{"id":11322,"date":"2013-12-31T23:59:26","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T04:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/?p=11322"},"modified":"2014-12-30T14:18:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T19:18:02","slug":"2013-that-was-the-year-that-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nearbycafe.com\/artandphoto\/photocritic\/2013\/12\/31\/2013-that-was-the-year-that-was\/","title":{"rendered":"2013: That Was The Year That Was"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A.This marks the end of the fourth full calendar year for Photocritic International<\/em>, which made its debut in June 2009. During the past 12-month period I\u2019ve published 44 posts here (counting this one), slightly less than one per week. According to\u00a0Google Analytics<\/a>, as of midnight on December 31, 2013 this blog had served up just over 43,400 pageviews for the year, to over 23,500\u00a0unique visitors \u2014 4,700 new readers plus more than 18,800 recidivist gluttons for punishment. Plus close to 27,000 posts delivered to\u00a0PI<\/em>‘s 610 subscribers.<\/p>\n

That represents a substantial falloff from last year’s readership<\/a>, which of course concerns me. The simplest explanation includes the facts that I published far fewer posts in 2013 that I had in 2012 (44 compared to 64), and covered no major-headline stories \u2014\u00a0unlike 2012, in which I responded at length to\u00a0the dismemberment of the Polaroid Collection<\/a>,\u00a0the 2012 presidential election campaign,”<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the “subway death photo.”<\/a>\u00a0I control the frequency of my posts, but not the prominence of photography in the public eye and its relevance to the news of the day. Still, I’ve published 254 posts since this blog’s inception, and\u00a0Photocritic International<\/em>\u00a0remains the most widely read blog by any critic\/historian of photography.<\/p>\n

\"Supreme

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath of office to President Barack Obama during the Inaugural swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2013. (Official White House photo by Sonya N. Hebert)<\/p><\/div>\n

My first posts for the year wrapped up my coverage of Election 2012<\/a> with commentary on images of the second inauguration of Pres. Barack Obama\u00a0in January ’13. Subsequent topics included the sources of artspeak and photospeak<\/a>; social promotion and grade inflation<\/a> in post-secondary art and photo programs; Robert Heinecken’s contributions<\/a> to the medium; the Kennedy clan pimping J.F.K, Jr.<\/a> to the media from childhood on, the first (but not last) First Family to use their offspring in this way; the question of photographers who replicate the work of painters<\/a> (having previously addressed painters who work from photographs<\/a>); the myth of the “photo community”<\/a>; rude and unprofessional behavior from the Lucie Awards<\/a>; an update on the “pepper-spray cop” meme<\/a> and backstory; and the cultural significance of the “selfie” plague<\/a>. Among other subjects.<\/p>\n

Coming in 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

My goals for this blog for 2014:<\/p>\n