The language currently applied to photographs as distinct from other kinds of images is derived entirely from the jargon of technique; it is a form of shop talk which pertains to the manufacturing of photographs as objects rather than to their workings or effects as images. […]
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It is impossible to discuss the “problems of photography criticism” as though they were clearly formulated and widely agreed-upon issues, consciously faced by a diversity of critics familiar with each other’s relative positions, and known to an audience engaged in active observation of critical interactions and the concepts emerging therefrom. This is very far indeed from being the case. […] Parading a pathetic ignoramus around as a trophy ill serves the cause of interracial respect. In these consistently benighted performances, which mix superstition with gullibility, we enter into Amos ‘n’ Andy rerun territory, with the joke on anyone who takes Cain or Carson seriously. […] I found watching the video slideshow of NASA’s chosen images for the 1977 Voyagers’ “golden records” a deeply surreal experience. The selection and sequencing strike me as curious, and, if I experience them that way, what would a sentient being with no knowledge of life on this blue marble make of them? […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |
Film the Police (3)
You lack even the fundamental honesty to admit that the FBI today, under your leadership, commits criminally negligent, brutal, violent, murderous, and otherwise outrageous acts on the citizenry. Surely it’s noteworthy that the FBI itself makes no annual public report of its own grievous errors. No surprise, then, that you approach the collection of such information about police departments lower down the food chain in such a lackadaisical manner. […]