Monthly Archive for December, 2008

nothing happens until it happens , but things are happening…cracking, buzzing, and yes burning bright…we will launch soonest a working model of BURN magazine (or journal or??)….the house will not be finished…we still need to  get in the wiring and plumbing and it will be a long time before all the furniture is chosen and the interior is decorated and we all feel "at home"…but, at least you will have a sense of it….and you will have a "place at the table"….

i must right now thank Anton Kusters for his tireless efforts working on design and function…the boy flew all the way from Brussels to spend four days here sleeping on my floor…..in the next sleeping bag was Tom Hyde and tossing and turning on the sofa was Chris Bickford…my place looked like a homeless shelter rather than a home for a  wellspring of  ideas…reminiscent of my grad school days or some version of a camping out road trip….

all i can say is that i was totally humbled by all of the hard work from Tom Hyde(flew from Seattle), Eric Espinosa  (flew from Cincinnati), Erica McDonald, Andrew Sullivan, David McGowan, and Andrew Owen from Look3..and i will never forget Kelly Lynn James who gets total credit for suggesting BURN as a title…many  thanks to all of you who wrote, phoned in, and sent constructive emails..but, it ain't over yet….

today and tomorrow i must attend our Magnum board meeting…our winter interim gathering of the tribe…who would have ever thought i would be on any "board", but well life has its twists…i might be able to get an interesting post out of it , but in the meantime all of you will have time to chew on this…..

oh yes, if you are in New York, we have our annual Magnum book signing at Aperture tonight…please join us…

back soonest…..

some of you might be interested in what is going on right now in my loft…the assembled below are gathered at my space to help make some decisions on the future of our forum…we are buzzing buzzing on the potential of an online magazine..so many good ideas (and a few bad ideas) are zipping around the room…

we are interested right now in any input you may have….very soon we will be working on all the titles you so kindly suggested….and i think we have a nice clean design that will set up selected essays in the most special way and will also include a “behind the scenes” or “the making of” element that so many will find invaluable…

you will now have about four or five  hours to make comments…to me, or to anyone you see below….we should be able to have at least a pretty decent preliminary site within a week or two..or maybe sooner..

i cannot believe that Anton Kusters  flew here from Belgium, Tom Hyde from Seattle, Eric Espinosa from Cincinnati …i also cannot believe we stayed up ’til 4am for a pre-meeting meeting….and this was air mattress/sleeping bag  central around here last night…

please ask us some questions..give us your thoughts….we will respond immediately…..

Erica McDonald, Andrew Sullivan, Chris Bickford, Tom Hyde, Anton Kusters, Eric Espinosa and on screen via webcam,  David McGowan

meetings are not really my thing….a career in photography has afforded me a natural escape from meetings…looking at graphs, flow charts, cost projections, etc etc. is  generally better than a sleeping pill for me…if i start snoring, just roll me over!!

however, i have called a meeting..what is my world  coming to when i am the one who actually organizes a meeting??  this meeting is a meeting of the minds…at my apartment this thursday…things have been brewing behind the scenes for awhile regarding our new site forthcoming …the amount of input  recently by Anton Kusters, Tom Hyde, David McGowan, Kerry Payne, Marie Arago, and Pete Marovich and wife Jenny Jones, humbles me beyond belief…these forum members and friends have gone way way beyond the "call of duty" to help design a new looking, interactive "magazine" of which i believe we are all going to be most proud…

if any of you will be in New York on thursday and want to participate, please let me know…and even without actually being here , i will be expecting thoughts from you…i think it is too early to actually launch a full blown regularly updated online magazine with all of its ramifications, but what we will soon have will at least be the first stage…it will certainly "look like" an online magazine…whether or not we actually go on to a serious active online magazine remains to be seen…there are so many factors to consider, not the least of which is the time and manpower it takes to produce one…not only from the "editing team" which would be required, but from all of you as potential photo essayists…

Kerry Payne (a very astute lurker) must have spent days creating a brilliant potential business plan and our Anton Kusters (above and below design/ graphics) has gone beyond the beyond  as our web design guru..David McGowan is on the case designing  a print version….Marie Arago is working non-stop creating a special web page for our workshop student essays…. and the advice from Pete Marovich and  Jenny, who both previously created an online magazine, American Journal,  is so well taken…Tom Hyde, whose career is in publishing,  has researched every online magazine out there and if he sends me one more link i will go crazy!!!  you guys are just the best!! many many thanks…..by the way, both Tom and Anton will be sleeping on my floor (air mattresses) , both flying thousands of miles just for this meeting…

we have assembled here on our forum  quite a team of photographers and writers…and unlike some other online magazines,  i would envision some truly creative text essays to be just as important as the photographic essays….in theory, people are not supposed to enjoy reading on line…i would have been an antagonist myself…but,let's see if that is true…in any case, i want to give it a try….

right now, i need everyone's help on just one thing….a title….what do we call our online magazine??

David McGowan came up with Emerge…this  is the best title we have so far..can anyone better that one?

All of you who produce fine photographic essays are going to have one really nice place to show your work, IF that work is of the highest standards…this will NOT be a site where anyone can randomly post any picture or essay…there are already a plethora of such sites and they are terrific for what they are……..but right here, we will have a  carefully curated/edited  photographic and literary forum…quality content will reign supreme…

kindly  give us your best title thoughts….and please stay tuned….