Another Year Over

Well, here we are, another year come to an end.

Wir werden zu früh alt und zu spät klug
(We grow old too soon and wise too late.)

—German folk proverb

A brief look back over the year that was here on TOP:

Way back in January '24, I expounded on two skillsets to optimize in order to carry a camera with you all the time. And we had a multi-way conversation about the implications of color in photography. I wrote about several photographers caught up in the Me Too movement as well as the problem of psychopaths, rapists and murderers hiding behind the role of photographer, in an article (very) inelegantly titled "Photographer Traumatic Stress Disorder, Or, Separating the Artist from the Art...Or Not."

In February I was adjusting to my new pacemaker and not feeling very good, and I annoyed readers by getting briefly obsessed with keyboards and belaboring the subject. Readers were right to complain; I posted way too much on the subject. We also visited the late Elliott Erwitt's country house for sale on Long Island (he also had a place in Manhattan), which gave us a glimpse of the great man's studio—but the link is gone now. I proposed the best enlarger ever made (film Friday before Film Fridays, except it was published on a Monday). The then-new Fujifilm X100 mark VI got IBIS—in-body image stabilization—which was exciting. It's one of my favorite features. There have been persistent shortages of that camera, and they persist.

Then, in March, Ctein made a brief return. I tried to give some examples of "punctum," Roland Barthes' famous term—there were several posts on the subject. Nikon acquired RED. I started a list of the World's Best Cameras, but eventually abandoned it due to lack of interest all around; those days have passed, I guess. And I made an off-topic excursion into all the off-topic excursions that occur on TOP. The consensus was, "keep TOP weird."

In April, guest author Tom Burke wrote a review of Paul McCartney's book of photographs from 1964, the Ansel stamps came out, I moved my office to the back of the house, and various readers responded inventively to the eclipse of the sun. A technical/aesthetic topic was "Shooting Wide Open."

May came, and we discussed the cinematography of the dark miniseries Ripley. Demand for batteries for Teslas affected Panasonic's bottom line. We reviewed Stuff White People Like, which, incredibly, called me out personally :-) . We talked about which old cameras we'd like to see reincarnated, wherein I cried again about the untimely death of the not-quite-perfect-but-tantalizingly-close Panasonic GX8 (I always had a soft spot for Panasonic's cameras).

In June, I wrote about the importance of word-of-mouth and creating goodwill when you're trying to run a photography business. The triggering topic of Leica was revisited yet again—we're hard on Leicaphiles around here, but they are a stalwart and sturdy lot and well girded to defend themselves. The Pentax 17 half-frame film camera arrived (again, the post fell on a Monday). In the arena of honing visual skills and techniques, I shared an idiosyncratic exercise about cropping. (It's really just a habit I have.) We tried to pinpoint the sweet spot in the Nikon Z range.

July saw an exploration of why it isn't actually the camera that matters. I described "Two Failures." One, the kind of failure that you learn from, that instructs you—the second, a missed opportunity, merely a loss. I still think about that missed picture when I drive past that spot! Curiously, though, the first of those "failures" turned out to be a shot of mine that a lot of people liked and that got a lot of compliments. A valued colleague from my magazine days, Howard Bond, passed away. A "Mystery Pic" was none other than the canine model for Buck in Jack London's Call of the Wild. History and literature both fascinate me.

August found me struggling with heart issues again, which, strangely, affects mood and outlook. I guess it is, you know, the heart, after all: not for nothing does it have such metaphorical significance across human history. If you've ever been truly "heartbroken," and I hope you haven't, you know that it makes your heart physically hurt. Speaking of bodies, we touched on the all-important but under-discussed topic of bodies of work. I reviewed a car, which is not relevant to the site, and a William Wegman show, which is. I was shooting a lot, which led to several posts. I got briefly enamored of the D-Lux 7 and 8.

