Here is a picture of the members of the Monalog Collective … me included! It was made the day of the opening of our current show at Gallery 270 and was a special moment for us. We’re scattered around the country and this was the first time we have all been together! For those interested, the picture was made with Phil McAullife’s Leica M6 and 28mm Elmarit M lens. The film was Ilford HP5.  Phil framed everything up, focused, metered, then showed someone where to stand and make the picture!  Everything worked out and it’s a wonderful image of a great time I won’t forget.

So I showed the picture to my wife and her snarky comment was “a bunch of old white guys”, which I admit is something I sometimes say facetiously when I describe our group. We used to have two women in Monalog. They left due to creeping incorporate digitalia in their processes. We’ve never had any younger members, or members of color.

Which means we are not “diverse”.

I know this is important in the photo art world and important in general. So far the composition of our group has not prevented us from getting a show, although it has come up and am told it could be a problem with some venues going forward. As president of Monalog, I would like to see our membership expand to become more diverse. But, I cannot and will not lose sleep or obsess over what we are and what we are not

Monalog is a great group of talented and creative photographers, but more than that we are a tight knit community bound together by our commitment to something we all have a passion for, and perhaps even more important the bonds with each other we’ve created. We help each other to solve problems, share advice and good humor, and reach out when someone is under the weather or in need of help.  In short, we’re friends, and that means a lot!

I hope we can become more diverse for all the right reasons … not because the photo art world says we have to in order to check a particular box! Does this mean that the quality of our members and our work is lacking in any way? Absolutely not!  We are so much more than just a bunch of old white guys, in obvious and not so obvious but priceless ways … and I would never give that up!

I welcome hearing from any potential members that can meet our admittedly rigid criteria.

Stay well,

Michael