JPG Magazine says goodbye

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jmxphoto

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Woke to find this in my inbox:
---===---
Today is a particularly sad day for all of us at JPG and 8020 Media.

We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.

The one thing we've been the most proud of: your amazing talent. We feel honored and humbled to have been able to share jpgmag.com with such a dynamic, warm, and wonderful community of nearly 200,000 photographers. The photography on the website and in the magazine was adored by many, leaving no doubt that this community created work of the highest caliber. The kindness, generosity, and support shared among members made it a community in the truest sense of the word, and one that we have loved being a part of for these past two years.

We wish we could have found a way to leave the site running for the benefit of the amazing folks who have made JPG what it is, and we have spent sleepless nights trying to figure something out, all to no avail. Some things you may want to do before the site closes:

- Download the PDFs of back issues, outtakes, and photo challenge selections. We'll always have the memories! www.jpgmag.com/downloads/archives.html
- Make note of your favorite photographers. You may want to flip through your favorites list and jot down names and URLs of some of the people you'd like to stay in touch with. You may even want to cut and paste your contacts page into a personal record.
- Catch up with your fellow members. Our roots are in this humble flickr forum and we recommend going back to find fellow members, discuss the situation, or participate in another great photo community. www.flickr.com/groups/jpgmag/
- Keep in touch. This has always been much more than just a job to each of us, and we'll miss you guys! We'll be checking the account jpgletters@gmail.com in our free time going forward. We can't promise to reply to every email (since we'll be busy tuning up our resumes) but we'd love to hear from you.
- Stay posted. Although the magazine is ceasing publication, we'll be updating you on what's happening with your subscription early next week.

We're soggy-eyed messes, but it is what it is. At that, JPGers, we bid you goodbye, and good luck in 2009 and the future.

Laura Brunow Miner
Editor in Chief

---===---
Don't know if many here were fans of the magazine, but they featured a lot of film photography and articles on film cameras. I'm sad to see them go. :mad: It was also a great experiment in Darwinian art. Articles and images were voted on by the community and the winners were published. It was a fantastic concept and a great community.
 

tim_walls

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I have to say, I struggle to feel sad about this.

I read JPG from the first 'issue' when you bought it through lulu.com, but was forced to tear up my subscription as it were the day they took sponsorship from 'Suicide Girls'. I had a lengthy correspondence with the the founding editor who didn't seem to think there was any issue a photography magazine taking sponsorship from an organisation which treats photographers notoriously badly. Not long after though said founders were forced out in a particularly unpleasant episode, and then I really did lose interest (I disagreed with their view on SG, but that doesn't mean I didn't respect what they were trying to do.)


So, as far as I'm concerned JPG Magazine died a long time ago anyway. Taking it off the life support now is probably for the best. Anyone who cares about it, try and find the original, early issues - they really were good; I think after Derek & Heather were kicked out though the new management may have erased them from history, so you may struggle to find them...
 

naeroscatu

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this was brought up here already: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
 
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The thing that says more about it than anything is the fact that they waited until the last minute to tell the community. They didn't give the community itself enough credit to come to them and ask if they'd be willing to pay a little money or donate to get the magazine through another month or two. I'd like someone to ask why.
 

zenrhino

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What got me was that it was all a big popularity contest whose business model was to play on the vanity of what seemed like mostly 20-somethings who owned Holgas and/or the latest version of Photoshop. "You work for us, both by shooting for us but also by getting you to get your friends/family/random strangers to come to our site. We pay you a pittance. Then you pay us to see your own work (and hopefully buy a few copies for your mom, too)."

Taking on sponsors, even sponsors who are douchebags, I had no issues with -- I simply didn't buy the magazine. Vote with your dollars. Anyone who has ever read an SG contract knows better than to sign it. And IIRC, that contract was deemed null/void.

The thing with the Stalinist un-learning of the original owners was just creepy and cemented that the whole thing was completely dysfunctional.

I won't miss it.
 
OP
OP
jmxphoto

jmxphoto

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What got me was that it was all a big popularity contest whose business model was to play on the vanity of what seemed like mostly 20-somethings who owned Holgas and/or the latest version of Photoshop.

The mag/site was actually very anti-PS (no text, boarders, selective desaturation, adding/removing elements). It was a very "straight out of the camera" effort. Besides, if they're shooting holgas at least they're buying film! :D

-edit-
In ways it seemed like a popularity contest or at least clique-y.
 

Jeremy

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I'm sad to see them go. :mad: It was also a great experiment in Darwinian art. Articles and images were voted on by the community and the winners were published. It was a fantastic concept and a great community.

I agree with ZenRhino that this was not Darwinian art or anything related to natural selection, but a popularity contest that was not enough to get this "great community" to buy the magazine. If enough people had purchased the magazine or voted with their dollars in their online shop then it would still be around. It was a worthy endeavor, but it just doesn't look like it will pan out as this crowd seems to prefer the web and flickr to an actual magazine.
 

Ken N

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Darwinian art or popularity contest? Obviously, jpgmag wasn't fit to survive the natural selection process in itself.

However, businesses on the edge rarely survive, but the products or methods they created usually do through the refining process that more mature entities are able to apply.
 

vickersdc

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Now, I really really don't want to hijack the thread - and if needs be you could answer this is another (details in a moment); but, I'm very interested in your comments as I run the Creative Image Maker online magazine - which is totally free, not a business, does not get sponsorship, is now handled by myself and Chris Walrath and requests articles and images from the photographic community.

We do this voluntarily as we want to spread the knowledge amongst the photographic community, gain inspiration from other 'normal' photographers and let others know what is going on. I'm desperate to find out what people think of it, and any ideas that you have that will help us grow.

To that end, might I be cheeky enough to ask you to take a look around the Creative Image Maker website, download the PDF magazine and then pass back your thoughts and ideas. I genuinely want to produce something that is of interest to the community and become a useful resource.

In order that we don't hijack this thread, you can put your replies (there was a url link here which no longer exists).

Thank you, and please stop by the website Dead Link Removed and pass on your thoughts.

David Vickers.
 
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