Photographers we lost this year: Saul Leiter, Bill Eppridge, Enrique Meneses, Benoit Gysembergh, Abu Shuja, Olivier Voisin, Balthazar Korab, Abigail Heyman, Allan Arbus, Helen Brush Jenkins, Willy Rizzo, Sarah Charlesworth, Bert Stern, Deborah Turbeville, Piero Cristaldi, Allan Sekula, Ozzie Sweet, Wayne Miller, Fred Waters, Jack Mitchell, Molhem Barakat, Thony Belizaire, Editta Sherman, Lee Tanner, John Dominis, Omar Carter. See some of their work here

Reuters hires a teenager with no experience, Molhem Barakat, to shoot in Aleppo, Syria, giving him an expensive camera, but no training or protective gear. He is killed while shooting and Reuters remains silent as questions swirl around the morality of their actions. MSM like The New York Times print his photos and pay a pittance, seemingly unconcerned with how they get their photos.

ABC News gives a video camera to a 13-yr-old in Aleppo for the same purpose, also with no training or protection while their own journalists stay out of that country.

The Chicago Sun-TImes laid off all of their 28 photographers, including Pulitzer Prize-wiining photographer John White

The process of celebrities strong-arming agencies to delete photo of themselves they don’t like, and the agencies capitulating. I’m talking to you, Beyonce, Kanye, Getty and Buzzfeed. More here

Appeals court reverses the decision in the Patrick Cariou v RIchard Price case

Facebook using facial recognition technology to compile an online database of faces

Drone photography

The camera on your computer can be hacked into even when it isn’t on. Who’s watching you now?

Reflections in the eyes of people being photographed could be used to help solve crimes, or used by governments to identify protestors.

The Obama Administration restricting photographers’ access to the president in favor of staged “propaganda” photos. MSM protests, yet uses them anyway.

People keep stealing photos at an alarming rate, both work by professionals and amateurs

Colorizing historic photos. Why? Just because you can? I also hate turning them into selfies.

Constant rights grabs by all the contests that are floating around.

Australia censoring photos shown at the Reportage Festival because the NSW tourist board didn’t think the images were “family friendly.”

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen denied Russian visas in advance of a planned exhibition of their Sochi Project which was supposed to open Oct. 17 at Russia’s premiere museum for contemporary art, Winzavod.

Here are some negative things according to those who responded to my query: plummeting rates for licensing images, the temple of false photo celebrity, major publications wanting to publish full photo projects without paying, more dog photos then there are photos of The Beatles online, having to spend time tracking people who have stolen images, bad photography writing, too many people jumping on the appropriation and found photo bandwagon, online profiles without a portrait or avatar, the MFA Yale show at Aperture, the bullshit premise that to give away photos is to create collectors who will then buy art, Brendan Fowler’s work at MOMA’s New Photography, and finally, selfies.

James Foley is still missing in Syria after 373 days.

I’m sure there are things I’ve missed, so feel free to comment here and add your choices. I will be posting the “Good” on Tuesday, so stay tuned.