Who Will Be the New Gatekeepers?

The old days of half a dozen leading photographers and editors controlling everything—either directly by their acceptance or rejection of others’ work or indirectly through their juniors in the industry who took their word and philosophy as gospel—are not likely to return, at least not in the same way.

I do believe that some of the most influential figures in photography will again rise to the top and, intentionally or not, position themselves as the gatekeepers and self-appointed arbiters of good taste. The photography industry will rush to sign up these individuals for huge sums of money, giving them even more power, and the currently fluid situation will begin to stabilize yet again. The glimmer of light this time around is that some good people will understand the dangers of stagnation, fight to be the influencers themselves, and push a philosophy that encourages experimentation and risk taking as opposed to playing it safe and imitating others. Some of the current high-profile personalities seem to be very different than their predecessors, insomuch as they really do seem to value change and encourage the pushing of the envelope. Unfortunately, there are also some who want to cast their own particular approaches in stone and promote said approaches as the only true way to photography nirvana.