American Photography 34: One image CHOSEN


I'm happy to announce that one of my pictures has been named Chosen in American Photography 34. Unlike the past few years, I won't have anything in the book this year, but it's an honor to have this image, of a man injured in scuffles outside the DeploraBall before Trump's inauguration in Washington, DC, honored in the annual selection of the best photography in the US.

Thanks to the American Photography organizers and the judges this year: Roxanne Behr, New York magazine; Siobhan Bohnacker, The New Yorker; Todd Heughens, FX Networks; Andrew Katz, TIME; Chelsea Matiash, The New York Times (formerly The Intercept); Krista Prestek, Apple (formerly GQ); and Matt Willey, The New York Times Magazine.

Previously, I've had images Selected for the book in American Photography 33 and American Photography 32, and one image Chosen for the website in American Photography 30.

Exhibition and catalog: Germany’s HANT magazine 10th anniversary show


»This is the worst party I've ever been to« M. Scott Brauer

From October 12 to December 30, 2017, a handful of my pictures from my election project, This is the worst party I've ever been to, were shown in Kunsthalle Erfurt in Erfurt, Germany, for the 10-year retrospective exhibition of HANT magazine. The exhibition was called »SO WEIT – SO GUT,« which I believe translates as "So far, so good." The exhibition featured a ton of great photographers and I really wish I could've seen the installation in person. If you read German (or trust Google Translate!) check out HANT's post about the exhibition. Here you can also see one spread from the exhibition catalog featuring my work.

Previously, the magazine published a few of my pictures last year. The exhibition featured many of those images, but also a few that haven't been printed or shown before.

NEW DATE: ASMP Talk – Know Your Rights – Real-world licensing and negotiation


UPDATE 2: The talk has now been rescheduled for April 3, 2018. Registration is open on the ASMP website.

UPDATE: The talk has been postponed due to weather. I will update when the new date has been decided.


ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The American Society of Media Photographers (New England) has invited me to give a talk on business practices for freelancers on March 13, 2018. I've got an ambitious outline for the talk, covering licensing, contract negotiations, and copyright registration and protection. I'll be drawing on my own experience as a freelancer, showing contracts I've worked with and email exchanges over copyright infringements.

The event is on March 13, 2018, at Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts. You can see the ASMP event page here. Ticket prices vary based on membership in the ASMP and other partner organizations, including AIGA, ASPP, Griffin, NPPA, PPA, PRC, and the BPPA.

Hope to see you there!

Included in New York Times Arts Pictures of the Year


I was very surprised to hear from my editor, Ariana at the the New York Times' Arts photo desk, that one of my pictures of WWE Champion Jinder Mahal was selected among the Times' favorite arts photos of 2017. What an honor to be included among photos by so many talented photographers (and with quite a few friends in the mix!) and to see my photo in the mix of pictures of Bruce Springsteen, Nicole Kidman, Mark Hamill, Kumail Nanjiani, Angelina Jolie, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Katy Perry, and other stars of stage, screen, and the rest of the art world. As you can see in the screenshot, I even got to write a little blurb about the surreal experience of photographing professional wrestling.

Times editors describe the collection of images: "These images, some of the best we took in 2017, capture the power of the artists and performers we covered — and offer plenty of beauty on their own.... We want art to transport us, to take us beyond ourselves and the stubborn gravity of our lives. That’s one lesson from the selection of exceptional arts photography below, all commissioned or published by our photo editors this year. Memorable subjects like the actor Mark Hamill, the acrobat Elena Gatilova and the professional wrestler Jinder Mahal used their particular gifts to open portals to other worlds, resurrecting Luke Skywalker, making poetry out of aerial performance or conquering the WWE in the process."

The whole set is well worth a look: How We Looked at the Arts This Year: Our Favorite Photographs. Thanks to Ariana and the rest of the NYT photo department!

Travel: In Montana Nov. 8 – 20, 2017


Abandoned homestead north of Rudyard, Montana. 2013.

Abandoned homestead north of Rudyard, Montana. 2013.

I'll be in Montana for a bit this November to visit family and get outside a bit. Cell phone signals will be hard to come by for parts of the trip, and email communication will be delayed. I'll be in Great Falls and rural areas in the north-central part of the state. Back in Boston on November 20.

Writing for World Press Photo’s Witness


I'm very proud to announce that I've begun writing for World Press Photo's Witness online magazine. The publication has been active for the past six months or so and, as the about page puts it, Witness is "a magazine for new thinking and new talent in visual journalism and storytelling. Witness presents the critical thinking, independent analyses, and new visual stories of our contributors." The publication is well worth following, and I'd say that even if I wasn't contributing.

Two of my articles have been published so far: How (some) photographers around the world make a living and A Look at Addis Foto Fest. I've got more articles planned and you can follow everything I write there on my medium.com page.

dvafoto, the blog that Matt Lutton and I ran for nearly a decade, has winded down over the last couple of years, and I'm excited to have a new avenue to write about the photo industry.

Thanks to WPP's Director of Communications and Engagement David Campbell for inviting me to get involved and for Witness Managing Editor Jennifer Noland for putting up with all of my edits and delays.