2014: That Was The Year That Was

This marks the end of the fifth full calendar year for Photocritic International, which made its debut in June 2009. During the past 12-month period I’ve published 68 posts here (counting this one), well over one per week. According to Google Analytics, as of midnight on December 31, 2014 this blog had served up just over 51,470 pageviews for the year, to over 33,000 unique visitors — 25,650 new readers plus more than 6980 recidivist gluttons for punishment. Plus over 44,000 posts delivered via email to PI‘s 649 subscribers.

That represents a significant increase over 2013 — 20+ percent more pageviews, 10 percent more visitors. Apparently I’m doing something right. Perseverance furthers, as the I Ching says; I’ve published 322 posts since this blog’s inception, and Photocritic International remains the most widely read blog by any critic/historian of photography.

This Blog’s Year in Review

Robert Capa, D-Day images from Omaha Beach, contact sheet, screenshot from TIME video (May 29, 2014), annotated.

Unexpectedly, the dismantling of the myth of Robert Capa’s adventures on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and the revision of the legend of the subsequent fate of his negatives, became the year’s main project. Beginning modestly enough with a pair of skeptical Guest Posts by renowned photojournalist and author J. Ross Baughman, it grew into a series of 26 posts (to date), including further contributions from Baughman and photographer Rob McElroy, with invaluable behind-the-scenes input from photographer Mike Doukas and several others.

This investigation forced former LIFE picture editor John Morris to revise radically the fiction he’s promulgated for seven decades — a significant rewriting of a legendary moment in the histories of photojournalism and photography and, indeed, given how widely Morris’s and Capa’s fiction has spread, of cultural history. It also forced Time, Inc., to revise quickly a deceptive video commissioned for its website from Magnum Photos in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the making of Capa’s images.

John Morris on Christiane Amanpour’s CNN show, 11-11-14, screenshot

Pursuing this at such length, and in such detail, came at a price. As I wrote halfway through, in reply to a reader’s comment, “During the period in which I and some colleagues concentrated here on this subject a baker’s dozen of this blog’s former subscribers unsubscribed, presumably irked by this inquiry in depth. After all, they had to watch the senior photo critic in North America, abetted by some professional colleagues, dismantle a 70-year-old myth that’s permeated the culture. All for free. You can understand their disgruntlement, as I surely do.” By the last post in the series, that number had grown to around two dozen. Yet at least as many subscribers signed on during that period, so I’d say we broke even.

I have no further posts immediately planned for this series. But, in conjunction with it, I filed a formal complaint with the Ethics Committee of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), to which they’ve yet to respond. I’m told that the NPPA has a feature story on this investigation in the pipeline for a forthcoming issue of its magazine, News Photographer; most likely I’ll have some response to that.

I also have queries out to assorted participants in this 70-year cover-up: John Morris; Cynthia Young, current curator of the Capa Archive at the International Center of Photography; Adrian Kelterborn, who faked Capa negatives for the D-Day video he produced for Time, Inc., on commission from Magnum; and David Kogan, the new head of Magnum. At press time, all have chosen not to answer. Response from any of them will likely result in new posts in this series.

Penny Cousineau-Levine, “Faking Death” (2004), cover

Before and in between the Capa posts, the subjects addressed here this year included “Toward Knowledge-Based Criticism,” in which I place myself squarely on the side of critics who know something about their subject matter; “Across the Great Divide,” concerning the Canadian cultural inferiority complex and a consequent 2004 misreading of a comment of mine from 1974; “Gremlyns of Light,” a memoir involving my personal experience with the phenomenon of photonic impaction; and the death of photojournalist Tim Hetherington, plus commentary on the cultural role of our designated witnesses.

Jennifer Baichwal, “The True Meaning of Pictures” (2002), dvd

I also took up the collapsing market value of post-secondary degrees in studio art and photography; the willful, mindless destruction of an excellent example of such a program in Vevey, Switzerland, which I witnessed firsthand in 2004; the mannerist photographic strategies and style(s) of Shelby Lee Adams vs. his claim to documentarian status; and the insidious agenda of the “internet everwhere” tendency. With archival texts (some previously unpublished) on Garry Winogrand, contemporary erotic photography, the automation of cameras, and the Kodak bankruptcy and its effect on that corporation’s home city of Rochester, NY. You can use these links to catch up on whatever you’ve missed.

Coming in 2015

My goals for this blog for 2015:

• Add substantially to the selection of “legacy” texts from my own archive, to give the content historical depth.
• Continue and expand the invitational Guest Posts (8 this past year), to diversify further the mix of voices presented here.
• Add to the existing audio and video files with QuickTime movies, podcasts, slideshows, etc., created specifically for this site.
• Enhance the blog with such new features as online ebooks, PDF downloads, and more.

Meanwhile, some special thanks:

• to the Guest Posters who have accepted my invitation to create new texts for publication here;
• to those who’ve appended thoughtful public Comments, pro and con, that have enhanced my own probings and developed a genuine dialogue in this space;
• to those who, privately and behind the scenes, have fed me leads and tips, pointed me toward valuable documentation, and otherwise facilitated my work and enriched these accounts (you know who you are, and your secrets are safe with me);
• to my fellow bloggers, my journalist colleagues, and others who have quoted my posts and/or linked to them, thereby bringing new readers to this blog;
• to Marlaine Noel of Sprint Systems of Photography, who made her company this blog’s first sponsor;
• and to the small but important handful of people who have put their money where my mouth is, so to speak, by making cash contributions in support of this project.

I send my best wishes for 2015 to these people in particular, and to all the readers of Photocritic International. May the new year bring us something better than a smack in the face with a wet fish.

Support Encouraged

There’d be more variety of content here (and more extras) if this blog had substantial financial support from its readers, or from more sponsors or advertisers, but that’s still not the case. So I allocate my limited resources as I see fit. If you want me to write on a topic other than the current main story, make a donation of $50 via the PayPal widget at the top of the right-hand column of any page of this blog. I’ll choose another subject for the next post, and — if you so indicate in a note accompanying your donation — will credit you as that post’s sponsor and link to a website of your choosing.

Total revenue from subscriber/reader donations via Paypal in 2014: $305, or $4.50 per post. My thanks to the half-dozen readers who made those contributions to the cause. I’d like to see that donation total rise to $1K in 2015 (the more the merrier, of course). You can make donations in any amount you choose. I also accept appropriate advertisements; email me for rates.

I also welcome support in the form of in-kind services from volunteers and interns. Specifically, I could use help from someone with experience with any of the following applications:

• DreamWeaver (for general website management, html, CSS);
• WordPress blogware (troubleshooting this and other WP blogs);
• InDesign (assistance with several POD/ebook projects);
• FileMaker Pro (database projects, including organization of my archive and expansion of my bibliography)
• OCR/scanning software (book projects)
• iMovie/Final Cut Pro, Audacity (multimedia projects)

If you have none of these skills, I can still put your time to good use doing picture research, bibliographic queries, and other tasks. Email me if working with me on this blog or other projects interests you.

Most of these projects can be furthered and completed over the internet. Some require physical presence here on Staten Island. In either case I can’t afford to pay such collaborators, but I can provide room and board for an assistant or intern who wants to work intensively with me for a period of time — anywhere from two weeks to a semester or more — on one or more specific projects. Happy to write any documents necessary for you to receive independent-study credit for your participation, and/or add them to your resumé. Of course I’ll credit such assistance in any public presentation of the outcome. Pass the word.

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I wish you all a happy, healthy, and productive 2015. May someone watch over you as my familiar, Billie the Bengal, watches over me.

Billie awake on Allan’s desk, December 2014