Irish Magazines and Photographers

Anouilh

It is sometimes pointed out here that there are not any fully fledged Irish photography magazines.

However, photographers could do worse than see if local magazine editors might not have a niche for publishing a topical photo, or some good travel work.

Somebody was looking for tips on taking photos of food here recently. This is another area that could be productive and there is a group on Flickr called

Professional looking food photography

I am increasingly interested in this myself
as magazines do not have the political restraints often found in newspapers and, since the work rate is slower, it is often easier to fit in. News is quickly out of date but magazine features last for several week and are read by a wide audience.

It is not exceptionally well paid, in general, but the people working in these areas are usually very pleasant.

Borderfox

I shoot a lot of work on assignment for Irish Equestrian magazines and the timescale for submission can be quite tight depending on when the event/deadline is but as a whole it is good work to have. Plenty of magazines out there

stcstc

an idea

how about we start a electronic magazine

we could distribute it using PDFs

i would think with the skillbase here we could actually produce something quite good.

we could then pitch it at one of the irish publishers when its got a bit of a base and established a little

there are quite a few specialist electronic mags out there,

I dont know if its too much, but we could maybe do it quartley to start etc or something, and as it got legs increase the frequency

Borderfox

I hear that JPG magazine is shutting up shop from monday.

Sounds like a good idea Stephen..

Mycroft H

Nice idea, different members could contribute to their own specialised areas. Lots of the advice here should be put down on paper..... Plus special discount for boardies

PCPhoto

very interested in this idea - and would love to contribute (assuming it gets the green light).

stcstc

not sure how we should even start


I guess it need to not be design by committee, else it will becomes week with no real purpose

but not sure how to start, i guess we need some people who have strong talents in certain areas?

ThOnda

What about monthly magazine from winners of competitions here on Boards?
Just to run competitions on regular in regular categories basis (the best three would be published) + exceptional good pictures from Random Thread (and Random thread opened for each month separately to keep it simple Random Photos from January 2009, ...from February 2009, ...).

But who would put it together and what is more important, who would send it and keep all the traffic about subscription (signing in, out,...)?

That would be fantastic presentation of Boards.ie server... Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, you know what I mean...

smelltheglove

Sounds like a great idea and I certainly would be interested in taking part. I think there would be a lot details to sort out first. I mean basically you need to get reports and not just pictures really. I suppose you would need some technical people involved i.e. not me, in the sense that each issue could include a review of some sort. Then each issue could include an event, and then onto the likes of the challenges, winner with half page spread and 2nd and 3rd place with quarter page spread.

Just my intial thoughs on the subject - BEWARE COPYRIGHT OF RACHEL FOX PHOTOGRAPHY:D:D:D

Phototoxin

we could then pitch it at one of the irish publishers when its got a bit of a base and established a little

there are quite a few specialist electronic mags out there,

yeah there are.. humanity+ anyone :eek:

heck there are few specialist non electronic mags aswell..

anyhoo. I'm interested. I will write words about stuff with things in it. But who is the target audience ?

Like I'm an epic n00b so my pov is from the nooby level. Though at the moment I'm trying more film so I could write something about my experience of them or something. Though for some pro that shoots only medium format slide he'd vomit reading my opinion (probably). I think a few more specifics would have to be nailed down.

Also a 'how did you do that' section might be good.. not jsut the '1/666 f/.5 7545mm lens on my 50mpx ubikkor camera' but

"well i was looking for pictures of dragons and i was out wiht my camera and i spotted this nice red dragon flying over the mountains. it was making circles deciding weather or not to burn that village so i had time to set manual mode, ligthing was good so iso 100 at 1.1000 at f 4.2 gave me a good exposure. However I did increase the saturation. you can really see the fire consume that halfing there better than in the original" >insert picture of dragon here<

type thing. Obviously dragons dont exist but it was all I could think of.

stcstc

when i posted the idea

I kinda of didnt have in mind just using stuff from the forum, as thats just a boards newsletter, and the stuff thats there we could all read anyway

