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.


The Allure and Pitfalls of Seeing Photographs, and the World, in Isolation

Posted on August 19, 2020

Political crises are often abstract, even invisible—and thus difficult to record, particularly in a single frame. So how do we, in a state of isolation, move beyond the isolated image to see what's happening?

A friend pointed out recently that the months of isolation have made us not only worried and frustrated but also socially awkward. As we venture out of our pods, we are rusty at communicating, made worse by masks and other safety protocols. You can’t read facial expressions, you don’t know where someone has been, you... Continue reading The Allure and Pitfalls of Seeing Photographs, and the World, in Isolation


Thank You for Making AutoUpdate a Success!

Posted on October 29, 2019

The FotoFocus Symposium, AutoUpdate: Photography in the Electronic Age brought together a rich diversity of speakers to address digital technology’s impact on photography and video, and its disruption of art making and news cycles in a media obsessed world. This series of lectures and panel discussions included international artists and speakers addressing photography’s part in the current global crisis of information exchange; the fate of documentary filmmaking in a “post-truth” age; and a historical and philosophical assessment of digital imaging, past and future.

The accompanying exhibition, AutoUpdate, features 44 artists from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana who work at the intersection of photography and new media,... Continue reading Thank You for Making AutoUpdate a Success!


AutoUpdate: Photography in the Electronic Age Speakers and Schedule

Posted on August 1, 2019

The FotoFocus day-long symposium, AutoUpdate: Photography in the Electronic Age held at The Carnegie in Northern Kentucky on Saturday, October 5, will feature lectures and panel discussions from international artists, curators, journalists, and educators. The symposium invites speakers to review photography’s part in the current global crisis of information exchange; the fate of documentary filmmaking in a “post-truth” age; and offers a historical and philosophical assessment of digital imaging, past and future.

Preeminent artist Trevor Paglen will be the keynote speaker, addressing the symposium’s theme of digital technology’s impact on photography and... Continue reading AutoUpdate: Photography in the Electronic Age Speakers and Schedule