JPG Magazine bites the dust

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Tuolumne

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Got this in the email today. I was an early subscriber to the magazine but let my sub lapse when I realized I never looked at it.


"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 "
 
Yeah indeed, this is really very sad to know. JPG Magazines have always been interesting for me to read ;-)
 
This is incredibly sad... I've spent the last couple years spending between $10-$20 CAD for photo magazines that aren't worth half that and are 75% ads... I fount JPG only about 6 months ago with the Noir issue and was hooked... here's a magazine that only cost $6.99 and is worth twice that... which may be why they had to close shop :( I really would have spent $15 an issue off the newstand, I always really enjoyed it.

Good luck to all the people behind JPG in their future endevours ... now I just hope I can find a source for hard copies of all the previous issues. PDF's are nice, but there's nothing like flipping through a magazine.
 
Ive gone thru this with a few other photog magazines. Its always a sad day when they close shop. Times are tough for publications.
 
I dunno, I thought JPG mag sucked.

I was a member early on, submitted some pics, but one issue had a picture that actually made my blood boil. I was so mad I actually withdrew all my pictures and deleted my account.

After that, they added voting and basically evolved into flickr explore in print. There's no way a paper magazine can recreate flickr explore and survive. (Because explore is already there, and free).
 
Very sad day for JPG Mag. But IMHO i shied away from JPG just because it feels very flickr-like. There's some good articles and photos here and there, but overall it wasn't my cup of tea.
 
That's sad to hear. :(

I've looked for it at the newsstands but haven't seen it lately. :(
 
Well if anyone that didnt like the magazine wants to recycle their unwanted issues I'd gladly pay for postage to send them my way :) I'm missing all the issues before issue #14, send me a message or an email and I'd be glad to take them off your hands!

Cheers, Jesse
 
i never really like jpg (too mainstream), but it's always sad to hear about magazines going under. they truly are labors of love.
 
I liked JPG. I liked the concept of it. Some of the issues had fantastic photography in them. Saddening news for me...
 
mabelsound said:
I would really like to see that picture...
Click to expand...

http://jpgmag.com/issues/9

Click until you reach "Page 51". The picture by itself doesn't look too bad. However the fact that it's a corpse in a funeral home, combined with the symbolism of the mop... and you wonder, did the photographer have permission? What would the deceased's relatives think about this picture? Also, isn't JPG a happy fun magazine?

Well, thinking about everything together really grated my nerves about that pic.
 
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I'm quite bummed out by it going under. There were only 2 mags I bought every month - lens work & JPG. Now one is gone & the other subscription only. I suppose I'd better just subscribe to Lens Work but in a real way I often prefered the work in JPG to it lately.

I'll have a toast of whiskey tonight to mark it's passing - a shot of Fuji 1600 to preserve it too ;)

William
 
Sad news indeed. I've been a subscriber since issue #9 ("Street"), and it hasn't been long since I renewed my subsrciption. I suppose in hindsight I should have seen it coming -- the ratio of ads to photos was way too low and the quality of the paper too high for the cover price.
 
russianRF said:
Which magazines do you like?
Click to expand...

let's see...nippon- and asahi camera are ok for camera geeks. and there are some topical magazines that feature lots of photos, like colors and butt. then we have a ton of fashion-oriented mags (big, tank, another, doingbird, purple, etc.), but they're all very commercial and youth-targetted. magnum's fashion magazine series is probably the best, if you could call it a magazine.
 
Looks like there's a glimmer of hope... according to the website there's been a lot of support generated and there might be a deal in the works to save them!
 
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