# The PhotoForum Mag?



## NoelNTexas

Hello everyone, 

   I have been sitting on a great Idea for about a month now and now I am going to open it up for discussion. As some of you know I work for a magazine and advertising company. As you can tell I am not a writer lol, but I am a graphics artist and photographer for the magazine. I also do sales and graphic designs for the advertising side of the company. Well, let me get right to the point. I was wondering how much interest there would be in a magazine publishing for The Photo-forum. 

   I know alot of you out there are just beginners and most of you are freelance photographers. Getting published in any media is an exciting thing and also not an easy task. So, if the forum were to create a magazine it would create an opportunity for some of your work to get published, create more excitement and traffic threw the forum and a way to get more people involved. 

   I am willing to dedicate alot of my time to help creating and laying out a magazine if there is enough interest. I have ideas to place maybe Photo of the Month(maybe the cover?), Tutorials, Different Photography styles, Pictures and articles on how they were created, what inspired them and such. Articles on people from the forum and much much more. 

   As far as advertising, I am no stranger to getting down to the nitty gritty with big companies for good advertising. I also see the forum has some already who may be interested in the idea as well. 

   I will try not to overload thoughts at this point, but I am very curious on what everyones thoughts to this general concept is. Any input will be much appreciated


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## Hertz van Rental

What would the point be? The Forum as it stands is really an interactive magazine. A lot of it's charm is in talking to people. A magazine version would not be able to do that.
And what would the magazine contain? Articles? Who would write them? And how often would it be published?
Finally, what about distribution? The membership of this Forum is spread around the world. What would be the point of waiting a week or so to get the magazine delivered when you could just go on line and get it there and then?
Sorry, but I think the idea is a non-starter.


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## EBphotography

I personally think it could be fun.  A lot of work, but fun.


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## Aquarium Dreams

It sounds like a great idea in theory, but Hertz brings up some good points.  I like the idea of a print-based magazine, a "Best Of" of the forums, with revised articles, so people don't have to go sifting through archives for gems of wisdom.  But I wonder:

What would the magazine offer that the forum doesn't offer?
Who is the target audience of the magazine?  People who already use the forum?  A new and expanded audience?

I think it could be a great project with some more planning.


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## NoelNTexas

I agree 100% it would take alot more planning. And I have been thinking over the Idea. 

 How often do you see a beautiful photograph on here and you never find out how it was taken, what they used for lighting, what inspired them to take it, if there was any processing after the image was taken, so on so forth. Alot of the articles would contain that information. We could have personal product reviews, pics of the month, articles over the photographers and much more. 

  I am not wanting to start this a profit opportunity by any means. I just think it would be fun for some of the people on here to get some of their art published and be able to show it off without having to drag someone to the computer screen or carry a portfolio around everywhere. 

  As far as the content being readily available on the forum, why not send exclusive stuff for the magazine? So you dont already know everything thats going to be in it.

  Just a few more bits of information floating around in my head. Everyone please feel free to express your opinion here. I think it would be a wonder project.


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## JosephMillar

I think if this worked it would be a great idea; how cool would it be to see your photo in a magazine! 

Yes, there will be a lot of hard work, but I'm sure there'll be more than enough volunteers from this forum, myself included.

If this gets up and running, which I hope it will, count me in.


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## NoelNTexas

I am 100% ready to begin getting this project together if it is ok with the site. Anyone who would want to help ( Credits will be given ) please let us know. 

Thank you.


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## Mohain

There's little to no money to be made in magazine publishing for one-off titles in an already saturated market. Who's going to take the risk to foot the print and distribution bill?


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## Mohain

What might be a nice idea however is a one-off TPF book. It can showcase the best of TPF photography (everyone can nominate one of their shots and the final selection is voted on) and could also have a few artical/tutorials?


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## Andy Campbell

Its a great idea.  I buy photography magazines now and again when they have interesting articles. 

