Studies Workshop in 1977, and as one upshot of it the VSW assembled and distributed a small directory of photo critics. A first of its kind, it listed several dozen people then writing about the medium from a variety of standpoints. I found it heartening to see that by then I had some not inconsiderable company; and the directory helped me get in touch with some of my colleagues.
Nothing like it has appeared since, to the best of my knowledge. You can find brief listings of writers on photography in both the USA Photography Guide (published by Nazraeli Press) and the European Photography Guide (published by European Photography), and some more in the Photo Diary published sporadically by Flash Art. But there's no readily available directory of writers on photography around the world. Also, there's no easy way to get yourself listed in such a directory, so that others can find you.
So, as part of the Photography Criticism CyberArchive, a registry for writers on photography. The best way to do so, it seems to me, is to construct it as a searchable online database, in FileMaker Pro. Toward that end, I'm going to start devising a registration form and an online layout. Meanwhile, if you'd like to become a registrant when the system's in place, please email me with your contact information at writersregistry@nearbycafe.com
You need not be a full-time working writer -- teachers, scholars, and other part-time or occasional contributors to the literature are welcome to add themselves to the list.
I'm drawing up my own list of database fields for each of the records, but I'm open to suggestions for those, as well as to feedback on the general idea.
Keep your eye on the "On the Front Burner" section of the newsletter. As soon as the registry gets ready to roll, I'll make an announcement to that effect. If you'd like to be included, send me an email and I'll create a mailing list to notify you when the form's in place.
