We know. This headline might imply an association between these photographers and the many ills a certain small-handed circus leader denies knowing when called to task, and we apologize. This has nothing to do with Mr. Trump, though we suspect he (maybe) collects the "great" work of Peter Lik, right? Why are we even rambling about this? Moving on, here are some of our favorite photographers working right now, all who've hung out with us over the past few months for weekly Humble Arts Foundation Instagram residencies. Some are making Instagram their visual diary or sketchpad, while others are using it as a wider domain for sharing long term photo projects. Have a look, give them your follows, and be moved to keep up with their ever-inspired work.
Beach, 2015 © Charlie Kitchen
In the introductory essay to Charlotte Cotton’s 2015 anthology Photography is Magic, she argues that photography’s current “moment” has broken free from analog nostalgia in a move to use photographic tools – digital or otherwise – with a newfound sense of freedom. This “freedom,” embraced by photographers who came up under the spectre of digital-ness often rests on open and continuous experimentation. San Antonio-based photographer Charlie Kitchen’s – Standard View (2015) and Recent Work (2016) builds on this idea through a series of in-camera collages that weigh trial, errors, and tactility over highfalutin conceptualism. “After shooting my thesis with a 4x5 camera,” says Kitchen, “photography began to unravel itself and I began to dig deeper into the medium, rather than contemplating what I could shoot to convey any sort of feeling or concept.” While skeptics might see this as avoiding conceptual responsibility, it’s a practice that has allowed Kitchen, like many photographers today, to unearth photography’s many tools for expanding visual possibility.