RIP Martin Parr

Conference at the V&A Museum, about the Autochrome. I’m joining online from home, seven time zones away. www.vam.ac.uk/event/0B3Aly...

Joyeux anniversaire, Roland Barthes

Shifting the Frame – Women’s Photographic Practices (1840–1960) Call for papers (in English) for international conference at Biblioteca Municipal Almeida Garrett, Porto, Portugal, 5–7 March 2026. No registration fee. Deadline for abstracts 4 Oct 2025. More info: womenphot.fba.up.pt/call-for-pap...

I will travel to Jakarta next month to attend Jakarta International Photo Festival #5. After that, I will visit Bandung to see Bandung Photography Triennale #2.

Happy World Photography Day! One of my fav photographs (young Javanese woman in Yogyakarta circa 1885) by one of my fav photographers (Kassian Céphas, Javanese, 1845–1912) on the cover of one of my fav books about photography (a history of early photography in Indonesia), featuring Tommy the cat. ♥

Why people love to compare A.I. with calculator really is just beyond me

Happy birthday, George Eastman (12 Jul 1854 – 14 Mar 1932)

Hi! I’m still around, just not posting often.

Friday the 13th

Rest in peace, Sebastião Salgado (1944–2025)

I am co-organising and moderating a talk on photography and A.I.—maybe it’s a bit cliché, but it is still necessary to talk about, as the conversation (in local context) so far has been dominated by opinions like “A.I. is killing photography”. A.I. is so much more. Photography is also so much more.

Book presentation - Legacies of colonialism in museum collections: The (un)making of Indonesian Islam in the Netherlands, with author Mirjam Shatanawi; discussants Susie Protschky, Adieyatna Fajri, Theo Frids Hutabarat; moderator Marieke Bloembergen - 15 May 2025 hybrid www.kitlv.nl/event-shatan...

Symposium Future Memories: How Photography Shapes Our Understanding of the World | 14 May 2025 at The Rijksmuseum | A one-day international symposium exploring the impact of photojournalism and documentary photography on our perceptions of the world | Live & online www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/...

Asian Photography Symposia: Photography and Asian Diasporas in the Americas, 26–27 April 2025 at the Center for Creative Photography (in-person and on Zoom). More information, schedule, and registration arts.arizona.edu/events/photo...

My cat came home tonight after being missing for 11 days. I thought I had lost him. But he’s back now. He got very thin, probably hasn’t eaten all these days. He directly asked for food and ate a lot. No wounds. Now I’m afraid to let him out of the house, fearing he’ll be gone for a long time again.

One of my cats went missing on 1 April 2025. I hope he will find his way home, too. ♥

You can’t sell reality to dreamers.

Fashion and dress in Autochromes 1907–1930, talk by Cally Blackman on her newly published book

In the age of A.I., photography is now untethered — Fred Ritchin traces the history of manipulated images in an excerpt from his new book, “The Synthetic Eye”, on @vanityfair.com: www.vanityfair.com/style/story/...

I missed a number of webinars because I couldn’t stay up past midnight lately. Internet and video conference platforms have enabled me attend talks held half the world away (network connections have also greatly improved), but time difference is still a huge issue. # notcomplaining # justsaying

Spending Sunday afternoon at home in front of a screen on Zoom for these two back-to-back webinars co-hosted by Parallax Asia and Pictures of the Year Asia

Susan Sontag admitted in 1978 that “On Photography” (1977) is not about photography, while also defended it as not against photography. She claimed that it is about how capitalist industrial society uses photography and its implications.

“Without a clear plan, a photographer’s archive can become a burden rather than a legacy, leaving heirs — spouses, children or executors — to navigate complex decisions about storage, access and preservation.” On the crisis that is facing photographic archives: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...

I’ve been joining this wonderful 24-hour symposium on and off since this morning. Many inspiring presentations and many more to come, as it’s only been 11 hours now. (It’s been raining almost all day where I live anyway, so better stay at home.)

In celebration of International Women’s Day, 8 Mar 2025, Women of Photography will feature the work of photography scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts in an online, 24-hour symposium dedicated to celebrating the contributions of women to photography 1839–2024. egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphoto...

One of the keys to visual literacy is slow looking. So spend some time to really look at this iconic photograph of Paris by Henri Cartier-Bresson and see what it is about, what makes it a good picture, and how you can put a meaning to it. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I’ve found myself listening to the radio again lately. From what I’m listening to, I guess not much have changed in the radio scene, in the age of music streaming and podcast.

Same

Wow it is wild that it would summarise by making its own ‘fact’ while all information is basically there.

In my dream last night, I got my digital data stolen through phishing email. Holy moly. 🫠😵

Today is William Henry Fox Talbot’s 225th birthday

“In spite of having unpacked and packed up so many libraries […], I was never truly a librarian. My libraries […] lacked a catalogue, the sections were madly idiosyncratic, the order haphazard, […] and yet I always knew how to find a book because the only user was myself.” — Alberto Manguel, 2018

The Guardians of the G̶a̶l̶a̶x̶y̶ Library

In celebration of International Women’s Day, 8 Mar 2025, Women of Photography will feature the work of photography scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts in an online, 24-hour symposium dedicated to celebrating the contributions of women to photography 1839–2024. egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphoto...

I have sent the book manuscript I edited back to the writer and the publisher. If needed, there will be one final round of editing. If everything looks good, the draft will go forward to design phase.

I feel this will haunt me all year long—or even longer.

🧧🍊🐍

Salgado’s work reinforces colonial-era stereotypes of native communities as objects of research. “I can’t understand why a person in the 21st century would want to take photos as if they were in the 19th century ... other than some kind of fetish for colonialism.” www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Gary Knight (VII Foundation) claims Nick Ut did not take the famous Associated Press photo “Napalm Girl”. So who did? It was someone who was known only as “The Stringer”. But AP’s own investigation found no evidence to doubt that Nick Ut did in fact take the photo in 1972. www.ap.org/media-center...

Compendium - Journal of Comparative Studies Call for articles no. 8: Frames of Expression: Photography and Other Art Forms compendium.letras.ulisboa.pt/index.php/co... Deadline for submissions: 16 June 2025 Publication: December 2025 Guest editors: José Bertolo (Portugal) and José Luis Neves (U.K.)

I have a new niece. She was born this morning. I am so happy for my brother and his wife.

Funded PhD opportunity in photographic history starting in October 2025 “War, Photography & Empire: Visual Propaganda and British India, c.1941-47” www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk/collaborativ... Deadline for applications 20 January 2025

Online symposium on rephotography, hosted by University of Tsukuba, Japan. I could not join in full because it has been raining all day in Yogyakarta and I kept getting disconnected on Zoom.

“Photographers may aspire to capture scenes that galvanize public opinion and pressure world leaders to act to end wars, but few images — if any — have ever done this. The most graphic and disturbing images from Ukraine and Gaza have hardly slowed the carnage.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

It has been a month since my house was broken into and my computer was taken along with some other things. To those who has reached out and offered (and sent) assistance in the past month, thank you. ♥