Bag 2012 and '13 … and a Warm Thank You!

To our faithful readers:

Given my penchant for covering a handful of ideas at once, this post has a triple purpose. I want to let you know  what we have in store for you this coming week while I’m off the grid, I want to announce some major news for 2013, and I want to also express my thanks and gratitude for your readership, you co-analysis and your support.

Starting Friday for nine days, we will be offering you a combination of thoughtful “best pictures of the year” with our pithy analysis, of course; a select sample of the Bag’s best posts of the year; as well as several insightful posts by Bag’s Managing Editor, Karen Hull, looking from the 30,000 foot view at how we covered key themes over the past year.

As many of you are aware, its been three years since we left TypePad and our simple blog format for WordPress and our current design. That change, though making us prettier, also left many people uncomfortable about the functionality and accessibility of our content. Over the past year, we have been working with a new firm, Drexler Design in Baltimore, to once again refresh the site and accommodate our growth.  Sometime next month, we hope to unveil our latest iteration, one we hope recaptures some of the more intimate qualities of our original site and also makes the presentation of pictures, analysis, the Salon and the Originals sections, as well our incredible and growing archive more visible and at your fingertips.

Finally, on behalf of of all of us involved in BagNews, I want to express our deep appreciation for your engagement in our important mission. Whereas BNN might have looked, for years, like a quixotic or a niche endeavor, the recognition and respect we’ve earned in 2012 from the photo world, social media, academia, the media and political sphere proved that many seemed to either catch up to, or catch on to what we’ve been doing all along.

This couldn’t have happened without you. Day and day out, your involvement with the site, your thoughts and commentary on the images, your emails with thoughts and links to pictures, your engagement with the Salon and your support of the Bag on other platforms truly does make this mission a collaboration. We wish you the warmest holidays as we prepare and look forward to making BagNews a bigger, better and more satisfying experience in 2013.

Best,

Michael