Phase 1 of the Fine Art Photoblog Complete

So I'm pretty sure I have an ulcer and half a dozen mental issues now. I gave myself the task of selecting a small handful of photographers from a group of 30 to be included in the upcoming Fine Art Photoblog. This was no easy thing to do and I leaned on those 30 photographers to help me decide who gets in, but the fact remained that I had to make some hard decisions about several photographers… including a few friends.

I've chosen six amazing photographers and artists to be part of the initial launch of the photoblog. If you're one of the 24 who won't be with us for the launch and you put your best foot forward on this effort, I truly apologize and I really do feel terrible about having to exclude people — especially those of you I have personal relationships and friendships with. No hard feelings? We may actually bring on a few more photographers before the launch or sometime after the launch, depending on what this core group decides. So this is probably not the end for several of the other photographers in that list of 30.

On the bright side, we have the following six photographers plus myself to bring the site up to critical mass and get the kinks worked out. These guys are really amazing and I'm looking forward to working with them.

* UPDATE: Martin and Victor decided to part ways with the Fine Art Photoblog prior to the launch. They were for personal reasons on their part, but we're all still on very good terms. Due to these departures, two other photographers were asked to join in their place:

So what's next? Well, I'll be finishing up a few things on the site while these guys test out the interface and post a few photos for practice. We'll be fine-tuning the site until it's ready for public consumption. After we launch, we'll just be posting photos and working on getting the site off the ground. After we get into our groove, we'll consider bringing on more photographers — so keep your portfolios up to date!

UPDATE: Site launch announced here!