Photo by Jacob Drabik

The Lens

The Lens is the FotoFocus editorial platform, highlighting our programming and featuring in-depth conversations on photography and the moving image drawn from perspectives and insights in our community, throughout our region, and around the globe.


FotoFocus Executive Director Announcement

Posted on December 12, 2022

FotoFocus Announces Retirement of Executive Director Mary Ellen Goeke Biennial DirectorKatherine Ryckman Siegwarth Named Successor

FotoFocus, the nonprofit dedicated to championing  photography and lens-based art, today announced that its founding Executive Director Mary Ellen Goeke will retire at the end of 2022. She will be succeeded by FotoFocus Biennial Director Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth, who will take the role of the second FotoFocus Executive Director since the institution’s founding in 2010. The transition is marked by a moment of tremendous growth, as FotoFocus plans to build a new center for photography and lens-based art in Cincinnati that will ensure the... Continue reading FotoFocus Executive Director Announcement


FotoFocus at 10: An Oral History

Posted on December 17, 2020

As FotoFocus celebrates its first decade, we get the behind-the-scenes scoop of how it started—and what the future holds—from eight people who have lived it.

I. Origin Story

TOM SCHIFF, Founder, FotoFocus and CEO, Lightborne: The idea started maybe 12 years ago or so with James Crump, who was the curator of photography at the Cincinnati Art Museum. I mentioned to him that I thought there were never enough photography exhibits in Cincinnati. I thought, If we could have a... Continue reading FotoFocus at 10: An Oral History