In September we discussed faked photographs, photographs as gifts from the universe, disillusion (which might just reflect my own struggles in coming to terms with present-day reality in the medium), and, to complete the get-off-my-lawn picture, the decline of bands and guitar-based rock in popular culture. The iPhone 16 and a deluxe anniversary commemormorial [sic] edition of The Americans came out. I summarized in writing a video by Martin Evening. And took a picture of sunflowers. My best effort during that month (and maybe the year?) was "The Erasing of Arthur Rimbaud."

October and the months after it are pretty recent, so you might remember these unless you're really really new here. In October I was distracted by the purchase of a new computer; then again, everyone can, and did, relate. We discussed Leica books; Marques Brownlee and a $40,000 collectible original iPhone; and my favorite Macs. Former TOP reader and bicycle impresario Grant Petersen got profiled in The New Yorker. Also, I did a couple of real estate jobs for my friend Michelle, which was fun. (I don't do photography for pay any more, generally. I was a working pro for five years, and that was enough of that. But the RE experience was invigorating and rejuvenating, somehow.)

November was only a month ago. You remember—I went to the Nathan Benn show and saw inkjet prints of his Kodachromes. I also reminded everyone that old digicams really weren't very good cameras. And we cogitated on the subject of abstract photos. I visited Geoff Wittig in Dansville, and finally got to see his mancave filled to the rafters with photo and art books. Lucky guy.

December only ended yesterday. What was the best post from this past month? We talked about Realistic Minimalism and Synthography, discovered the Louis Mendes Test to identify street photographers, discussed digital film simulation recipes, launched "Film Fridays," and paused for Christmas. I got in trouble talking about a $6.2 million banana taped to a wall. We dissected a photo of an old building by Eero Saarinen, and along the way I learned something about Brutalism, not the least of which is that some people appreciate it.

And here we are!

Happy New Year

-

May 2025 be good enough to us all. Thanks for hanging out around here from time to time, and, see you again soon. Kind regards,

Mike

Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

John Bennett: "June 2024: I forgot just how much vitriol was aimed at the Pentax 17 when it debuted. I bought one in August, and rarely leave the house without. It's just plain FUN...and when is that ever a bad idea? Happy New Year! "

Kodachromeguy: "Thanks for reminding me about Ctein's excellent exposé on the absurdity of aperture equivalence. Gawd, that wasted an immense amount of effort on photo forums. But as long as the equivalence warriors think they take better photos...."

Jez Cunningham: "Thanks for your hard work—the 2024 summary neatly summarises why I love this place and visit every day."

Mark P Morris: "I don't like year-end reviews. I like this one very much! Very interesting recap of your work for the year."

Comments

[Hans Muus]

German is not my best foreign language, but it’s spät (pronounce ‘spait’), not ‘spat’ (where the ‘a’ would sound like in the English ‘father’ but which to my knowledge is not a German word.)

[Peter Conway]

Really enjoying the year-in-review, even if I’m only up to March so far. As someone who visits pretty much every day, it’s humbling how much I either missed, glossed over, or (perhaps worst) simply forgot that I had read previously.

[MikeR]

Around here, where Pennsylvania Dutch speech and culture is never that far away, that proverb is rendered as, "We grow too soon oldt and too late schmart."

[Stan B.]

Well, finally got to read that piece on DAH. All so very strange when reading through, as woman after woman kept falling for his trap. How could they? But then, I remember seeing the photos of him surrounded by all these young, good looking twenty somethings at his many workshops and related events. Wow, the guy must be quite the something to not only relate so well to people that age, but promote their careers as well- and it has to be on the up and up since it must have Magnum's blessing, right? Right?

[Kirk]

Why did you remind me of the torturous keyboard death march? I had to take an aspirin and lie down...

[Nick Reith]

As much as I do not like to nitpick, especially with a seasoned veteran such as Ctein, I have to point out that his statement about the relative size of the Micro 4/3 sensor compared to Full Frame is incorrect.
Micro 4/3 sensors are a quarter of the size, not half the size. They are half the width and half the height ( roughly) which is his point in terms of lens coverage, but that is not the same thing.
Just sayin'.
Happy New Year to all.

[Mark Sampson]

That's a succinct explanation of why I love to read your work. Thanks for bringing so much to the table.