I’m pretty sure someone will use this post to start yet another Kittens vs. Puppies Flaming War (it’s the internet, after all), but I figured I might as well post my “Holiday”/New Year wish list anyway. So here are, in no particular order, things I’d really love to see more of in 2009:

1. b/w photography that looks like it was shot in 2009
2. vernacular photography as photography
3. inter-blog discussions
4. truly self-published photography books
5. art photography posing as entertainment
6. photography that shows me something I haven’t noticed already
7. photography criticism/writing that moves beyond the usual suspects (Roland Barthes, John Szarkowski, Walter Benjamin, …)

And things I’d really love to see less of in 2009:

1. b/w photography that looks like it was shot in 1975
2. vernacular photography as a freak show
3. meandering “discussions” about photography and its supposed relation to “facts” (or “realism” or [Photoshop] “manipulations”)
4. “on-demand” “self-published” photography books
5. entertainment photography posing as art
6. typologies
7. photography criticism/writing that starts of with and/or quotes excessively the usual suspects (Roland Barthes, John Szarkowski, Walter Benjamin, …)