• One of my journalism mentors—a whipsmart photo editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer with a smoky Southern drawl and the telephoto wit of an Elliott Erwitt—taught me to appreciate news photography because the image you see encompasses a fraction of a second. It’s so small, no wristwatch or stopwatch can measure it. And yet, it can pack an after-image wallop, as though one stared at the sun and felt it burn through closed eyes and open heart for minutes. Hours. Days. When it mixes with memory, so much more intense and timeless the flame. Steve’s photo of a windblown, turning tabloid is as much journalism as fine art. That nightside backdrop of the NEWSPAPER sign? I recognize the location, just a few blocks south of my beloved Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue. I spent 16 years there in all manner of roles: sometimes standing on a mountaintop, others trapped in a salt mine. Today the Tower houses condos and much like the pedestrians in this shot, people just walk by. They have no idea. Nor do they seem to care: The sun has set on the newspaper. The sheets have surrendered to the wind, just as in this photo. OK, so the Trib was a broadsheet and this frame depicts a tabloid, but … same idea. Today, no afterimage of the print days gives us pause. Instead we have screens. Email. Glowing, dancing distractions beckoning from idiot "high-tech" devices. This image grabbed me in, yes, a fraction of a second. Yet it stands so vivid and bracing that I can practically taste the ink, chalky and metallic, smeared on my fingers. I will carry it home for hours, days and beyond, wishing beyond reason that I could peel the paper in this picture and turn to the next page.

    Words by LOU CARLOZO, Editor in Chief, Qwoted

  • This newspaper box is likely no longer here. The city of Chicago removed most of them right before the DNC and didn’t even warn the publishers of the papers they housed. All Miegs Field styles. No one is really sure why but some Alderman had been trying to get rid of them for years as many were empty. They were still functional (The Reader still uses them among others) and also a reminder of the loss of a once-vibrant journalism community focused on keeping the City that Works working for the people, not just the Bosses. A big part of photography, to me, is about documenting things while they’re there, because some day those things, or people won’t be there. In the words of Albert Maysels, whether that’s a well-planned shoot, or an in-the-moment capture, the photographer must “see what everyone else sees, but notice more.” So shots like this are art in their own right, but also serve a bigger purpose to record, document, preserve our city, culture and memories.

    Words by MATT CARMICHAEL, Ipsos North America

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