30,000 readers
Thank you for looking!
I’m celebrating a milestone this week.
I don’t pay close attention to my numbers, but I was happy when I noticed the newsletter welcomed 30,000 subscribers this week. It feels good to know that FlakPhoto is resonating. I rebooted my photography writing here just shy of two years ago and have been having a blast ever since. That so many of my fellow Substack writers have checked out my work makes it all the better. I’ve made many new friends since logging on here in 2022 — Thanks for looking, folks. I appreciate you!
I don’t paywall the newsletter, but over 400 of you support FlakPhoto with a paid subscription, which means more to me than you know. FlakPhoto is a labor of love and has always been a public media project. It’s important to me that my work is accessible to everyone. If you like what I’m doing here and think it’s worth a few bucks, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Every little bit helps.
I’ll keep things brief, but I wanted to send a few updates before the weekend…
I was delighted with the response to last week’s Gregory Crewdson photobook giveaway — Thanks for participating, everyone! I love giving books away like this. It feels good to pay it forward to my readers, and I had fun writing this post. Congratulations to David Adam Edelstein who won the book. Enjoy, David!
We’ve been working for months to plan the PhotoMidwest Festival weekend in Madison. It’s hard to believe it’s almost here! Kris Graves juried this year’s Biennial, and I can’t wait to see his selections. Kris will be in Madison for the Arts + Literature Laboratory opening on Friday, September 27, and is giving the keynote lecture on Saturday, September 28. I hope you’ll join us. The PhotoMidwest team has organized various exhibitions across town, and I’m programming a day of photography talks for the festival weekend. You can see more at PhotoMidwest.org.
Rashod Taylor and I are finalizing our plans for his exhibition at the Arts + Literature Laboratory. He’ll be in Madison on Saturday to start laying out the installation, and I look forward to spending time with him. Rashod and I met online years ago, and I’m thrilled to show his prints in Madison this fall. Save the date: He’ll be in town to speak about his photography on November 2. Rashod’s Little Black Boy exhibition opens in September. You can follow him on Instagram here.
It’s been a hectic but productive summer, which feels good. I’m organizing a few more photography things in Madison this fall and will keep you posted in the coming weeks. I don’t spend as much time on Instagram as I used to, but I still occasionally show pictures there. If we’re not already connected, please drop me a line.
Special thanks to photographers James Needham and Brett Kallusky for sharing their ART pictures with me this week. Aren’t they great? Please check out their work when you have some time. Okay, take care of yourselves, friends! Have a great weekend.
Congratulations, Andy, you're doing great work!
ART, Andy. Good luck.