Collective Cool

Last night I attended my first Nutopia Forum meeting in much, much too long. I was introduced to the group more than a year ago when I wrote a story about them, and have continued to keep in touch whenever possible. The group of young, talented photographers, headed by superstar (and supernice) portrait photographer Platon, is expanding upward and outward with a pared-down online magazine (I did a story about that too) and a blog (despite Plat's admitted wariness). Big things are in store for both (which I won't go into here and ruin the surprise), but mostly I wanted to give props to the group (and especially the assistants who do the actual posting) for keeping us all up to date on the coolest of the cool things "out there": painters, filmmakers, and musicians, not just photographers; classics that have been forgotten, not just hot newbies; and real live events and openings, not just links to websites.

A few gems I was happy to be reminded of (or introduced to, ahem):
The awesomeness of Lillian Bassman
The why-didn't-I-think-of-that brilliance of UnPhotographable
The...wait, what's this? A plug for the new college mag I'm editing? (thanks guys)

~Miki Johnson