I had more in mind people actually putting together real articles, interviews, doing portfolios of photogs

even getting pros etc to write etc

If we just rehash stuff from the forum it wont last long, and has no real longevity

i think if we were to do it, we should start with quite long issue dates, ie like quarterly, as the work involved is a good bit and most people would have the time to do every month etc

we could start with every 3 months, then 2, then monthly as the thing progresses

it could be quite a good marketing thing for boards too

i am sure there are other forums the same format could be used too, get a range going!!!!!

smelltheglove

stcstc wrote: »

when i posted the idea

I kinda of didnt have in mind just using stuff from the forum, as thats just a boards newsletter, and the stuff thats there we could all read anyway

I had more in mind people actually putting together real articles, interviews, doing portfolios of photogs

even getting pros etc to write etc

If we just rehash stuff from the forum it wont last long, and has no real longevity

i think if we were to do it, we should start with quite long issue dates, ie like quarterly, as the work involved is a good bit and most people would have the time to do every month etc

we could start with every 3 months, then 2, then monthly as the thing progresses

it could be quite a good marketing thing for boards too

i am sure there are other forums the same format could be used too, get a range going!!!!!

I agree with a lot of what you have said there, nobody needs a boards newsletter, they want to see into the world of photography. I would be well up for covering the odd gig or event, it really depends on what direction you want to aim for, interviewing photographers or interviewing subjects.

I spoke to a photographer today who was full of enthusiasim and knowledge and just wanted to share the knowledge so someone like that may be beneficial for an interview but material runs dry quite quickly so you would need a very in depth (I'm at a loss for words now) plan of what you want to achieve.

stcstc

hey phototoxin

thats exactly what i ment, not just hey look at this, like on the forum or discussion banter, but articles with a reason and a story. with appeal

it think the target audience to start would be boards!!!, but i think it could have a decent spread of articles

the other cool thing with PDF type mags is its sooo easy to do stuff like links to stuff like tutorials or other images in a set etc etc

PCPhoto

gear reviews - start with basic nifty fifty's then wideangles, mid-range lenses, telephoto lenses...prime lenses.

upcoming gear- whispers on the grapevine

gig reviews, gig previews, - other event/sports reviews/previews

tips and tricks - both photo techniques and photoshop/lightroom etc

Readers letters - asking advice.

Digital v Film....medium format v SLR.

Competitions ..... winner gets pass to photo gig or sports event etc

just a couple of ideas

ThOnda

It is getting too complicated to be done for free in spare time, in my opinion.

We could try to start with picture magazine first.

challengemaster

Cool, I'd be up for contributing..

Borderfox

JPG magazine archives for download, might make good reading

http://www.jpgmag.com/downloads/archives.html

Fajitas!

After Feb, I'd be up for this, have put out a mag before, have plenty of experience with different bits and bobs.

kensutz

I have also taken part in putting together online magazines. If you need any help I'm available. Also we need to get it completely away from boards so that it still retains its uniqueness. If we tie it with boards I can see people not agreeing with certain items and then moderators (no offence) trying to sort it out when it won't have anything to do with them.

challengemaster

I'm sure ken could comment on canon gear or do reviews or something. He owns most of their stock anyway :pac:

Maybe not tie it with boards, but how about sort out some kind of advertising with DeV? Stick one or two boards.ie adverts into the mag and in return the mag gets an advert on boards? Just a thought that sprung to mind. May be stupid, idk.

TPD

I am definitly up for this. I would love to contribute writing or photography (from a beginners stance on both :P).

stcstc

wow i didnt expect this to take off like this

guess old dogs have good ideas every now and again

well i guess we should try and actually get the thing off the ground


I am not sure we should be completely disjointed from boards, i think it does need some separation and it isnt something the mods look after. ie its a project managed by a few. but it has boards in mind, ie the first target audince is boards photo forum.

keith

JPG mag is the kinda thing i was thinking about too. it has enough of a feel of a proper mag but easily downloaded

Perfect fit

Count me in definitly sounds like a great idea:)

Calina

kensutz wrote: »

. If we tie it with boards I can see people not agreeing with certain items and then moderators (no offence) trying to sort it out when it won't have anything to do with them.

