I don't want to spend this anniversary year navel-gazing. There is a lot of talk about blogs ("are blogs dead?") or about photography criticism ("is photo criticism dead?") or about whether or not the internet is making us all stupid. These debates might or might not have merit. But instead of worrying about any of those questions I made the decision to ignore them, to simply produce content on photography.

After working on Conscientious for ten years, I now have a bit of a vested interest in it: I want to make sure the site is as good and as interesting as I can make it. The blog was started at a time when I had a lot of trouble finding information about photographers online. It was frustrating. So I decided to compile such information, in the hope that other people would find it useful. With time I then added other types of content that, I thought, were good to have. The reader survey has provided invaluable input in terms of where to go, what to do. Again: Thank you for your input!

PS: Many more people than expected left their contact information in the survey. I started looking at the responses, but I have not contacted anyone, yet.

Everybody knows there's Google Street View, but who knows there also is Bing Streetside? I usually don't spend much time with such stuff, but last night I thought I should check out the Bing version (anticipating the occasional art project). (more)

Now whether or not this - or Google Street View - is useful or whatever else I don't know. I personally have never used it to look up what a place looks like before going. But as I said, someone might use this for yet another art project. I don't think we've quite seen the full potential of what such art projects could be actually...

Wishing everybody a very Happy New Year 2012!

If you want to apply for the Hyères 2012 Photography Festival now is the time. The deadline is 15 November, 2011. It's a fantastic opportunity for photographers - if you end up as one of the ten finalists you're in for a total treat.

I could be wrong about this but I think the internet and especially social media have come with an increased amount of self reflexiveness. I suppose if we were so inclined we could call this "navel gazing." But clearly, there appears to be a lot of writing about social media themselves (just like debates about photography have increasingly moved towards talking about the business of photography - to the point where you can have a workshop about the business of photography without any photographers as presenters). The backlash seems inevitable: People pointing out that life without the internet and/or social media is entirely worthwhile. (more)

It's one thing to wax about how you don't really need the web when you have easy access to it - because, let's face it, you'll break down anyway, finding some excuse to look up something (or check email). It's quite another thing not to have access to the web, regardless of whether you want to look up something or not. While I do a lot of work online and while for the most part I use electronic devices for that, I can't and won't pretend that not being able to check email or read blogs or check Twitter or whatever else was such a disaster. I don't mean to say that the web is useless, because it clearly isn't. But I do think that the hype about all things electronic and about the web seems to have got a bit out of hand.

And I will admit I am very worried about all that talk that seems to imply that what it takes to be a successful photographers is not whether or not you can take a good photograph, but instead whether or not you spend enough time using social media. I do understand the role of social media, and I do think that photographers need to aware of them and use them to some extent. But occasionally, I'm wondering whether the direction we're moving into really is a good direction. I have the feeling that the situation we're creating will actually make photography unsustainable for large numbers of practitioners. Is that what we want? I can only speak for myself and say that, no, that's not what I want.

I had to think about this all a little not just because I didn't have access to the web, but also because at the same time we had a visitor, Pete Brook off Prison Photography fame, currently on the road to talk to photographers, activists, and others about the prison system. For almost the entire time, we had no electricity, so we lit a fire (our apartment has a working fireplace) and simply chatted. And that's really what this all is about, isn't it?

If we want to stay with social media, what should matter is the "social" aspect: social media should serve us, instead of us becoming serfs of them. No amount of work and effort online will replace a real fireside chat, and no amount of work and effort online will replace a real community (instead of a virtual one).

Copies of Monalisen der Vorstädte ("Mona Lisas of the Suburbs" - the book has text both in German and English), a project by Ute and Werner Mahler, have arrived in the US and can now be ordered! To order, go to the Meier & Müller store. For details about the work, see my interview with the artists.

The first Conscientious spin-off book, Conversations with Photographers, Vol. 1, is selling steadily. If you haven't ordered a copy for yourself now might be a good time to do so!

Being able to do extended conversations with photographers has always been one of the best parts of producing Conscientious. Some of these conversations are now coming to a bookshelf near (or even next to) you: The first volume of Conversations With Photographers is now available. The book contains conversations from this site plus exclusive follow-up interviews that are only going to be available in print (a total of five interviews). This first volume contains conversations with Brian Ulrich, Hellen van Meene, and Christopher Anderson. Find all the details and information on how to order the book here.

Caroline von Courten
Managing Editor
Foam International Photography Magazine

Caroline von Courten (Germany, 1983) is managing editor of Foam International Photography Magazine, published quarterly by Foam and Vandejong Communications. It serves as a paper exhibition space that embraces every aspect of photography, ranging from documentary to fashion, from contemporary to historical, from world-famous photographers to young talent.

As part of the editorial team, Caroline selects the work presented in the magazine. She does research for upcoming issues, chooses the contributing writers and keeps an eye on the final editing. She has also been actively involved in Foam's 10th anniversary project What's Next? An Investigation into the Future of Photography.

Before joining Foam Magazine, Caroline was co-curating Quickscan NL, an exhibition of young Dutch photography as part of the World Expo in Shanghai, presented by the Nederlands Fotomuseum. After graduating with a Master in Photographic Studies from the University of Leiden in 2008, Caroline started her curatorial practice at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as Assistant Curator of Photography. One year later, she joined the exhibition department of the Nederlands Fotomuseum.

With a background in Visual Culture Studies, Caroline approaches photography in the context of today's image culture. Her research on blurriness in photography has recently been cited in Blackwell's Photography Theory in Historical Perspective.

Michael Mazzeo
Director, Michael Mazzeo Gallery

Michael Paris Mazzeo is a gallerist, educator and photographer based in New York City. Since opening in 2005, the Michael Mazzeo Gallery has become one of the premier showcases of rising young talent in the field of photography, having awarded fifteen artists their first solo exhibitions in New York and including more than 100 others in group shows. Works by gallery artists have been acquired by major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Princeton Museum and Fidelity Investments, as well as by many private collectors.

In seeking to promote the work of unrepresented artists, Michael recently initiated the RSVP project, an series of thematic online exhibitions, complete with on-demand published catalogs and e-commerce pages for photography collectors.

Outside the gallery, he has organized exhibitions, participated in panel discussions, and juried photography competitions. Michael serves on the faculties of the School of Visual Arts, the International Center of Photography, New Jersey City University, and has been a guest lecturer at other prestigious institutions. He has been a featured portfolio reviewer at FotoFest, Review Santa Fe, Photolucida, Critical Mass, FotoWeek DC, The Center of Photography at Woodstock, ICP, ASMP, SPE, powerHouse Books, and Atlanta Celebrates Photography.

Michael is honored to be juror this year for En Foco's New Photography Fellowship Awards 2011 and the Soho Photo Alternative Process Competition.