Flak Photo's wide focus

Madison-based site wins Photobloggies Award

June 14, 2007

4:14 PM

Best-kept secret? Not any more. The irony of winning a . That's fine with Andy Adams, editor-publisher of the Madison-based online photoblogging magazine, which was also a runner-up in the categories of Best Black-and-White Photography, Photo of the Year and Photoblog of the Year.

Recognizing excellence in more than 20 categories, the Photobloggies are one measure of the extent to which the concept of photoblogging has gathered momentum in recent years -- and brought about a global community of people dedicated to photographic expression. Another is this statistic: More than a quarter-million unique visitors are drawn to

He appears to bask in the recognition as he sits on the front steps of the Wisconsin Historical Society, where he is on staff at Wisconsin Historical Images and is developing its eBay store as a platform for selling high-resolution giclée reproductions of images from the society's archives. Adams, however, deflects credit. "I don't actually think I won the award," he allows. Instead, Flak Photo, a collaborative effort, did.

An accomplished photographer, Adams, 29, has freelanced for Isthmus, Madison Magazine, Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy and the Motor Primitives, among other clients, and maintains a Web site showcasing images from his portfolio.

But he calls Flak Photo "a labor of love." He invests at least 10 hours per week in maintaining Flak Photo, he estimates.

Flak Photo got its start in November 2004 as an offshoot of Flak Magazine, the online journal launched almost 10 years ago by a handful of people including former Daily Cardinal editor in chief James Norton, who remains the editor of

What he wanted to do was introduce people to the most distinctive images he encountered on the more than 100 photoblog feeds to which he subscribes - and provide links to more work by Flak Photo contributors. "I'm fascinated with the concept of blogging," says Adams, noting his interest in online publishing and high-quality photographic images, "but I didn't want to be Andy talking about my life." Instead, he serves as a kind of curator-aggregator, as well as editor-publisher.

Contributors to Flak Photo include photographers from around the globe, but also a handful of Madison's best. Among the recognizable local names: Brent Nicastro, Bob Rashid, John Urban, Zane Williams and Craig Wilson. This juxtaposition of local with international photographers emphasizes the borderless nature of flakphoto.com, as well as its existence as a kind of portal on the global photoblogging community.

Adams redesigned Flak Photo last summer as "sort of the photography magazine for everyone," relaunching it with new features -- including sections spotlighting new photo books from small independent publishers, and a weekend series of images culled from new photo essays, books and gallery exhibits. Though he studied communication arts, he is largely self-schooled in online publishing.

"I didn't know anything about HTML," he notes, adding that he used online tutorials to teach himself how to write the code. "The Web now gives you the opportunity to publish your own magazine."

It also allows you to send editions of your magazine to subscribers via e-mail, an option Adams has introduced. He has 800 e-mail subscribers, he says, and they skew toward photographers and art directors who view the site on larger-than-standard monitors. "I'm all about giving a photograph room to breathe," he says.

This is, in part, why he publishes one featured image per weekday, Monday through Friday. Giving a photograph room to breathe demands extra time, as he optimizes each image for display online. "It is a lot of work," he allows, but given the growth in Flak Photo's international audience, he adds, "right now, it's mostly a pleasure."