How to Start a Photo Magazine in a Pandemic
In January, I chatted with renown photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke who had just announced the creation of The Curious Society, a large format photo magazine featuring the work of some of the world’s best photojournalists and documentary photographers. The goal wasn’t only to publish a visual tour de force on a quarterly basis, but to also pay photographers a traditional space rate that made producing such work economically viable.
How to Start a Photo Magazine in a Pandemic
In January, I chatted with renown photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke who had just announced the creation of The Curious Society, a large format photo magazine featuring the work of some of the world’s best photojournalists and documentary photographers. The goal wasn’t only to publish a visual tour de force on a quarterly basis, but to also pay photographers a traditional space rate that made producing such work economically viable.
The Curious Society Wants to Print a New Photojournalism Magazine
A few weeks ago, veteran photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke announced the creation of The Curious Society, a membership-based, quarterly print publication for contemporary photojournalism. While some might reflexively balk at starting a printed magazine in the digital age, Jarecke believes there is a market for people who want a tactile experience, and one that forces them to more slowly appreciate photography – and if he’s right, he’ll also be paying photographers a meaningful licensing fee in return.
Kenneth Jarecke talks with legendary picture editor Karen Mullarkey about her time at Life Magazine, Rolling Stone and Newsweek (among others) and working with photographers such as Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz and Arthur Grace (among others).
A picture that can accomplish this gets my attention. If it does that, I might drill a little deeper by thinking about the photographer’s thought process or motivation. I might wonder if I would have done better or worse in the same situation. I also might, depending on the image, try to figure out a technical detail or two. The thing I’ll never do is wonder what camera was used to make the picture.
I bring this up for the obvious reason. A few photographers have taken offense to a statement I made about Sony cameras in an article posted on Bloomberg this week. Unheard of, I know, but it does give me the opportunity to write about something I normally wouldn’t, which is camera gear.
Has photojournalism lost its moral compass, or does it even have one to lose?
Kenneth Jarecke’s new book, Pictures — How to Make Them will be available on a chapter-by-chapter basis on iTunes. Below is an excerpt from the first chapter.
The War Photo No One Would Publish
When Kenneth Jarecke photographed an Iraqi man burned alive, he thought it would change the way Americans saw the Gulf War. But the media wouldn’t run the picture.
Yesterday and today on Lens, photographers pay tribute to the photo editors who most influenced their careers. As Yunghi Kim and Kenneth Jarecke wrote in yesterday’s introduction, these editors are “the people who pushed, pulled and occasionally strong-armed them into producing exceptional work. The people who believed in them when nobody else did — who recognized the photographer’s strength and took the time to develop it.”
Link: A Photographer’s Life Is A Juggling ActThe past few years it’s been hard for me to pick up a camera. We all know that the industry, at least the editorial side of it, has been at an all time low. Sure, I’ve worked to put a good face on it, like in this piece on the New York Times Lens blog, but more often than not, my desire to make wonderful images has been absent. My heart has just not been there.
Every photo begs a question. How’d he shoot that? How’d he survive that? Why is she still smiling? To capture delicate moments in the lives of others is an art that Joliet photographer Kenneth Jarecke has spent almost three decades perfecting.
Photographer Kenneth Jarecke offers an inside look at the world of photography and photojournalism.
Check it out here.
David Burnett and I were comissioned by a high-profile magazine to make a cover image of Michael Phelps. Actually it was David who they wanted. David to his credit and as a testimont to his experience suggested that both of us do the shoot at the same time. It was a pretty smart and somewhat bold idea. Two sets of eyes, two brains working togeather to make the most out of the five minutes that we’d (hopefully) get.
Check it out here.
