We were talking about the habit of being critical—discussing a person we both knew who was caustically critical (and often entertainingly insulting) about everything. She said she didn’t quite approve of that attitude, because it was so safe.

I was surprised by that word, and asked her what she meant, and she said—more or less—that hating or criticizing everything was safe because it meant you don’t have to take a stand. Liking something means you are opening yourself up; if nothing is good enough for you it’s another way of saying you’re superior to everything. Very smug, very snug. Being insulting and critical is actually a position of retreat.

-Mike Johnston, Cheap Criticism

perhaps “emotional involvement” is the wrong term….i am a huge fan of Alex Webb, and of HCB, and of many photographers who make compelling people photographs but who i do not think “meet” the people they photograph…however, this does not mean they are not emotionally involved of course….

My hat’s off to my former colleague, Dave Harvey, for being so civil in his running of the comments section. You, sir, are a fine teacher and a true professional.

“We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect…. but, as photographers, we must learn to relax our beliefs.” – Aaron Siskind

the intent of Road Trips was to replace how we did Dialogue posts on the “front page”…but yes i guess that extra click somehow makes this not happen…let me think about that one….OR i just need to do the old Dialogue style posts over on Road Trips…let me try that first…if that does not work maybe we come back to the way we did it before….mostly the comments on this thread have dealt with the essay at hand and i think has been a pretty good discussion overall…

oh i am sure you will never find any magazine where you go and find everything perfect to your own personal taste every time…fact is, we publish essays here for many different reasons…and as you can read, what you dislike ,others like…and for sure i cannot be the editor of this magazine and try to figure out what everyone will like because that is impossible and not my goal anyway……however, you may not want to stay away too long…if you know me at all, you will know something totally different is coming…i tend to publish two or three of a certain genre at once, and then move in another direction…as you will soon see if you are still here….

cheers, david

Cheers.

sometimes i do find myself at McDonalds…when driving …and they do have a new gourmet coffee menu that is not like the old stuff…still far from perfect, yet not so horrible either….

Are you really a Leica-touting dude, or merely a Leica-toting one?

Your inquiring photographic blog public demands to know!

thanks for your reply….i never entered any contests or awards in my entire career (others have always done it and i did not even know) and don’t put much stock in awards per se either EXCEPT for the often nice effect it has for the team effort…that’s all…any awards i received personally over the years were in boxes in the closet or attic….

however, for Burn i feel a bit different….again, for the collaboration we have had…and for some of the rather extraordinary honors we have had that in fact i do not even mention here and perhaps you do not even know about….at the same time, for sure i always want to improve this magazine…and you will see one super improvement coming very shortly…a really visible archive….in any case, Burn is a collaboration and not a dah only effort…

i am sure we will never quite live up to your expectations, nor ours either…still i must say that all of us who do put time in here are doing it with as much nobility as i think you can find people doing….we do this because we care…we are not doing this as an income producing “job”…

in any case, a pleasure to have you here Jim…and again, as always, agreeing or not, i support your right to say whatever the hell you want….

cheers, david

Give the kid a break!”

Paul he is not a kid he is a Leica touting neurologist and photography is not a fleeting activity.