This is why the moderators at the time did not get deeply involved in the book for example. For that very reason.

I am not getting what is wanted here now, a photography magazine in general, or a photography magazine consisting of contributions from boards photography users. Maybe someone could clarify that bit first.

Thanks.

Anouilh

These are great ideas.

The commercial aspects of a fully fledged printable magazine would be a serious undertaking, but I would be glad to contribute photos.

The size and dpi of the work commissioned would need to be set out clearly. The most time-consuming part of publishing is in fine-honing work for final presentation.

Just by the way, there is one way to test the waters on what themes might be the most popular.

This site asks for permission to have your work "blogged" and it would be useful to try out some photos to see if anybody leaves comments of views them more often than average.

http://uki-blog-my-photo.blogspot.com/2008/09/metal-insect-harlow-carr.html

Also, since I've started uploading portraits, I've noticed that they get most viewed, which is worth taking into account.

People enjoy looking at and reading about people, more than landscapes and flower stamens.

Fajitas!

Right, going back over what I was going to say last night, with 100% less alcohol in my system.

stcstc wrote: »

an idea

how about we start a electronic magazine

we could distribute it using PDFs

i would think with the skillbase here we could actually produce something quite good.

we could then pitch it at one of the irish publishers when its got a bit of a base and established a little

there are quite a few specialist electronic mags out there,

I dont know if its too much, but we could maybe do it quartley to start etc or something, and as it got legs increase the frequency

It's a great idea. Quarterly is a nice pace to kick off with, certainally for judging interest, and being able to see the progress in between.

stcstc wrote: »

not sure how we should even start


I guess it need to not be design by committee, else it will becomes week with no real purpose

but not sure how to start, i guess we need some people who have strong talents in certain areas?

Starting is probably the easiest part

The basics, getting a layout/common form for the whole mag, from font to page layout, etc etc etc.

Get someone with the drive to become editor - No easy task, and then get 2/3/4 other heads that are interested in the project. Note that these don't need to contribute every time - It's possible to to get outsiders to write articles for them - Variety and all that!

From there, common contact between the main people to keep ideas fresh, new articles flowing, and so on.

stcstc wrote: »

when i posted the idea

I kinda of didnt have in mind just using stuff from the forum, as thats just a boards newsletter, and the stuff thats there we could all read anyway

I had more in mind people actually putting together real articles, interviews, doing portfolios of photogs

even getting pros etc to write etc

If we just rehash stuff from the forum it wont last long, and has no real longevity

i think if we were to do it, we should start with quite long issue dates, ie like quarterly, as the work involved is a good bit and most people would have the time to do every month etc

we could start with every 3 months, then 2, then monthly as the thing progresses

it could be quite a good marketing thing for boards too

i am sure there are other forums the same format could be used too, get a range going!!!!!

The highlighted is exactly what I had in mind.

Again, I'd say keeping it apart from boards is a good idea, while boards has a great community and all, I think we'd be better appealing to the wider audience - Getting in contact with other forums might be an idea too.

If we were to go ahead, I'd have access to a pretty alright ( ) designer, who I reckon'd get our layout sorted for a few pints some evening. Having worked with him on a previous project along a similar vein, I know his work, and it really is quality, and I'm quite picky in as far as what I'd call quality.

stcstc

well, i kinda have access to another large photography forum, as I am the mod!!!

Fajitas!

That'd probably help

kensutz

Calina wrote: »

This is why the moderators at the time did not get deeply involved in the book for example. For that very reason.

I am not getting what is wanted here now, a photography magazine in general, or a photography magazine consisting of contributions from boards photography users. Maybe someone could clarify that bit first.

Thanks.

Fajitas! wrote: »

Again, I'd say keeping it apart from boards is a good idea, while boards has a great community and all, I think we'd be better appealing to the wider audience - Getting in contact with other forums might be an idea too.

stcstc wrote: »

I am not sure we should be completely disjointed from boards, i think it does need some separation and it isnt something the mods look after. ie its a project managed by a few. but it has boards in mind, ie the first target audince is boards photo forum.

