It seemed natural, creating a photography issue.

We live and work in Chicago, a city with some of the country’s best traditional and non-traditional photography incubators. Some of our schools – like The School of Art Institute, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Columbia College – have especially distinguished instructors and programs. And in the past few years, we have seen the rise of a generation of artists, from all these places, making a dent in the international art market. Chicago also has some of the best collections of photography in the world. The Art Institute has an incredible diversity of works, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography has over 9,000 pieces, including art by many photographic pioneers. Because we are in close proximity to these artists, instructors, and institutions, their influence plays a significant role in what we see in Chicago.

Despite this rich environment in which to mine some interesting editorial, this issue of Proximity created controversy for us. For weeks we battled on whether or not “Fine Art” photographers were more interesting than “documentary style” photographers. Fashion photographers were maligned from one corner, while in another quarter they were celebrated as one of the reasons photography is so well accepted as an art form to the public. Fists flew while championing the rise of the “amateurs.” Chairs were kicked around while we argued about either the irrelevance or the significance of Flickr, Myspace and Facebook.

In the end we realized that the Proximity team couldn’t possibly define “good photography” when there is so much of it and so few of us. So we decided to ask our readers who they thought made the best work, and then we made an edit from all the nominees. This is not the “end all be all” list of photographers, but it is a group who we think you should check out.

We also talked to some important figures who promote photography in Chicago and abroad: Rod Slemmons of the MOCP and Claude Bussac, Director of PHotoEspana. And we also print Contributing Editor Albert Stabler’s essay on why he doesn’t even like photography. Peppered throughout you’ll find our usual assortment of experimental texts, a few conversations with some of our favorite creators, and talks with artists making a difference from our neck of the woods.

We are saddened to see our Managing Editor, Mairead Case, step away from her gig here. We started this publication knowing it would be in good hands with her at the keyboard, and her shoes will be hard to fill. If we are lucky, you will still be able to read her Lit Column in the future pages of our magazine.

See you soon,
Ed & Rachael Marszewski

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