Hi friends,

Welcome to a brand new series we’re calling, “Letter from the Editor.” Groundbreaking title, I know. The idea behind this is pretty simple. I wanted a little space in each issue to talk directly to you. Not to the masses, but to those of you who subscribe to the magazine. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: this magazine wouldn’t exist without your support, so thank you!

What can you expect in this series? Sometimes I’ll share something I’ve been thinking about, sometimes a little behind-the-scenes news from SPM, and every month I want to introduce you to one of the photographers who make up this community. So, here goes nothing.

Does Art Have to Be Difficult?

And does every photo we show need to be compelling?

One of my favorite things about putting interviews out into the world is seeing where the conversation goes afterward.

Our recent podcast with John Rosenmiller sparked a few exchanges that I’ve kept thinking about. During the interview, John talked about what he calls his “five-second rule.” When deciding whether a photograph is worth showing, he asks himself whether it can grab someone within about five seconds. He’ll even watch people’s reactions to his photographs to see whether the image really holds their attention. It’s a pretty ruthless way to edit your own work, and it got people talking.

Juliette Mansour, left a comment on YouTube that I thought offered an interesting counterpoint. She could see the value of John’s approach if the goal is a gallery, contest or publication. But when it comes to making photographs for the love of it and growing as a photographer, she said:

“I cannot incorporate that mindset all the time. It’s a deterrent. I have to go out and be in the process.”

She made a distinction I really liked between the practice of feeding the muse and the practice of showing your work. And, as Juliette put it, “In between is the agony!”

Around the same time, I had another conversation about the same episode with subscriber Geo Evans, whose work you’ll actually be seeing in an upcoming SPM article. His perspective came from his background in fine art as a painter and his experience with art critiques, where there was a strong emphasis on the artist’s perspective and intention. Work that was simply pleasing could be criticized as surface-level if it wasn’t specific or conceptually challenging.

Geo told me, “Most of my life I’ve thought that you should have to work to understand and enjoy a piece of art.” But he also admitted he’s torn about it. I can see why.

My instinct probably falls somewhere on the less restrictive end of all this. I like to believe anyone can make something meaningful, and it doesn’t have to be meaningful to the masses to matter. Maybe that’s part of what I love about street photography. It feels like an everyman’s art. You don’t need an art degree or even necessarily a grand concept. You just need the ability to see beauty or tragedy or humor in the ordinary, and the presence of mind to capture the moment.

At the same time, I think John is onto something when it comes to what we show. Making and curating are two different things. A book needs editing. A portfolio needs editing. A body of work needs some kind of purpose holding it together. But I also wonder if applying that scrutiny too early can get in the way of making photographs in the first place.

So maybe the question isn’t simply, Does art have to be difficult? Maybe it’s: How much should we think about the viewer while we’re making our work, and how much should we think about them afterward?

I don’t have a definitive answer. That’s probably why it’s stayed on my mind. So I ask you, dear reader, what do you think?

Subscriber Spotlight: Alec Rill

One of the reasons I wanted to start writing these letters was to make a little more room for you in SPM. I hear from subscribers all the time about projects, exhibitions, books, trips and all sorts of photography-related adventures, and I realized I want to share more of that.

So, each month, I’m going to introduce you to one of your fellow subscribers. And we’re starting with Alec Rill.

Alec isn’t exactly a stranger to SPM. He authored “The Darkness That Never Ends” for the magazine, and I had the chance to meet him in person earlier this year at the Eyes on Main Street festival where he accompanied his wife Andrea Klausner who had a photo in the exhibit.

Then, in July, an email appeared in my inbox with the subject line: “My Cuba series won in Trieste!” It did indeed.

Alec’s series was selected as a winner of Travel: An Atlas of Stories, Places and Faces in Trieste, Italy. The prize includes having his series published in a book, three workshops, hotel accommodations, and an invitation to what Alec described to me as a “fancy dinner.” His assessment of the whole thing?

“Not bad for a SONY user…..”

Not bad at all. Photography is also very much a community activity for Alec. He teaches a class on the history of street photography and leads a photography group at the City University of New York (CUNY) called the Photo Special Interest Group, taking fellow photographers to galleries and museums and giving them tours of the artists on display. Next up he’s taking the group to see a Gordon Parks exhibit. 

And then there’s tango. When I told Alec I was off to Argentina for a few months, he surprised me by telling me he has been dancing tango in New York for 20 years. He traveled to Buenos Aires twice, including once specifically to learn tango, thereby accomplishing what he says was his original goal: “to become a mediocre tango dancer.”

Congratulations, Alec. And please keep sending me emails like this.

If you’re an SPM subscriber and you’ve got something going on, tell me. A new project, exhibition, book, award, photo walk, something you’re organizing in your local photography community, or just something you’re particularly proud of. I want to know what you’re all up to, and I’d love to share some of it here.

Coming Up at SPM

Before I go, here’s a little subscriber sneak peek at who’s headed to the podcast over the next couple of months. We’ve got conversations coming with Andrew Baer, the son of John Baer who was an amateur of Magnum proportions who documented the end of WWII, post-war Europe and more, Nathaniel Paolinelli, whose lowrider work will astound you, Ryan Faer, a phenomenal photographer and the Senior Sport Science Analyst with the Cleveland Guardians, and Mark J Davidson, of Street Life Podcast, who you may have also seen interviewed by EyeShot recently. Good stuff! 

I’m excited about this lineup, and, as always, there’s plenty more happening in the magazine between episodes.

Thanks for reading the very first Letter from the Editor. I hope this becomes one more way for SPM to feel less like a website you subscribe to and more like a photography community you’re actually a part of.

See you next month,

Ashley