I think the lads have the nail hit on the head. If we want it to be successful we would need it to focus on a much wider audience including boards members. I'm sure we can work on a sub forum somewhere where we can set deadlines, give assignments etc.

Calina

kensutz wrote: »

I think the lads have the nail hit on the head. If we want it to be successful we would need it to focus on a much wider audience including boards members. I'm sure we can work on a sub forum somewhere where we can set deadlines, give assignments etc.

Might be possible to request a hosted forum for it. I am not sure I want to add to the subfora for something which is sort of separate.

Alternatively, and if this idea takes off, you'll probably need a web presence for it and could have an editorial private forum on that site.

Fajitas!

Well, I've more than a bit of hosting space free if we needed it in the future, but if we were to kick it off here, I'm sure there'd be no problem with getting a hosted forum.

soccerc

Fajitas! wrote: »

If we were to go ahead, I'd have access to a pretty alright ( ) designer, who I reckon'd get our layout sorted for a few pints some evening. Having worked with him on a previous project along a similar vein, I know his work, and it really is quality, and I'm quite picky in as far as what I'd call quality.

From an editorial viewpoint this is the one of the most important aspects of the whole project.

With a format in place whomever takes the editorial function will just need to cut 'n'paste copy into place.

However, speaking from a journalistic view it will be the content that carries the mag in conjunction with a good editior who is fair and firm.

Having been involved in publishing as a hack and sub editor over the past 10 years I can safely say that, to have a horse and not a camel, the appointment of the editor who has final say is crucial.

This may somewhat defeat the co-operative nature of the venture but allied with a strong design/layout is important that it is accepted and viewed for what it is. Editorial committee's can work but are rarely successful.

That's my humble opinion

Perfect fit

I could build a small website where people could download the pdf from if that helps? so the link could just be posted everywhere www."insertnameofmagazine".com:)

Fajitas!

thimblefull wrote: »

This may somewhat defeat the co-operative nature of the venture but allied with a strong design/layout is important that it is accepted and viewed for what it is. Editorial committee's can work but are rarely successful.

That's my humble opinion

100% agree with you there. It does need a single person that will and can chase after people for their articles, tell other people 'no, that's not good enough' in no uncertain terms, and still hold the project together.

ThOnda

Members only... count me in :-)
I need something to free my mind from work, so why not to learn something new! As long as it does not require spelling and knowledge of English/Gaelic.

GristlyEnd

I would love to contribute to this as well. We could even fit some of the challenges into the magazine maybe follow a member during the day of them taking the photo for the challenge (behind the scenes like) from taking the shot to post processing. We would tell them, no stalking here.

ThOnda

Books, magazines... what's next? E-shop?

minikin

Stcstc,

Interesting idea - you should check out Ag magazine... incredibly high production values, top quality photography, top quality design, top quality printing... result is an expensive quarterly mag (but worth every cent).

Unfortunately there isn't much of a market in Ireland for dedicated photographic periodicals (source magazine wouldn't exist were it not arts council/european funded, there just aren't enough advertisers in this particular area to sustain ongoing publication)

These things don't really work as a collective, you need a definite production team... one editor overseeing content, one art director with final call on design, you can then have as many contributors as you want. The alternative will quickly becomes a mish mash of opinions.

I guess it need to not be design by committee, else it will becomes week with no real purpose

stcstc

well if needs be i could host a domain

I have two hosting packages that have more than enought space that i could host an extra domain

Anouilh

Another possibility would be for bloggers to print limited editions of their best work.

I once met an enterprising poet who was selling broadsheets of his work on Merrion Square. We negotiated a price, as I had to keep enough cash to get the bus home. It was a very enjoyable transaction and I have never forgotten the title of his poem:

"Chocolate for the Lady".

I wonder what he is doing now.
Our encounter would have made a great photo.

davenewt

Fajitas! wrote: »

Get someone with the drive to become editor - No easy task, and then get 2/3/4 other heads that are interested in the project. Note that these don't need to contribute every time - It's possible to to get outsiders to write articles for them - Variety and all that!

