If you consider yourself a photographer with purpose, someone who thinks beyond a hobby, then at the very least you should have your own magazine. (And there is nothing wrong with a hobby.) For the life of me, I can’t figure out why more photographers don’t do this. This is not an expensive process. This does not require skills that few possess. This does not need crowdfunding. And even better, this can be an incredible way to collaborate.
My latest magazine attempt was AG23. This project is on sabbatical, sadly, and it may or may not ever return. Regardless, I learned a lot. AG23 was a huge amount of work that took the expertise and commitment of four different people. It also took a sizable budget and quite a few meetings and planning sessions. But the Zine you see in the image above didn’t require any of this. Nope, none of it. This baby was all me.
Because I spent so much time and effort on AG23, I nearly forgot about Essay, my prior magazine effort. Essay is my tribute to the original Life Magazine, a publication that had major impact on people my age. I was published in Life one time, and that is still one of the feathers in the cap of my professional life. Essay was born from the idea “I should do something to pay tribute to Life Magazine.” Boom, that’s all it took.
Published in two sizes, both magazine and 6×9, Trade Book. Neither of which will set you back anything significant. A forty-page, 6×9 softcover with Standard Color paper is $10.55. I paid $9.83 for a coffee while in New York last week. No joke. I did it more than once, actually. I know that print scares a lot of people because you have to make sense of your work before you make sense of your publication, but don’t let this scare you. Skills like editing, sequencing, page design, choosing type, building an audience, are just skills like any other. They require practice.
There is nothing more pathetic than photographers who only have Instagram.
I avoid these people at all costs, because historically, they just aren’t very interesting people, nor are they great photographers. Don’t be one of these people. (And don’t watch too much YouTube.)Print postcards, or letters or cheap copies or your own magazine like this. I can say for certain the payoff, if you are even looking for one, is out there if you do your job correctly. The Zine you see here was responsible for me securing a full year of creative work for a client I would have otherwise never even been in the conversation with. A full year of work that I wasn’t even looking for. And one more thing, no one at this client was on social media. Many of the higher level clients would never be on social because they would never leave a digital trail like that. Social, in many ways, is for the amateurs and the addicts.
If you really want to get fancy, reach out to a friend. See who wants to collaborate. Get enough people together, say ten, and you have an interesting little publishing gang. You could go the inexpensive route and just have your friends send their work which you put into the magazine, or if you want to get a bit more professional, you could pool your money for a designer. This way you each get a professionally designed publication for 1/10 of the price you would pay were you to do this solo. Each person then agrees to send a copy to the top ten people in their database. Yes, you read that correctly professional photographer. You are promoting the work of someone else while promoting your own. This is OKAY. Calm your ego and insecurity for a minute. There is power in confidence. (So many pros aren’t ready for something like this, so don’t be one of those people either.)
You travel the world with a set of issues in your bag and you will be amazed at what doors will open. The response to these simple, $10 publications is so far beyond their size and girth. Print makes an impact unlike anything else. Any questions, let me know.
Comments 15
I know first hand the amount of work that went in AG23. Worth it on every level. Printing our photographs whether by zine or print is the only way it’s truly a photograph. Otherwise, it just exists on a hard drive that one day will likely not even be able to be accessed. Print is where it’s at.
“There is nothing more pathetic than photographers who only have Instagram.” Well said, Daniel. It’s baffling how anyone thinks a photographer can even organize their Instagram feed to give a sense of their work with Instagram full of ads, algorithms and “Influencers.”
Author
Hey Hannah, I’m not even sure the IG only types have thought about that. They also don’t seem to realize that something happened with IG about eighteen months ago. Lots of folks moving away and lots of brands no longer see that as worthwhile investment. As one CEO put it, “the only people remaining are the addicts.”
Best thing I ever did, ten issues of my zine since March, 2021, and one standalone with a different title. Next one coming in the Fall based on a current project. All done from my ipad, PDF and a local printer. Use instagram for publicity, it is perfect for that.
Author
Cool. Ten issues. That’s a lot. Well done.
Printed some zines and they’re now in my ‘local’ bookshop. Some of them are more than happy to showcase local photographic talent. Even a couple of the bigger stores in Sydney have said they have a ‘local publisher’ section. Don’t ask, don’t get.
Author
Hey, Australia has THE best attitude about self-publishing. Better than anywhere else I’ve ever been. One of the reasons I’m thinking of basing in Sydney for January/February.
Wauw, simply wauw, My girlfriend always has to drag me out of the bookstore. But with such a section I would fight…
Author
I am under strict orders to NOT visit the bookstore.
As a writer who enjoys pairing my photos with stories and essays, I abandoned Instagram last month. Such a waste of time, repetitive, and often derivative. Been reading way more books. Focused on creating more than consuming. Making a zine sounds like great advice, and it’s always fun to create something concrete.
Author
Not to mention the time lost. There isn’t a user in the world that doesn’t get sucked in.
Author
Writing is SO key.
IG is a point in time, a blip… books and zines tell stories if arranged with skill. Odd how the YT photo influencers either don’t print anything or, if they do, produce banalities. My hypothesis is that there is an inverse correlation between talent+tenacity and social media presence.
Author
They would print if it meant followers, but most of their followers would be terrified by printing. Too much work, too many skills required. Books anyway.
Nothing beats looking at a good photographers website on an iPad .. well in digital terms.. of course print is better, but man is it cool that the iPad and websites still exist.
Author
A find a good one from time to time, but still wait to see how they print.