Partnering with artists to promote their work online.

Hello! I'm Andy Adams — I'm an independent web producer + photo publisher and my projects blend aspects of digital communication, online audience engagement, and web-based creative collaboration to explore contemporary ideas in photography. Recent projects include The Future of Photobooks, a cross-blog conversation that considered the impact of internet culture on photographic practice and 100 Portraits — 100 Photographers, a digital exhibition of current portraiture that has shown at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Australian Centre for Photography and numerous festivals in the U.S. and abroad. In my spare time I publish FlakPhoto.com, an online art space that celebrates the culture of image-making by promoting the discovery of artists from around the world.

What is Flak Photo and how has it evolved?

Flak Photo is an online photography channel that presents the work of artists, curators, bookmakers and photo organizations to a global audience of people who are passionate about visual culture. The site's main feature is The Collection, a digital archive of contemporary photographs which is updated five times weekly. Since launching in 2006, I've expanded my program to include a Galleries, Books, Features, and Motion section.

The project has roots in online publishing and arts exhibition and I frequently collaborate with presses, galleries, and museums to produce a continuous program of promotional “happenings”. In addition to the website, I publish a Facebook page, Twitter feed and Google+ profile and I interact with those audiences on a daily basis. I'm passionate about creative collaboration and am constantly energized by what’s happening in the online community, so producing Flak Photo gives me an outlet to satisfy that craving.

Who is Flak Photo's audience?

Certainly plenty of photographers see the site and there's a solid cross-section from within the photo industry that watch it too—I regularly get emails from curators, editors, publishers and gallerists who enjoy the work they find here and I make professional connections between colleagues when I can. A big part of my mission is to help artists get their work seen and my contributors are always updating me with news about exhibitions and publication opportunities that have come out of their work being discovered on the site.

How does Flak Photo contribute to the online community?

The Internet is a natural broadcast and publishing medium, but it's also a relationship medium that's fostering the growth of a global online photo community at an increasingly rapid pace. Web 2.0 technology has played a huge role in expanding Flak Photo’s reach and the site's readers are web-savvy people who use social media on a daily basis, so that has inspired me to explore how those tools can encourage online audiences to communicate with each other about contemporary photography. In addition to using social media to promote the artists I work with, I host two Facebook groups (the Flak Photo Network and Flak Photo Books) that facilitate community conversations about evolving photo practice in 21st century digital culture. All are welcome — Join us?