From there, common contact between the main people to keep ideas fresh, new articles flowing, and so on.

If we were to go ahead, I'd have access to a pretty alright ( ) designer, who I reckon'd get our layout sorted for a few pints some evening. Having worked with him on a previous project along a similar vein, I know his work, and it really is quality, and I'm quite picky in as far as what I'd call quality.

Not wanting to step on any toes, but I may be able to lend a hand so will throw my hat into the ring.

I have experience with both editorial (worked on a tech mag in UK for a couple of years) and design (produced the RAW book for a group of photogs... some of you may know me from that)

Would be happy to assist if it's going to be a serious undertaking.

Only concern, apart from the time it may take, would be the ability to get quality content, for free, on a regular basis. Will be tough.

It would need a proper focus (no pun intended) and a clearly defined target audience.

Just my 2c!

Dave.

Covey

I think getting quality content, both photographically and journalistically would not be a great problem.

The editorial and design skills are probably around here in spades as well.

I would though query what the purpose of this is? Where is going to.?

Is it not just Boards.ie (+others) vanity publishing?

T.

Anouilh

Covey wrote: »

Is it not just Boards.ie (+others) vanity publishing?

T.

But of course...

If you don't blow your own trumpet, nobody is going to do it for you.

kjt

Sounds like a great idea, I'm very interested in helping out.
+ if we need a website, get in contact with me and I'm sure I could sort something out

Covey

ThOnda wrote: »

It is getting too complicated to be done for free in spare time, in my opinion.

We could try to start with picture magazine first.

I have no problem with vanity publishing and from that aspect it's a great idea.

However, for the relatively few that would be organising this, I would echo ThOnda's comments above..

ThOnda

Brilliant! Keep on posting ideas and offers, so we could begin with beginning of February!

Anouilh

ThOnda wrote: »

As long as it does not require spelling and knowledge of English/Gaelic.

In the light of the punitive withdrawal of thanks from one of my posts last evening, I would be happy to learn whatever language would make you comfortable. I know some Greek.

ThOnda

Czech, English, German, Russian (in that order, but the last two only in case of BIG motivation, I have not used those languages for ages).

Ricky91t

I'd happily upload the PDF to my site for download and post links on other forums..
Could be a good idea to interview posters of photos who had a lot of setup,
Eg The fella who did the water drops,could get photos of the setup and finished images he could talk the readers through the setup and how to best capture the final image

Also as alot of DIY photography stuff can be done might be a good idea to get some members to do these kind of things and post step by step images and if its really worth doing,how hard it was and what not..

Maybe we could have a section like "a week in photos" where a user goes out and shoots a different photo each day for a week and there could be two in an issue.Also small competitions with the winners being the cover photos or getting a two page spread of their photo..If it gets to a stage where a site is made then maybe a wallpaper of their image can be downloaded off the site(if they are happy to do so)

I'd be happy to contribute photos help with amking the magazine and anything,we could also get any flickr users to upload a photo of the cover,and then linking to it.And maybe blog posters could make a post about it too?

Anouilh

This is going to take a bit of planning.

I will not be available during February and March so I may as well get started now.

I have opened a Pix.ie account for the sole use of this project.
In order to send photos of a high quality, this is the best choice. When it is decided what is needed I can become a "Friend" of the person who is co-ordinating copy and photos and they can access the necessary work easily, while it remains out of the public domain.

Here is an example (publicably visible) in my account:

http://pix.ie/anouilh/799755/size/800

Who is going to be the co-ordinator?

I had some trouble with the Boards Exhibition project, as my photo was not big enough to be properly reproduced:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/512424@N24/pool/

I do not have a professional account there and so the dpi, etc.,... are not good enough for printing and exhibition.

(What happened to the "Wild Plan"? Did an exhibition take place?)

Once the practicalities have been decided I can start now to produce some photos accompanied by simple copy.

Would "A Botanist's Macro View" be a good start?

Ricky91t

I think the hardest thing is going to be choosing what is going in it,and following that closely is what program is going to be used to make it,i'v had a look and seems open office can be used to make it?