But here is my idea:-

Instead of a magazine you would buy in the shops how about an online magazine (PDF format).  There are a few sites that do this now (i'm thinking an online racing simulator magazine) and its a great way to do things.  If you're not bothered about making profit then I think this would be the best place to start.  You could even have advertisements in there and still make profit.

I think its a really great idea though and will be waiting to see what happens!

Andy.


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## Jeepnut28

I think it is a great idea.  you can usually tell a great idea by the amount of people that piss all over it.  

JPGmag sure seems to be pretty succesful.  I'd model the mag on something similiar to their set up.......but thats just me.


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## kelley_french

I think it would be a great idea, it would be a lot of work but well worth it in the long run.


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## pantherlax

Whether it be a one time book magazine or a series of mags, I buy it. But I'm in High School so I wouldnt be able to help out on it...but I'd buy it.


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## NoelNTexas

I am still 100% in on this. I have already started building a mock master for it. Few layouts designed and ready for action. Just looking for participation and a go ahead from the forum owners.


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## NoelNTexas

OK, I am going to jump into this now. The first version created will be a downloadable PDF and an online interactive flash magazine. Any participation on this from anyone would be helpful and fun im sure and greatly appriciated. I may contact a few of you on here to maybe ask if you could submitt a photo or two for the mag ( not posted yet on the forum) and a small article on the images/ about yourself /equiptment and techs used to create them. I will use some personal resources to come up with a few ads (hopefully) if not its ok. I am looking to start off with around a 60 page mag and build from there in the future. Anyone with Indesign/illustrator/photoshop experiance is more than welcome to help out ( would go great in a portfolio ). If ads are secured, proceeds will be devided between those who help and the rest donated to the forum. I will make a list of ads/sizes/price paid and so on to keep and show record. 

   I am guestimating the first edition to take some time ( month or two ) to create since this is being started from scratch. After this one they should flow a little smoother since we will have a working master and design layout. It will pretty much be plug and play after that. Once I get all the layout sizes hammered out I will post them on here so that anyone who does help out will know what demensions of certain spaces and layouts should be. 

Help Needed for sure:

*Proof reader* - I know that my spelling and punctuation/grammer can be off at times. If I could find someone who could just proof read pdf soft proofs for me and check for errors that would be great. Adobe reader is great for this since you can place the little yellow stickies on the errors instead of having to type them out. 

*Product Reviewer - *Simple thing, just research certain products and list their features and benefits/downfalls. This could be as simple as copy and paste from product sites. Lenses, cameras, tripods, cases, accessories, printers, ect.

Help wanted: (sounds like a classifieds ad)

*Ad sales: - *Simple enough. If you can generate a paid ad then you get to keep 40% of the generated profit of that ad, 40% will be devided between those who help, and the remaining 20% will be donated to Thephotoforum. 

*Designers: -* Self Explanitory really. If you can design in illustrator/indesign/photoshot then you could be a great help also. HTML and Flash would be a great help but I can handle that myself if needed. 

Guys and gals this could turn into something really great or it could flop, you never know. I think it would be great fun and put some nice things on some poeples portfolios as well as get some people published in a magazine. If you dont want to help on this, I am not one to beg and i do not expect anyone too, but if you can it would be super. 

Thanks again


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## NoelNTexas

here are most of the basic layout sizes for the mag..

w/h

1/3 page verticle no bleed-2.76/11
1/4 page verticle no bleed-4.25/4.69
1/4 page verticle full bleed - 4.375/5.08
1/2 page verticle no bleed - 4.25/11
1/2 page verticle full bleed - 4.37/11.25
1/2 page horizontal no bleed - 8.5/4.96
1/2 page horizonal full bleed - 8.75/5.08


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## EBphotography

Have you approved this with Chase?


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## Icon72

This idea could possibly work if done correctly. For me personally it would be very nice to see a group of pictures along with the step by step editing tutorials. 

With the traffic this site gets you'll have to PM or email one of the mods directly. They may not even see this thread.


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