About This Journal
The Frame & The Figure is an independent editorial resource devoted to the craft, history, and ethics of fine-art figure, portrait, and glamour photography.
This publication exists to treat a frequently misunderstood subject with the seriousness it deserves. We write about photographing people — the light, the pose, the wardrobe, the trust — as a fine art with a long and dignified lineage. Everything here is editorial and educational. We publish no explicit imagery and hold to a simple standard: nothing on these pages would be out of place in a mainstream photography magazine or on a museum wall.
A note on this domain's heritage
The address johnrunning.com was, for many years, home to the portfolio of John Running (d. 2018), a respected Flagstaff, Arizona photographer known for photographing people on location for advertising, editorial, and travel clients. This journal is an independent resource inspired by that broad tradition of location and portrait photography. It is written in an editorial third-person voice, is not affiliated with John Running or his estate, and reproduces none of his photographs. We acknowledge the address's history with respect and build something new on the same foundation of craft.
Editorial standards
- Tasteful by policy. Sensual in subject, never explicit in execution — no nudity, no adult content.
- Consent first. Every practice we describe rests on the ethics of consent and the dignity of the subject.
- Craft over sensation. We are interested in how good pictures are made, and in the history that made them possible.
On our sources
Where this journal points beyond itself, it points to primary authorities — the collections of major museums, the standards of professional photographic bodies, and the published record of the medium's history. We name photographers and institutions in the ordinary editorial way that any art publication does, for education and context, and we reproduce no one's photographs. If you believe we have gotten something wrong, we would genuinely like to hear from you and to correct it.
Get in touch
We welcome notes from photographers, students, and readers — questions, corrections, and suggestions for topics you would like to see covered. Use the form below and we will read every message.
This is an editorial resource; the form is provided for correspondence only.